YES Network's Michael Kay had the TV call of Aaron Judge's record-breaking 62nd home run earlier this week, and early reviews of his historic call "were very positive," according to Anthony Rieber of NEWSDAY. Kay said, "I'm glad that it was what I thought was a pretty decent call. All things considered, I'm happy that the way it turned out.” Rieber notes Kay did not use his signature “See Ya!” line. Kay: "There was a ‘See Ya! for 60. There was a ‘See Ya! for 61. ‘See Ya!’ isn’t automatic. ... I think I said something like, ‘Soaring into history.’ I just didn't know if 'See Ya!' fit right there. You're doing all that calculus in your brain like in a third of a second." Kay said that he had "pretty good recall of his call because he knew it would be instantly scrutinized." Kay: “I remembered this one because I think there was such pressure on everybody that was behind the mic for it. That if you screwed it up, people were going to really make a big deal out of it." On WFAN-AM, Kay’s old broadcast booth partner John Sterling "did get in his iconic 'It Is High! It Is Far!' on Judge’s home run." Kay said that he and Sterling did "not compare notes before the milestone blast." It was "just a coincidence that they both closed with 'case closed'” (NEWSDAY, 10/5).
MAKING THE CASE: In N.Y., Peter Sblendorio notes weeks earlier, Kay "came up with an idea to punctuate his call on the YES Network with a phrase that will now be forever tied to Judge’s historic homer." Kay: “I don’t plan calls, but the one thing I wanted to get in was certainly ‘case closed.’ I just kept thinking ‘Judge,’ and this puts the home run record to rest in the American League, so I wanted to end it with ‘case closed.’ That I knew, but everything else plays off of where the ball is, and it wasn’t one of those majestic home runs that you knew right away, so there had to be some hesitation.” Kay said that he is "happy his calls for Judge’s 60th, 61st and 62nd home runs went smoothly, and acknowledges there’s pressure broadcasting such highly anticipated moments." He said, “I used to tell this to Derek Jeter as well: It’s not about me, obviously, but my voice is going to be attached to it for a long time, and I never want to ruin the moment for the guy" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/5). ESPN’s Kevin Negandhi said Kay had a “great call” for Judge's 62nd (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 10/5). MLB Network’s Joel Sherman said “there’s so much criticism now” of historic broadcasting calls. Sherman: “No one critiqued Phil Rizzuto for saying ‘Holy cow!’ when Roger Maris did this” (“MLB Central,” MLB Network, 10/6).
