‘It is high. It is far. It is gooooone.” Broadcaster John Sterling’s signature radio call for the New York Yankees has stirred millions of fans and rankled millions more. On the verge of being stilled — Mr. Sterling had been enjoying a reduced schedule this season — the Voice of the Yankees has abruptly changed course to ensure he will be in position to make what could be the defining call of his half-century career.     

The dramatis personae: A Yankees slugger, Aaron Judge, in the center of his prime, swatting his way to a season for the ages. An octogenarian broadcaster, Mr. Sterling, who had stepped away from the microphone, now pulled back by the chance to narrate history. As the season enters the home stretch, Mr. Sterling’s pipes and Mr. Judge’s swing are at the center of the game. 

Even as Mr. Judge stands in the batter’s box — a recent power surge has him at 59 dingers, the most for a right-handed batter in American League history — Mr. Sterling’s moment couldn’t be more dramatic. The 84-year-old Mr. Sterling had ceded to colleague Ryan Ruocco for road games.

Now, though, Mr. Sterling will call those games alongside commentator Suzyn Waldman. The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand reports that Mr. Ruocco had been set to call the Bombers’ contests at Toronto. Instead it’ll be Mr. Sterling, with Mr. Judge only two home runs away from Roger Maris’s Yankee record.

That was set way back in 1961. With 16 games left, Mr. Judge topping that total has now entered the realm of distinct probability. Mr. Maris’s mark has only gained in prestige over the years, as the only players who have surpassed it — Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds — have all been tarred with the mark of performance enhancing drugs.

As one of Mr. Judge’s teammates, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, noted, “this is something that hasn’t been done in this era: someone chasing 61, clean like this with no question marks.”

While he has never hit home runs like Mr. Judge or rapped hits like Joe DiMaggio, Mr. Sterling is his own kind of Yankees legend. Between 1989 and 2019 he called 5,060 consecutive games, from quotidian contests to a whole string of World Series triumphs. While he previously noted the need to “recharge my batteries,” Mr. Judge’s bid for immortality appears too good to give up.

Just how stellar Mr. Judge’s season is shaping up to be has now come into focus. Besides a home run total that paces the league by 22 long balls, he has the most runs batted in by a wide margin, and is just one point off the lead in batting average. Thus a Triple Crown, a milestone reached by only 10 players in the last century, is firmly in reach. 

Mr. Sterling, whose patented catchphrases for individual players feel to some like a warm bath and to others like nails on a chalkboard, trots out one his best phrases for the current best Yankee of them all: “Here Comes the Judge.” It could now be the veteran broadcaster’s voice that will welcome the outfielder into the record books.