The Big Lead

Howard Stern, Yankees broadcaster go back and forth about two-word catchphrase

By J.P. Hoornstra

Jan 30, 2013; New York, NY, USA; King of all media Howard Stern applauds before the start of an NBA game between the New York Knicks and the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden.
Jan 30, 2013; New York, NY, USA; King of all media Howard Stern applauds before the start of an NBA game between the New York Knicks and the Orlando Magic at Madison Square Garden. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
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In their book America’s Songs, authors Phillip Furia and Michael Lasser call I've Got the World on a String “one of the most aggressively cheerful songs to come out of America’s most dismal decade” — the 1930s.

There were perhaps enough Yankees fans who are old enough to recognize the lyric "Hey Now!" as a Frank Sinatra reference when Dave Sims, in his first year as the Yankees' radio play-by-play broadcaster, unveiled his aggressively cheerful home run call. Sims' first "Hey Now!" didn't wait long — Austin Wells went yard on the Yankees' first at-bat of 2025.

Among those who wondered aloud about the origins of "Hey Now": none other than Howard Stern.

Earlier this week, Stern joked that Sims borrowed the phrase fromThe Larry Sanders Show. The popular 1990s sitcom starring Garry Shandling made “Hey now” into a recurring line via Hank Kingsley, Shandling's announcer sidekick played by Jeffrey Tambor.

Not quite.

Sims responded to Stern on his Twitter/X account to explain the even older origins of his "Hey Now" catchphrase.

“The ‘Hey now!’ I got it from a Frank Sinatra song,” Sims said. "I appreciate your interest.”

News that the WFAN hired Dave Sims to replace the Yankees' retiring radio play-by-play broadcaster, John Sterling, was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Sims, 72, has paid his dues in New York media — first as a sports reporter with the New York Daily News, later as an afternoon sports-talk radio host on WFAN, and a television anchor on WCBS.

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Sims then became fixture in the Seattle Mariners' television broadcast booth starting in 2007. Since then, he's thrice been acclaimed as the Washington Sportscaster of the Year from the National Sports Media Association.

Quoting Sinatra amounts to the best kind of pandering to the Yankees' fan base. For Sims, the call seems to come from a genuine place — and that's a good thing. He figures to use it a lot this season.

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