Reggie Jackson famously nicknamed him "The Voice of God",[2] and Carl Yastrzemski once said, "You're not in the big leagues until Bob Sheppard announces your name.

[5] Sheppard began his career playing semiprofessional football on Long Island with the Valley Stream Red Riders and the Hempstead Monitors, earning $25 a game,[6] and teaching speech at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.

[7] During World War II he served in the Navy as a gunnery officer aboard cargo ships, both in convoys and on independent missions in the Pacific Theater.

"[10] After World War II, Sheppard was hired as the public address announcer for St. John's football and basketball games, a job he kept well into the 1990s.

He came to the attention of the Yankees when a front-office official heard him deliver a tribute to Babe Ruth at a Dodgers football game in 1948.

His first game featured eight future Hall of Famers: DiMaggio, Mantle, Johnny Mize, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto for the Yankees, and Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr, and Lou Boudreau for the Red Sox.

For more than half a century each game began with his trademark cadence – "Good afternoon (evening)...ladies and gentlemen...and welcome...to Yankee Stadium" – his words reverberating around the massive structure.

"[15] He did stumble on at least one rookie's name: Jorge Posada was called up from Columbus late in the 1995 season, and made his first appearance as a Yankee in Game 2 of the 1995 American League Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, as a pinch runner for Wade Boggs.

"[15] His other famous faux pas occurred in 1982 at Yankee Stadium, when he inadvertently left his microphone on as Shane Rawley gave up a double on his first pitch in relief, instantly turning a 3–2 lead into a 4–3 deficit.

[14] Throughout his career, Sheppard famously refused to reveal his age, once abruptly ending an interview when Jim Bouton asked the question a second time.

[17] He readily disclosed his birth month and day, October 20 (possibly because he shared it with Mickey Mantle[18]), but never publicly acknowledged the year.

For years, there was conjecture that his compulsive secretiveness stemmed from a fear that Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would think him too old and replace him, but Sheppard denied it.

Phil Rizzuto once asked him to name the greatest Yankee Stadium game he had ever announced, probably expecting to hear a good baseball story.

"The day Pat Summerall kicked the field goal in the snow in 1958", Sheppard replied, referring to the legendary December 14 Giants victory over Cleveland.

He was succeeded by his long-time understudy, former debate student, and colleague in the Speech Department at St. John's University, Jim Hall.

[24] The following week, he was hospitalized with a bronchial infection, forcing him to miss the final homestand and the AL Division Series against Cleveland, thus ending his streak of 121 consecutive postseason games at Yankee Stadium.

At the pre-game ceremony Walter Cronkite read the inscription, which states in part that his voice was "...as synonymous with Yankee Stadium as its copper facade and Monument Park.

[6] The Yankees' first home game after Sheppard's death, a 5–4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on July 16, 2010, was played with an empty public address booth and no announcements.

[33] The Yankees wore a Bob Sheppard commemorative patch on the left sleeve of their home and road jerseys for the remainder of the 2010 season.

[34] The United States House of Representatives passed a resolution "commending Bob Sheppard for his long and respected career" by voice vote on November 16, 2010.

[17] On September 26, 2013, a recording of Sheppard's introduction, followed by Metallica's Enter Sandman, were played as Mariano Rivera stepped to the mound at Yankee Stadium for the final time.

[15][43] Sheppard was deeply religious, "...as strong in his Roman Catholic faith as anybody I knew", wrote his longtime friend, George Vecsey.