Will Our Grandchildren Be Listening to Bob Sheppard Announce Yankee Lineups?

Given the length of last night's All-Star Game, it's not surprising that it featured a little bit of everything. The only thing missing, in fact, seemed to be the voice of Bob Sheppard over the public address system. The 97-year old Yankee Stadium fixture hasn't been well and has missed the entire season, including last night's game.

Thanks to technology, though, there may not be a need for the Yankees to go without Sheppard's signature tones for any stretch of time, whether he's living or dead. CNBC's Darren Rovell spoke with a representative from a company that specializes in text-to-speech technology who says that it's not far-fetched for the team to use Sheppard's voice ad infinitum.

"Doing names and numbers is easier than creating what they call a full domain voice, which is voicing full sentences. But if we had some time and money – and the Yankees certainly might have that bankroll -- we could do this."

I grew up going to Yankee Stadium and have always enjoyed hearing Sheppard announce the names and numbers. That said, there's something a little creepy about the prospect of hearing him 25 years from now. I could see using his voice for a bit that's the same every night, a welcome to the Stadium perhaps, but I think it would be okay to hand the day-to-day role over to someone else who can become a fixture for a new generation of Yankee fans.