This is just wrong.

Bob Sheppard – the voice of the Yankees at the Big Ballpark from 1951 to 2006 – died Sunday at the age of 99.

Here’s the picture from the Boston Globe obituary:

Worse, the one in the Boston Herald obit made Sheppard look downright demonic/demented. (It has since been removed from the website, but check out the dead-tree Monday Herald if you don’t believe me.)

Geez, let the man go with some dignity.

(Oddly, the copy in both obits was quite complimentary to Sheppard.)

Regardless, how hard would it have been to use the photo from Sheppard’s 2000 appreciation day that both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times ran?

From the Times obit:

His recorded voice still introduces Derek Jeter at the plate, a touch the Yankees’ captain requested to honor Sheppard.

“He’s as much a part of this organization as any player,” Jeter said Sunday. “Even though the players change year in and year out, he was the one constant at Yankee Stadium. He was part of the experience.”

Class honoring class. Too bad the Boston papers had it in short supply this time around.