Tony Bennett passed away Friday at the age of 96. News outlets around the world dusted off the obituaries they had filed away 20 years ago, knowing that, well, no one lives forever. Even back then the words “legendary” and “incomparable” were in the first sentence or two, followed by several paragraphs of career highlights and records. Every few years they had to tack on another album. And then another Grammy Award. And then another album and another. And another Grammy Award. And a television special. And a dozen more “lifetime achievement” awards.

But eventually you run out of lifetime.

I did a quick check of the archives on this site. The legendary Tony Bennett was mentioned in no less than 15 different posts. Wow. I’d love to say he’s got the record there but, well, of course it’s second to Sinatra.

Second to Sinatra. For better or worse that’s the Tony Bennett story. But for the last quarter century he was number one, somehow getting better in his seventies, eighties, and nineties than he was as a world-famous 30-something. Forget the big-voiced balladeer in front of an orchestra he was as kid. As the jazz singer with a trio or quartet he really was “the best in the business,” as goes the well-worn Sinatra quote.

For years I’ve told two stories about Tony Bennett. Yes, I saw him perform in concert twice and the shows were incredible, but those aren’t the stories I tell. Story #1 concerns the year of his birth: 1926. I noted that he was one of four people born that year who stayed at his or her job way longer than anyone could have imagined. The others died within the past decade: Castro, Hugh Hefner, Queen Elizabeth. Tony Bennett was the last man standing, a class by himself.

The other story concerned my rating system for vocalists. I always referred to Tony Bennett as a “ballpark singer,” like, in the same ballpark as Frank Sinatra. There was Sinatra, the A-plus vocalist, and then there was the group of singers who had an A or an A-minus. Tony, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald… you know the names.

For the last 20 years I’ve known how I would end the obituary I’d one day write for Tony Bennett. I’d mention the bit about ballpark singers and then announce a promotion. Of course there’s Sinatra and there’s everyone else. In a subset of that second group is a small number of singers close to Sinatra… and then there’s Tony Bennett. The gap between Tony and the other legends listed above has grown to require the following:

Tony Bennett is in his own ballpark.

RIP.