Tonight, weather permitting, Joe Buck will put on his headset, take his seat beside partner Tim McCarver and make broadcasting history.
He will join play-by-play legends Vin Scully and Curt Gowdy by calling his 12th World Series. The 2009 Fall Classic also marks analyst McCarver’s 20th behind the microphone, adding to his record-setting achievement. His first assignment was the 1985 “Show Me Series” between the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals on ABC.
Buck, the lead broadcaster for FOX, knows very well what this record means. His father, Jack Buck, called 11 World Series in his Hall of Fame career.
We talked about the record as well as the constant charge leveled at all broadcasters for seeming to favor one team over the other:
So what does this record mean to you?
Buck » “I don’t say this to try and be funny, but I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I happened to work for the same people since I started as a 24-year-old. I’m lucky and I don’t consider myself in that category with those two guys. Those two guys are the standard by which all others are measured. I’m certainly not in that category just because I’ve had some longevity. I’ve just been the lucky guy and longevity doesn’t equal greatness, and in my mind greatness is the other two guys and certainly continues with Vin Scully to this day. I’m not even in that same sentence. I just feel fortunate to be able to call my 12th.”
Every year, no matter who the teams are or who the broadcasters are, fans complain that announcers take sides.
Buck » “We get excited when good plays happen and get critical when bad plays happen. It doesn’t matter which team we’re getting excited about and it doesn’t matter which team we are getting critical of. I think any fan that is living and dying with every pitch is an easily explained phenomenon. They want the voices they hear to think and act like they do. I think it’s only human nature. When they don’t hear that or they don’t hear their local announcers who do the games for them during the course of the summer and they’re hearing it from someone who has a different point of view, I think their radar goes up and it’s like, ‘clearly this guy is against my team.’ I can tell you, I don’t think like that.”
FOX is adding colorful White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to their pregame show. He will join host Chris Rose and analysts Mark Grace and Eric Karros. The FOX pregame show will air at 7:30 p.m.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
