Here is a myth buster, Joe Buck does not hate your team.
He was part of a commentating dynasty at the St. Louis Cardinals, replacing his father Jack Buck as the voice of the team in 1991, after 40 years calling games.
Young Buck called games for 16 years before making the switch to mainstream broadcasting.
There is one incident that still rankles the former Voice of the World Series for FOX and now an ESPN anchor on Monday Night Football.
The incident revolves around, you guessed it, the Cardinals and their 2006 World Series win against the Detroit Tigers.
“In 2006, the Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series,” said Buck. “You’re always in baseball, when you do the national game, you’re always accused of rooting against both teams. Because baseball fans hear the home announcer doing the TV game all year long. And then you show up, and you’re doing the World Series when they care the most, and now the other team hits a home run and you’ve got to scream and yell and get excited while they’re throwing stuff at the TV,” he said on Tom Green’s Nothing Left Unsaid podcast.
“During the course of the season, when the other team hits a home run, their announcers, they’re paid to make everybody excited about the team, they’re sad. They don’t want to see or call the home run that just put their team down in the game.
“In 2006, I took the bait. I had a friend who played on the PGA Tour who I talked to, and I won’t name the announcer, but it was a broadcaster who was a Tigers fan. He said, ‘You know, it’s just a shame they let a St. Louis guy call the Cardinals and Tigers in the World Series because he’s obviously rooting for St. Louis.’ I was like, ‘Okay, you know I’m not. That’s ridiculous.’ But it’s my team that I grew up watching. My dad’s face is on the outfield wall as one of the people that’s been retired, in essence, by the organization.
I’m trying to be as impartial as I can. I heard that criticism from somebody in the business that was a Tigers fan and I thought, man, if that guy doesn’t get it, and he thinks I’m rooting for the Cardinals, then I really got to go the other way.
“I hear them win the 2006 World Series, and my voice is so flat and so monotone and so not excited because I’m trying to prove to everybody in Detroit, and this person in particular, I’m not rooting for the Cardinals.
“It was a life lesson. It was a broadcasting lesson for me, and I feel like I never took that bait again where it affected how I actually called the game.
“It was kinda Twitter before Twitter. I don’t think Twitter was around in 2006, but it got in my head. I’m sad that it did because it was the Cardinal’s first World Series in over two decades and the guy calling it on TV who grew up rooting for the Cardinals went so far the other way that’s it just not a good call.”
Tim and his son Troy, appearing on the show, peppered Buck with questions regarding regrets and bad calls.
He responded as best he can so fans, please let him sleep easy at night.
