Joe Buck’s Story
If you’re a sports fan, you likely know who Joe Buck is. He’s the lead broadcaster for Fox Sports on the TV network’s NFL and Major League Baseball games.
He’s also the son of one of the most famous sports broadcasters ever, and because of that, Joe Buck has never really gotten the praise he should have over more than two decades of really, really good work. Or perhaps a better way to put it is — he’s received praise, but he’s also been the target of outrageous comments by some who can’t stand the idea — can’t wrap their arms around the idea — that Joe Buck is a damn good broadcaster.
Among the things his critics have said for years — and that Joe Buck has clearly heard: “He never should have gotten the Fox job. He wasn’t qualified. He’s a lousy broadcaster. He owes his entire career to his dad — or at least to his dad’s name.” For the record — and it’s an impressive one — Joe’s dad was Jack Buck, the legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster best known for being “the voice” of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team for many years.
Well, Joe Buck talks about that and everything else — from his childhood, to his dad’s assistance in getting him started, to his marriages, to his children and — in one of the most searing chapters I’ve read in years — his dad’s agonizing death — in his recently released autobiography,, “Lucky Bastard.” And., yes, the title is much more than an attempt at foul-mouthed humor, but you’ll have to read this superb book to find out.
Joe makes no effort to paint himself as the world’s greatest sports broadcaster, though he certainly is among their ranks. In his book, he constantly puts himself down, makes fun of himself and goes out of his way to tell us that he fully realizes the advantages he had in being Jack Buck’s son.
I found myself laughing out loud when Joe recalls how, during a cold NFL game in Green Bay, he desperately had to make a bathroom stop while he was on the air — but the commercial breaks gave him no time to get to and from his broadcast booth. So what did he do? Read the book.
You’ll also find out what happened during his first major-league TV broadcast — the Cardinals against the Mets at Shea Stadium in New York. Things went so off-kilter that he realized he should have said, on air: “I don’t know what I’m doing! If you think I only got this job because my father is a beloved broadcaster, you’re right! You all win! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gong to lie down for a bit.”
That’s what he should have said, but he did not. Instead, what happened is what every broadcaster — including me, in all those years I was in the broadcast business — fears and has nightmares about. It wasn’t pretty.
Joe Buck uses other examples throughout the book to try to convince you, in a light-hearted way, that he can be — in his words — “an idiot.” No story points that out any clearer than his efforts, over the years, to get hair transplants from the back of his head to the front. No, he did not do it because he was vain — he was honestly scared that he could lose his lucrative Fox job because he was going slightly bald. The problem with getting those transplants is they caused such a reaction in his body that his career was, indeed, threatened. Yes, for the first time, in this book, Joe reveals why he sounded hoarse on the air for several years — or didn’t you notice?
Joe Buck did, indeed, get the luckiest break of his life by being Jack Buck’s son. Yes, Jack helped him get his first job. But here’s the deal, and it’s such an obvious thing that I almost feel embarrassed to write it: Joe never would have lasted as Fox TV’s lead sports guy — the guy who’s announced every World Series game for decades now, along with numerous NFC Championship games and Super Bowls — if, after getting that first break, he wasn’t a good announcer.
Seriously — does anyone with a brain — anyone– believe that a major network would keep someone on the air for more than TWO DECADES because his dad was a famous announcer 30 years ago? Please. Don’t insult yourself by thinking that.
Now, as easy to read as “Lucky Bastard” is — Chapter 10 is gut-wrenching. It’s about Jack Buck’s final health battle — this time with cancer. He was already suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and diabetes, and his latest battle would prove to be his last. Joe Buck’s loving and heart-breaking rendition of his dad’s last months and weeks and days — and his last night — left me in tears. And when I tried to read part of it to my wife, I sobbed again.
Go ahead. Read it for yourself. Read Joe Buck’s book — savor his “insider” stories about the sports broadcasting business — enjoy his self-effacing comments about his life and career and family — and maybe, just maybe, you’ll think about him in a new way, if you’re an avid sports fan, as I am.
Yes, his dad, Jack Buck, was a great broadcaster — one of the best. If he were still alive, he’d be proud to know that his son is right up there, as well.