Like Father, Like Son: Joe Buck Follows in Dad’s Footsteps to Hall of Fame
By CHARLIE VASCELLARO
COOPERSTOWN
In an interview following notification of receiving the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, Bill White acknowledged the people who had assisted him in his second career as a broadcaster. Among those mentioned by White was former St. Louis Cardinals broadcaster who received the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence in 1987. Following in his father’s footsteps is the year’s Frick Award winner, Joe Buck.
Buck began his broadcasting career in 1989 as a play-by-play announcer for the Louisville Redbirds minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals and covered the AAA All-Star Game for ESPN during the season. He got his start in big league baseball two years later covering the Cardinals for the local CBS affiliate KMOV television station and KMOX radio in 1991, substituting when his father was working the national CBS broadcast.
Equally adept at calling football and baseball, Buck worked for Fox Sports as lead play-by-play announcer for the network’s national NFL and MLB coverage from 1994-2022.
Living a dream come true at the age of 27, Buck made the first of his 23 World Series broadcasts in 1996, becoming the youngest voice to call the Fall Classic since 25-year-old Vin Scully in 1953. Together with broadcast partner Tim McArver, the pair called a record 15 straight All-Star games.
More recently Buck portrayed a self-effacing version of himself on the Amazon Prime television series sitcom “Brockmire” from 2017-2020.
When he was notified in December 2025 that he would be the recipient of the 2026 Frick Award, Buck’s thoughts immediately returned to his father. In an interview for MLB.com he reflected on his father’s legacy.
“My best memory of my father as a broadcaster was in 1987 in Cooperstown, N.Y., and what that meant to him, meant to our family and to see the joy and pride he had,” Buck said. “I come in [to broadcasting] as the luckiest guy in the world. I was lucky to call Jack Buck my dad and my best friend. I’m lucky I’m Carol Buck’s son.
Jack and Joe Buck are the first father and son to be honored with the Frick Award.
“Joe Buck authored his own historic legacy while following in the footsteps of his father on a path to Cooperstown,” said Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “During an era of unprecedented audience growth throughout the game, Joe was the voice of the World Series and the All-Star Game, calling the biggest moments in baseball for more than a quarter of a century. He was a Saturday staple in homes across America while still serving as the voice of his hometown St. Louis Cardinals.”
