A Tribute to a Broadcasting Legend
Joe Buck, the legendary play-by-play announcer, was recently honored with the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2026 Ford C. Frick Award. The ceremony, held in Cooperstown, celebrated a career that saw Buck serve as the lead MLB voice for Fox Sports from 1996 to 2021, a tenure that included calling 135 World Series games before he moved to ESPN in 2022.
The Inspiration Behind the Microphone
During a recent MLB on Fox broadcast featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets, Joe Davis—who succeeded Buck as the lead voice of the World Series—took a moment to honor his predecessor. Speaking with broadcast partner John Smoltz, Davis recounted a formative moment from his youth:
«I was a 12 or 13-year-old kid. I remember sitting there watching the World Series. And my mom asked me; she happened to ask, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” And I knew sort of what I wanted to do, but I remember pointing to the TV and saying, “That. I want to be just like him. I want to be like Joe Buck.”»
Davis noted that at the time, Buck was calling the 2001 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks. That experience solidified Davis's career aspirations. He expressed his gratitude to Buck, stating, «Congratulations, and thank you for all those years of showing me the way the job should be done.»
A Mutual Respect
The admiration between the two broadcasters is mutual. During his own Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Buck spoke warmly about his successor, assuring the audience that «the job is in great hands at Fox with my friend Joe Davis.» This gesture highlights the strong professional bond between the two, as Buck has consistently championed Davis’s work throughout his transition into the top role at the network.