Joe Buck may revolutionize baseball broadcasting with the St. Louis Cardinals
It's been five years since Fox's Joe Buck called a St. Louis Cardinals game locally. A report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the World Series broadcaster may return to the Cards booth this year for a limited number of appearances, but not in a traditional play by play role. If Joe Buck does call Cardinals games for Fox Sports Midwest this year and these plans are put into place, it would bring a total transformation to traditional play by play and baseball broadcasting...
"There have been preliminary discussions about him doing play-by-play for a handful of Cards games on Fox Sports Midwest, in a looser fashion than ever has been done for any big-league regular season telecast.
Nothing has been cemented, but possibilities include chatting with players while the game is in progress — perhaps someone on the bench or in the on-deck circle — talking to a relief pitcher who wouldn’t play until later in the game, having a microphone on a fielder or other such innovations beyond even what might take place for an All-Star Game.
“The idea would be to try some fun stuff within a Cardinals game that hasn’t been tried before,’’ Buck said. “I don’t even know what that entails, but we’d be looking for different access to the on-air product. I think it could be cool. It would kind of loosen the reins a little, make the broadcasts a little more compelling. It would be in the category of ‘something different’ (but) how that takes shape I don’t know.’’"
Before you start freaking out and imagining this as Joe Buck Live meets Major League Baseball and a trainwreck of epic proportions with batters sitting on a couch with Joe Buck at the on deck circle... I actually think this could work. We're not talking about Joe Buck trying to show up Justin Timberlake and various All-Star shenanigans. These would be actual interviews that already dot legitimate baseball coverage as it stands, just turning the tables. The discussions with players would be the focus while the play by play would be intermittent instead of the other way around.
If there's any sport that could use some broadcast innovations, it's baseball. The game moves so agonizingly slow these days with a black hole of dead air sucking broadcasts dry, why not try to push the boundaries and experiment? Why not try something new? Why not try a looser broadcast that does something different? I'm all for innovations in broadcasting as long as they put viewers and fans first. Focusing on insights from players during the game could do just that. As long as players would feel free to refrain from tired cliches and offer real, honest opinions, it would be great for fans at home. And, as much as some of our audience would hate to admit it, Buck is the perfect person to run this experiment. He has the personality to carry conversations and do interviews while also filling in details about the game.
This idea would never work in basketball, football, or hockey but the pace of baseball could allow for a broadcast to basically be a nine inning conversation about the game instead of traditional play by play. Maybe there's a swath of hardcore baseball fans that would be aghast at the thought of someone not calling a 2-2 breaking ball at the knees painting the outside corner, but I'm intrigued by these possibilities. Sure it may fail miserably, but at least someone would be trying something to breathe new life into a baseball broadcast. The Post-Dispatch goes on to say if this happens at Fox Sports Midwest, and there are still several hurdles to clear from the nuts and bolts of how it would work to gaining cooperation from the teams and players, the new strategy could even make its way to the Fox national broadcast if it clicks. At that point you would have to ask yourself whether you would rather see a total transformation in baseball broadcasting... or more from Tim McCarver.
Joe Buck will announce St Louis games from a lounge chair in some noisy bar nearby Busch stadium... that's my guess.
I can't stand Joe Buck as a football announcer. However, I think he'd be a very good baseball announcer if he wasn't paired with Tim McCarver. In my opinion, Tim McCarver is the worst announcer in sports....not named Mike Mayock.
Today, I watched the first Dodgers telecast of the spring. It was nine innings of Vin Scully, and it worked just fine, thank you. Sadly, when Scully isn't there, the Dodgers have succumbed to the trend everywhere to have two announcers on at the same time trying to explain the game and their hotel rooms and golf games at the same time. I don't think Tiger fans felt unhappy to spend a day with Ernie Harwell or Mets fans with Bob Murphy, to name a couple of greats.
@michaelgreen327 Vinnie: "At least at the start of today's game, you will know most of the Dodgers and a couple of the Cubs." And then he gets into many interesting details of the schedule and it is 1958 all over again.
My view is that it would be great for baseball fans, but distracting to players during the game.
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The amount of suckage that Joe Buck and Timmy McCarver bring to any sporting event can not be exaggerated. All Star game viewership is way down, as is World Series. And who calls those games? Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. Perhaps MLB should rethink their broadcast contracts instead of adding stupid rules like home field advantage from all star games to try to get more people to watch.
As far as the idea of interviews during actions, no. Not at all. For the home run derby, ESPN interviewed someone during Andrew McCutchen's entire time at the plate. The focus was on the interview which I could not care less about. If I wanted to see an interview, I'd read a transcript by doing a google search. Instead, I wanted to see the home run derby, the entire point of me tuning in. I can press the mute button, but if the camera is showing the interview instead of the action, there's naught I can do about it.
If Joe Buck wants to help the game of baseball and the world of sports, the best thing he can do is hand in his microphone and keep his mouth shut.
Thanks for calling out the McCutchen coverage during the home run derby. Pirate fans have little cheer about as it and then ESPN craps all over their guy's at bat.
I've been a Cardinals fan my entire life. I want no part of this. His father was the best. The apple fell pretty far from the tree.
I'd love to see him doing the full 162 games to keep him away from the lead on Fox national games in baseball and the first month of the NFL. Alas he has some sort of pact with the devil and will be torturing us well into his 80s.
Dear St. Louis Cardinals, Coming from a Cubs fan KEEP HIS ASS THERE in St Louis! Love, Chicago Cubs Fans!
