Joe Buck will make his return to the Busch Stadium broadcast booth on Friday night alongside Chip Caray to broadcast the St. Louis Cardinals game against the Chicago Cubs at 8:15 p.m. EST on Bally Sports Midwest. Buck’s father and Caray’s grandfather worked together on Cardinals radio broadcasts on KMOX from 1954 to 1959 and 1961 to 1969. Both St. Louis natives made an indelible impact on fans of the team and Major League Baseball as a whole. Friday night will mark the first time since 1969 that a Buck and Caray broadcast team will call a Cardinals game together. On Thursday’s edition of MLB Now on MLB Network – hosted by Brian Kenny and featuring Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo and Bob Costas – Joe Buck appeared to discuss the significance of the moment.
Buck, who joined ESPN in 2022 to serve as the voice of Monday Night Football with longtime broadcast partner Troy Aikman, was previously the lead play-by-play announcer for FOX Sports’ coverage of the National Football League and Major League Baseball. During his time behind the microphone for MLB on FOX, he worked with Tim McCarver and John Smoltz for broadcasts across 24 World Series championships and numerous marquee matchups. Buck has divulged in the past that he misses calling games for the local team and evinces a connection between broadcasters and fans. Before working at FOX Sports, he called Cardinals games on KMOX radio on FOX Sports Net Midwest.
“I think as far as calling baseball, doing the local stuff and being able to root with the watching and listening audience I think it’s a part of it that I missed when I went to FOX,” Buck said. “It’s just a different job, and I think when you’re thinking and I think hoping along with the fanbase that you’re talking to, there’s something fun about that, and that’s the part of it that I miss. So, will there be more games? I don’t know, but I’m going to have fun tomorrow night.”
Buck explained that Bill DeWitt III, the president of the St. Louis Cardinals, had approached him with the idea to return to call a Cardinals game while he was with FOX Sports at the end. Once he joined ESPN, DeWitt brought up the idea with more frequency, but Buck articulated that he was content with being at ESPN and broadcasting football games.
Caray became the play-by-play voice of the Cardinals last season and appears on Bally Sports Midwest alongside a rotation of color commentators that includes Jim Edmonds and Brad Thompson. Buck will be in the booth with Caray on Friday serving in a multifaceted role.
“Now that I have 6-year-old boys who are both playing coach-pitch baseball, I kind of want to do it to get them down on the field, to get them in the booth [and] let them see what I did for 35 years of my life and enjoy it,” Buck said. “And I’ll be honest – it’s narcissistic; it’s ego-filled that I’m doing it, but I’m really excited to get back in the booth and to work with Chip and to do play-by-play and color and switch off, and just to have two-and-a-half, three hours of fun.”
