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FOX Sports baseball analyst John Smoltz was the guest on The Varsity podcast hosted by John Ourand of Puck. The two talked about several different topics including the 2024 World Series which Smoltz is calling along with Joe Davis on FOX. This is the third year for the pairing of Davis and Smoltz following six years of him calling games with Joe Buck.
Ourand asked Smoltz to compare the two broadcasters. “Well, I’ll say this, and I’ve said it a million times, I can’t believe that Joe Davis has replaced two of the greatest all-time. I mean, at his age, I don’t even know of another scenario where you could say, yet alone replacing Vin Scully, but Joe Buck.
“I agree with you on Joe Buck. He is as good as it gets, and Joe Davis hasn’t missed a beat. It takes time, no different than Vin Scully and Joe Buck, when they broke in, to create a longevity that they both were at the top, and so Joe Davis is replacing two icons.”
Smoltz went on to say about Davis, “I honestly think it’s one of the most amazing stories that will get told someday, and to think that we grew up 15 minutes apart, now in a different time frame, I’m a little bit older than Joe, but he grew up in Potterville, and I grew up in Lansing, Michigan, and to think that the booth is being represented in two of the smallest cities in Michigan is a pretty cool thing for he and I.
“We share a lot of the same likes as far as teams growing up and rooting for. We’re both Lions fans, so I just think this year is the ultimate test for Joe Davis, and he’s passed it so far, in my opinion, in flying colors.”
Ourand and Smoltz went on to talk about Davis’s role as the voice of the Dodgers and that he knows no matter how good of a job he does, the Yankees fans will think he was rooting for the Dodgers and there’s a good chance some Dodgers fans will think he didn’t root hard enough for the team.
“When this World Series is over, mark my words, it’s been nine straight years for me, the opposite radio stations of the team that loses will accuse me and Joe Davis for rooting for the other team. It happens every year. Joe Buck told me, ‘When you get into this business, just be prepared, people think that you root for a team in the booth.’ It is the most nonsensical thing there is, but I understand it because they’re used to their home play-by-play announcing teams who never say anything about the other team in a glowing fashion.”
Smoltz later added, “I don’t have any social media. I don’t really care what people think, but it’s all around you.”
Another subject was about the various play-by-play voices Smoltz has worked with and Ourand asked about how his job changes when his partner does, such as the switch from Joe Buck to Joe Davis.
“Once you learn the tempo and the cadence and what each person brings, it’s pretty much my role is the same,” Smoltz said. “It’s just knowing, like I felt like there for years, I could close my eyes, I could be never looking at Joe Buck and never feel like I could step on him. I knew the cadence. I knew what he was trying to do. I knew when he was passing the ball.
“That’s the same thing now with Joe Davis after three years in now. It’s just been kind of smooth to where he’s obviously a little bit different than Joe Buck and his people that he has been replacing and who he works with on a daily basis. It’s like any other team. Once you get the rhythm and you understand where everybody’s going, then you can close your eyes and know without looking at your partner that he’s done talking or he’s handing the ball off to you. It’s definitely a learned booth for sure.”
