Joe Buck called the World Series for Fox from 1996 to 2021. This year, with Buck jumping from Fox to ESPN, the World Series assignment was handled by Joe Davis.
During an appearance on this week’s SI Media Podcast, Buck was asked if he missed calling the World Series this year.
“The honest answer is no, which made me really happy,” said Buck. “I watched a lot of Game 6, some of Game 5 of the World Series. I really kind of latched on to the Phillies team. I liked watching them, and there were times in those big moments, like a Bryce Harper home run, I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I was there to call that.’
“But those moments are packed with a lot of stress and prep and travel and all,” Buck continued. “There’s a lot that goes into those moments. I was watching Game 6 with my wife on the couch in our house because I’m friends with Joe and I wanted to see Joe and John [Smoltz] and I wanted to see the end of the World Series, and I just caught her a bunch of times kinda looking at me out of the side of her eye like, ‘Are you OK over there? This is the first time in 22 straight years you’re not calling the last out of the World Series.’
“I’m like, ‘I’m OK. OK over here. Just watching the game.’ Watched it. Enjoyed it. Then went back to Dahmer.”
During the podcast, Buck also revealed that ESPN had approached him at one point this past season about calling an MLB game for the network, but he declined.
“They kind of gingerly asked me to do a game during the season,” said Buck. “I think Karl Ravech missed a game, and they said would you want to do it. It might have been in St. Louis. I don’t even know. And I said let’s just give it some time. … Look I’m ready to move on from that part of my life. I’ve done baseball broadcasting since I was 19, professionally. I feel like I’ve done all I can do there. If some day, I wanna go back and call a few games, maybe. But I do not have that itch. I love the sport. I love watching it. I’m so glad I did it. I’m proud of how and what I did, but I don’t have that desire at the moment to do that same thing over and over.”
During the podcast, Buck also talks about getting much harsher treatment from baseball fans than football fans, his first season calling Monday Night Football and much more.
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