Joe Buck on calling MLB Opening Day game for ESPN: ‘It’s a little ridiculous’

Joe Buck will call a Major League Baseball game for ESPN on Opening Day, but he’s not exactly exuding excitement about it.

Last month, it was announced that the voice of Monday Night Football would be returning to baseball to call ESPN’s Opening Day broadcast of the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, Thursday, March 27. This week, Buck joined The Morning After on 101 ESPN in St. Louis, where he was asked about calling a baseball game nationally for the first time since 2021. ESPN is excited about it. Baseball fans are excited about it. Buck? He’s just hoping to get hit with a foul ball.

“It’s a little ridiculous,” Buck said of calling an MLB game for ESPN. “An executive at ESPN asked me to do it, his name is Mark Gross. Great guy. Good friend. He just got reassigned to baseball. He’s like, ‘Hey look, we have a spot, I don’t know if you would, but I’d love for you to do it.’ And like I said yes to [famed Fox executive] David Hill [on] doing bass fishing years ago, I said yes to Mark. Only because I’m hoping to get hit by a foul ball.”

The foul ball reference is an ode to Seattle Mariners announcer Rick Rizzs who took a baseball to the back of his head earlier this week. Rizzs recovered quickly and even finished calling the game, but The Morning After still had some fun with that audio.

At least Buck is consistent. Since joining ESPN, Buck has maintained that he left his MLB broadcasting days behind at Fox. And he especially has no interest in calling games nationally.

Last season, Buck did join Chip Caray for one game in the St. Louis Cardinals booth. But that was more of a celebratory moment, marking the first time in more than a half-century that a Buck and Caray were on the same call, with Joe’s father, Jack and Chip’s grandfather, Harry previously former an iconic broadcast duo.

Regardless of whether he gets hit by a foul ball, Buck shouldn’t have to worry about being asked back into a baseball booth beyond this year. ESPN and MLB are heading for a divorce after the season. But calling a game for ESPN certainly seems like a favor to them, more than it is Buck scratching any sort of baseball itch.