Joe Buck knew that calling Opening Day for ESPN was a “little ridiculous.”
The voice of Monday Night Football for the Worldwide Leader would be the first one to admit that the game of baseball has passed him by. And it’s not because Buck isn’t fully capable of sitting in the booth for nine innings and delivering entertaining theater. He proved on the Milwaukee Brewers-New York Yankees call that he’s still got it.
And as he told Rock Riley on The Rock Stops Here podcast, he’ll call games as long as ESPN wants him to. He didn’t specify whether that meant solely Monday Night Football, but Buck has been strictly a football announcer for his new employer since 2021. He also dabbles in MLB, as he did for Game 1 of a 162-game schedule. But that’s more of a cameo if anything.
Buck’s return to the baseball broadcast booth earned praise from every corner of sports media. He felt comfortable in his return, noting that he hadn’t felt like he had left, all while treating it like Game 7 of the World Series. Buck told Riley he was grateful to be back, looking out over the diamond at the house George Steinbrenner built. But he was just as grateful he didn’t embarrass himself in the process.
“It was fun. I’m glad I did it,” Buck said. “You realize when you haven’t done it in four years, how many people change. So, a lot of people have moved into the game that I wasn’t aware of. As a broadcaster, I was aware of transactions every day. I knew who everybody was. You step away, and you’re still a fan, but there’s a lot of changeover. It was playing catch-up for a month and a half, getting ready for that game. And I realized when they were doing highlights of other games that were going on Opening Day, I’m like, ‘Who the heck is that?'”
“I was glad I wasn’t exposed for being the fraud that I was on Thursday,” Buck added. “But, it was awesome. I loved working with the guys that I got to work with. I’m really glad I did it.”
But would he do it again?
That’s the million-dollar question.
And if Opening Day was a one-time thing, at least Joe Buck walked away unscathed.
His fastball is still intact, and his dignity is very much preserved.