Announcers at sporting events have a difficult job. They must entertain the fans listening while not getting
in the way of the event. The job is done to perfection when the broadcaster makes a call that becomes
coupled with a great game and is remembered through history along with the game. The examples I can
think of off the top of my head are Bobby Thompson's homerun call ("The Giants Win the Pennant!"), the
1980 US Olympic hockey victory over the USSR ("Do you believe in Miricles?"), and Jack Buck's call
of Ozzie Smith's homerun in the 1985 playoffs ("Go crazy, folks, go crazy!"). That last one may not mean
as much to everyone as it does to me, having grown up in St. Louis and having lived and died with the
Cardinals as a kid. I can remember watching that game and hearing Jack make that call like it was
yesterday.
Jack Buck died yesterday. He was 77 years old. The word legend gets thrown around a lot these days,
especially in the sports world. It makes it difficult to use that word to describe Jack Buck, because the
luster has been taken off the word. But Jack Buck was a true legend. Jack was the voice of baseball in
St. Louis. Growing up in St. Louis, Jack Buck was the one constant for the Cardinals. The player that
was the icon of my youth, Ozzie Smith, was with the team for over fifteen years, but I can remember
when Gary Templeton was our shortstop and not Ozzie Smith. I cannot remember a time when Jack
Buck was not the Cardinals broadcaster. I am fairly young, so perhaps my father or my grandfather can
remember listening to the broadcaster that came before Jack Buck, but I think they would be hard
pressed to come up with a better Cardinals broadcaster than Jack. People that live on the coasts
probably don't hold Jack in the high regards that midwesterners do, but believe me, Jack Buck is in the
same class as Mel Allen and Vin Skully.
Jack was always respectful of the game. He entertained as well as informed during his broadcasts and he
was always on the correct side of the line that many broadcasters now cross of injecting themselves into
the game. His trademark "That's a winner!" at the conclusion of every Cardinals victory will be missed.
Baseball lost one of its crown jewels yesterday. Goodbye Jack.
"That's a winner!"