Baseball Broadcasters Impressions: Fox Baseball

Continuing today's Baseball Broadcasters Impressions project with a look at the Fox national broadcasts.

Broadcasters: Joe Buck, Tim McCarver

Since Fox no longer has a traditional pregame show (The Baseball Network takes care of that) and since Fox no longer airs divisional series games (TBS airs those games) I'm only going to give my impressions of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

Having followed Buck on Twitter and listened to other legacy kid broadcasters I've actually come around on Buck as a broadcaster. He can at least describe what is happening in the game unlike Chip Carray and Buck's Twitter account doesn't make him sound condescending as Thom Brennaman.

My biggest problem I've always had with Buck is just his general mood during games and how he calls games. There's hardly ever any passion in his voice. Sure Buck gets excited on some moments (David Freese last year) but his overall mood for most games is that he would rather be anywhere but a baseball game. This fact has always killed me when I attempt to watch Fox Saturday games.

I'll give Buck credit for not having any dumb catchphrases (he doesn't try to make the game all about him than Chris Berman) and when championships are won it never sounds like he rehearsed a line like Jim Nantz. Buck also has a great feel when championships are won to just shut up and let the TV audience soak in the cheers of the audience at the stadium like Vin Scully. If Buck had any passion at all though he would probably be the best broadcaster today.


I don't know what else I can about McCarver that hasn't been said before. McCarver has been around baseball forever and I'm sure once upon a time he was a decent broadcaster. My problem with McCarver has always been he talks to his audience like all of us have never seen a baseball game in our life.

I've always been very careful in criticizing analysts who call national games. Especially when they do talk about the game in very simple terms. We as the audience have to remember that there is probably someone watching that same game, whatever game that might be, who has never seen that sport before and therefore doesn't know the terminology.

That being said McCarver doesn't need to speak in a way for the entire game like the entire audience has never seen a baseball game. There are definitely more people watching a baseball game that have watched a game before. We don't need to be spoken to like we're all idiots. And newcomers to the game don't need to be spoken to like they're five years old.

And I haven't even gotten to McCarver's inappropriate comments in the booth, his giggling, and his general old manish. McCarver I'm sure was a great broadcaster before I was born but today he's just an embarrassment.