Joe Buck Backs Off Comments, Declares Baseball "My Life"

Buck Says Recent Baseball Comments Were Made In Jest

Fox Sports’ Joe Buck’s comments last week that he rarely watches baseball "backfired ... creating a bit of a firestorm that [Buck] attempted to extinguish Thursday” by calling MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, MLB Exec VP/Business Tim Brosnan, Fox Sports President Ed Goren and Fox Sports Chair & Exec Producer David Hill to apologize, according to Barry Jackson of the MIAMI HERALD. Buck said that he was joking and that the "only broader point he meant seriously … was baseball must follow through on efforts to speed up the game.” Buck added that he watches "a lot of baseball not only because ‘it’s my job to stay current,’ but also because ‘I enjoy it.’” Buck: “It was a total joke. If it didn’t come across as that, you fault the joke teller. Baseball has been my life (forever). … I said it was wrong and I’m sorry and it won’t happen again. I learned a valuable lesson. You have to be careful what you say and I was not careful” (MIAMI HERALD, 7/4). Buck also admitted that his comments were “too flippant,” and regretted that his comments “were interpreted as anything but humor.” Buck: “To me, baseball is, in some ways, other than my family and wife, my life, and it always will be. … I do watch sports. How could I not? Just for self-preservation. … I’d have to do it for my own job’s sake. There’s only so much you can read, so watching is the best way to catch up” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/4). More Buck: “What gets lost (in the controversy) is the only thing said is, ‘Bachelorette.’ The point was about length of games” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/5).

REAX: In Baltimore, Ray Frager wrote, “Sure, he was probably kidding about The Bachelorette … but it was not exactly the kind of attitude you might have expected from Fox’s voice of baseball” (Baltimore SUN, 7/4). But in Dayton, Kyle Nagel wrote, "As long as the guy is knowledgeable enough for his profession, why does he need to be glued to baseball games all night?" (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 7/5).