Jack Buck, the GOAT of St. Louis Cardinals commentators and one of the greatest baseball commentators of all time, would have turned 100 on Wednesday. Born on August 21, 1924, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Buck grew up outside of Boston, following Jimmy Foxx and the Boston Red Sox before moving to Cleveland in 1939. His early exposure to various baseball commentators such as Bob Elson, Jack Graney, Mel Allen and Red Barber greatly shaped his love of the game while growing up in northeast Ohio.
Buck graduated from Lakewood High School in 1942 and was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. He was wounded in combat in March 1945 and was awarded the Purple Heart upon his discharge from the hospital. After the war, Buck returned to Ohio, where he enrolled at Ohio State University on the GI Bill to study linguistics. While in college, he worked at WOSU and WCOL, eventually commentating on Buckeyes basketball games before graduating in 1949.
In Columbus, Buck became acquainted with the St. Louis Cardinals when WCOL began broadcasting Columbus Red Birds games. Columbus was St. Louis’ Triple-A affiliate in 1949, and Buck auditioned for the role of commentator, which he got. After WCOL was sold to another owner in 1952, Buck was only briefly unemployed.
The following year, Buck covered another minor league affiliate team of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Rochester Red Wings. A year later, Buck got his big break when Anheuser-Busch Brewery bought the Cardinals and picked the commentators. Jack Buck joined Harry Caray at KMOX in 1954 and stayed there until he was replaced by Buddy Blattner in 1959. The split was temporary, with Blattner later moving to cover California Angels games in 1962.
Jack Buck rejoined Harry Caray at KMOX and both men covered the great St. Louis Cardinals teams of that decade. Buck became the lead commentator after Caray was shockingly fired following the 1969 season. In 1972, a former St. Louis Cardinal, Mike Shannon, joined his commentating career as Jack Buck’s KMOX radio partner. From 1972 to 2001, both men were mainstays of Cardinals baseball.
Buck endeared himself to the St. Louis community with his trademark slogan, “That’s A Winner!” after every Cardinals victory. That slogan became famous after the 1982 World Series finale. Three years later, he told everyone to “go crazy!” after Ozzie Smith scored a walk-off victory in Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS.
Toward the end of his career, Jack Buck left another unforgettable impression on St. Louis and the nation. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Buck recited to the audience at Busch Stadium II a moving poem he had written to commemorate those who had lost their lives in New York City. Jack Buck died in 2002 from a variety of health ailments, including Parkinson’s, but his legacy lives on in St. Louis.
