Editorials

2020 World Series: Dodgers Fans’ Opinions of Joe Buck

Let’s face it, as Dodgers fans, we are spoiled. Our team employs only the best at everything: scouts, medical staff, stadium personnel, and most notably, our broadcast team.

From Vin Scully all those many years to the current treasure of Joe and Orel, let’s face it, we have been treated to the very best.



With Vin for many stories years, it felt like watching a game with your Dad or Grandpa, and a Joe and Orel broadcast over the last few years has become a party you’re attending with your buddies. They have all made the bad games worth staying up for, and the memorable moments that much more special.

Which brings us to the postseason, and the polarizing topic of that other October mainstay known as Joe Buck calling World Series games on FOX.

It’s the reality of MLB broadcast rights that postseason games will be handled by other networks, and FOX has been and will be doing the World Series for the foreseeable future.

So what exactly is it about Joe Buck that turns off so many Dodger fans?

On this off-day, as we try to keep our minds busy before Game 6 of the 2020 World Series, we asked our Dodgers Nation readers this very question.

Many fans – even new listeners – feel there he has a bias to the other team and doesn’t even try to hide his disdain for the Dodgers:

Others have expressed that He talks about the same players or storylines too much…

…that he gets excited too easily…

…or that there is just too much chatter in general:

There is also a belief that he is just not enough of a baseball fan:

https://twitter.com/onthegrillwgil/status/1320769015749382144?s=20

Of course, we must always give credit where credit is due:

https://twitter.com/CRA_Recruiter/status/1320770198237024262?s=20

My own personal theory is that as Dodgers fans, we are so protective of our Dodgers that we cannot stand any bias – perceived or real – against our boys. We’re the ones putting the time in, pouring our heart and soul into attending or watching games, so we genuinely feel that we know more about our team and don’t like it when someone else becomes the voice of baseball for the national audience over the last few weeks of the season.

I also suggest that there may be a case of a very specific Pavlovian response happening here. Since he has been doing this for so long and is the only constant voice of postseasons past that many Dodgers fans know, we only associate his voice with postseason series’ that our team has lost. Regardless of what’s happened leading up to it, his has been the last broadcasting voice we’ve heard as we have headed into the off-season for many years now, calling the last out of a series won by a team not named Dodgers.

I can’t wait to test out this theory once we have all heard the sound of him calling the last out of a Dodgers World Series victory. You may just change your mind about how his voice makes you feel.

NEXT: Vin Scully’s Had the Dodgers the Whole Way

Gail Johnson

Biggest Dodgers fan north of the border, living about 3,500 miles from my beloved Boys In Blue, in Moncton, NB, Canada. I think Dodger Stadium is the happiest place on Earth. I'll catch up on my sleep in the off-season.

32 Comments

    1. He’s the guy who wishes he was as good as Vin Scully, the best ever IMO, and I’m old enough to remember Dizzy Dean.

  1. Buck seems to think he needs to fill the air with his blathering. I often find myself thinking “Why doesn’t thig guy just SHUT UP!”

  2. I normally agree but this year he hasn’t been that biased most of the time. He does get excited when the Dodgers do something as well as the other team and he gives them credit when deserved. His actual announcing skills are still below average however and obviously got the gig as the main playoff guy because of his dad. Imo he was better with Mccarver I always thought he was a solid partner who had good insight

  3. Agree with Don Cato. Buck was better with McCarver. I grew up watching the World Series in the 90s and 00s as a kid and teenager, Buck added to the mood and was enjoyable to listen to. I wasn’t as invested as I am now that the team I love is playing the WS, so I guess I didn’t find him as annoying as I do now. The true reason I find Joe Buck so annoying is because he’s talking about my team. But aside from that, I’m just glad I only have to listen to him in October. It’s true that we’re lucky to have Joe Davis, the next Dodger legendary announcer. Go Dodgers!

  4. Maybe some recently bias, yes. But his Dad had even more trouble hiding a general disdain for the Dodgers, especially on the national broadcasts in the 1970s and 80s. If the Dodgers win, Buck will sound appropriately excited. But if the Rays do, he’ll actually mean it.

  5. I couldn’t say if he’s been good or bad this World Series because I’ve watched the entire series with the mute button on. What I wouldn’t give to have Joe and Orel on the call.

    1. That is exactly what I do, I just can’t take stomach him and his constant praising of the other time. Whatever happen to just calling the game. To me Joe Buck=Mute and turn on Dodger radio. Go Dodgers!!!!!

  6. I agree that Joe Buck is annoying at times, but think about what we’d be saying if that idiot A-Rod was in the broadcast booth. And think back to the days of Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN and the vomit-inducing duo of Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. I get nauseous just thunking about it.

  7. The constant analysis in minute detail is mind-numbing and detracts from the enjoy of watching the game. Enough of “he has a 37% swing-and-miss rate from lefthanders on a 7-finger fastball on the lower outside corner.”

  8. Joe Buck insulted our military and imposed his politics on the audience. We don’t care about his political opinions, and we’re a captive audience to watch because they won’t let our local broadcast team do the games.

    Better to turn off the sound and listen to Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday (who saved the American flag from being burned at Dodger Stadium as a player and respects our military and veterans).

  9. Sorry but my opinion of Joe is that he is very average and will never be in the neighborhood Vin. When I watch Dodger games I Always watch the other teams feed.

  10. Yeah, he talks to much about things other than baseball, but he was great in “Brockmire” as a parody of himself.

  11. I actually like him a lot better with Smoltz than I did with McCarver. I disliked McCarver more than Buck. Growing up listening to Vinnie & Jerry Doggett spoiled us Dodger fans. But Joe & Orel are also very good.

  12. Buck varies between boring and annoying. I mute the sound, especially with the Rays up. Unfortunately can’t watch tv and listen to the radio as it won’t sync. Charlie and Rick are not my favorites– Charlie still can’t seem to tell whether a fly ball will be an out or not- but much better than the Buck/Smoltz duo. Wish I could listen to Joe and Orel. Listening to Orel talk about pitching is an education in itself!

  13. Joe Buck always comes a cross with comments that seem to favors the Dodgers opponent. Has spent a lot time parsing the the Rays and not so much the Dodgers.

  14. I think it’s ironic that Joe Buck should be criticized for being anti-Dodger. Maybe he is a bit. But he is not nearly as biased as Orel Hershiser (mainly) and Joe Davis (a bit). These two announcers are Dodger cheer leaders, and I’m a Dodger fan. I long for the days of Vin Scully who never referred to the Dodgers as “we.” He always referred to them as “the Dodgers.” He never cheered for the Dodgers. No wonder he is considered the best baseball announcer ever, for any team.

  15. A little off topic, but I have to ask… is anyone else greatly annoyed at Charlie Steiner’s calling lately? When the Ray’s won Game 4, he was yelling like his team had won. Any time they’ve scored or hit a homerun he is over the moon about it. Am I the only one thinking this?

  16. Well, I would just like FOX get rid of Joe Buck altogether. He is very biased against the Green Bay Packers and here is a jinx to us! Like people commented he doesn’t know when to SHUT UP! He got that job on the coattails of his Dad, he never played a sport in his life! Thanks Dodger Nation for letting me vent!

  17. As a lifelong Giants fan, I also hate Joe Buck. Loves the Yankees and Cardinals and makes it obvious. Every postseason, I’m reminded of how much he sucks. I think all nationwide broadcasters suck because they don’t spend appreciable time with the clubs they’re calling. Postseason baseball broadcasts should always feature the home team’s broadcasters. Except for the visiting team’s home market.

  18. Thank God that neither NY or Boston were playing, Buck is so obnoxiously east coast biased.
    Even then he kept bringing up the loser Yankees far too often.

    For sure, he often seems to forget that a game is going on while he drifts off into boring chit chat.

  19. My son and I who live in opposite sides of NJ text the whole time saying, Why doesn’t Joe SCHMUCK just shut his mouth.
    Lolo

  20. I was so annoyed at Fox commentary. Supposedly the Rays were the best team on the planet. Snell was totally unhittable. Things got real quiet when Mookie hit his home run. I longed for Orel and Joe the whole series. Commentators should not be bias towards any team, just call the games, don’t tell Cody Bellinger how to step in and how to cure a slump. You couldn’t wreck the series for me, I have been true blue since I was 10. You have a lot to learn about commentating sports.

  21. There’s a little delay but I listen to Sirius radio when this idiot is a announcing

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