SI Media Mailbag: What Is Up With Joe Buck and Baseball?

In Jimmy Traina’s SI Media Mailbag, he answers questions on Joe Buck calling baseball, CBS vs. Fox NFL broadcast crews and more.

Welcome to the 13th installment of a weekly mailbag that I will be writing about the world of sports media (and anything else you want to chime in on). Please email me any questions you have to Jimmy.Traina@si.com or send them via Twitter.

The big news of the week in my world was the announcement that Sal Licata, who joins me every week on SI Media With Jimmy Traina for our weekly Traina Thoughts segment, will now be cohosting WFAN’s 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. show beginning July 24 after working the stations overnight show the past few years. That news led to some questions.

Will @sal_licata continue to be on the pod or will he start big timing you now?

— Patrick Webb (@webb_02) June 20, 2023

Will Sal still be on the Pod?

— Corey Witt (@CoreyWitt) June 20, 2023

Yes, the plan is to still have Sal join me every week for “Traina Thoughts.” I’m hoping Sal’s new schedule will actually make it easier for him to do the pod. Sal and I will go in depth on his new promotion on this week’s podcast, which comes out Thursday morning.

Why is ESPN not begging Joe Buck to call baseball games?

— Matt (@Mchuck16) June 20, 2023

I don’t know whether ESPN has begged, but I’m sure they strongly asked when he brought Buck over from Fox, but Buck was done with calling baseball at that time. If he had stayed at Fox, 2022 was going to be his last year calling baseball for the network, so Buck isn’t calling baseball at ESPN because of Buck, not ESPN.

Last November, Buck told me on SI Media With Jimmy Traina that ESPN did approach him to call one game last season, but he did not have the itch to call baseball.

“They kind of gingerly asked me to do a game during the season,” said Buck. “I think Karl Ravech missed a game, and they said would you want to do it. It might have been in St. Louis. I don’t even know. And I said let’s just give it some time. … Look, I’m ready to move on from that part of my life. I’ve done baseball broadcasting since I was 19, professionally. I feel like I’ve done all I can do there. If someday, I wanna go back and call a few games, maybe. But I do not have that itch. I love the sport. I love watching it. I’m so glad I did it. I’m proud of how and what I did, but I don’t have that desire at the moment to do that same thing over and over.”

However, Buck recently opened the door to calling baseball again.

“I think I will [do baseball again],” he told The PBP: Voices of Baseball podcast.

“I’ve never said that before. But I just feel like I’m 53, basically 54, I think it’s too early to say never at this point in my life. I think at some point, I’ll get the itch again.”

Are there any figures in sports media who you could see as successors to Pat Sajak? Personality not too large; very welcoming and friendly to newcomers; potentially there for decades similar to Drew Carey.

— Kyle Speicher 🇺🇸 (@TVKyle) June 20, 2023

I did throw out five suggestions for the gig last week, and although the column was tongue-in-cheek, not everyone realized that.

I’m 100% going with the premise that Robin Quivers reads TRAINA THOUGHTS. https://t.co/60sOvuf9Qz pic.twitter.com/oqUDFrtRcz

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 14, 2023

I think there are plenty of personalities from the sports world who could easily make for a good Wheel of Fortune host. Buck is one of those people. Rich Eisen, Scott Van Pelt, James Brown, Dan Patrick, Nate Burleson and Tony Reali are also names that come to mind.

In your opinion, from top to bottom, which network has the best collection of broadcast teams for NFL coverage? CBS or FOX? And explain why.

— Michael Silvers (@msilvers1979) June 19, 2023

CBS blows Fox away in my opinion. Fox is very strong at the top with Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen, but CBS’s depth is so much better thanks to Ian Eagle as its No. 2 play-by-play guy and Kevin Harlan as its No. 3 play-by-play guy. We don’t know yet who will lead CBS’s fourth team since Greg Gumbel will no longer work NFL games for the network, but Andrew Catalon, who has worked on CBS’s fifth team in recent years could be a No. 2 guy at Fox.

With Olsen getting bumped up to the No. 1 team last year after Troy Aikman went to ESPN, and with things in limbo due to Tom Brady’s moving into the lead booth in 2024, Fox used Daryl Johnston on its No. 2 team last season. Not good. At all.

I feel pretty confident this was not the first time Bob Huggins drove drunk. How much do announcers owe listeners to share before after these events what they know about the lives of players/coaches? Cf Morant.

— DrNachoMD (@DrNachoMD) June 20, 2023

You may feel confident this was not the first time Huggins was driving while intoxicated, but a broadcaster can’t throw that claim out there. They can’t go by what they are “confident of.” They have to go by facts. Now, if you’re saying that you think some broadcasters may have actually seen Huggins leave an establishment while intoxicated and get behind the wheel, that’s a different story. I still don’t think that’s something a broadcaster should announce on the air.

I think the bigger issue is broadcasters fawning over coaches and players with checkered pasts. But broadcasters use these guys to get quotes and information, and many broadcasters share the same agents as players, so they are going to be compromised no matter what.

It sounds like you have a bigger problem with McAfee’s answer than my questions. I asked him whether ESPN had creative input into his show. I asked him whether he’ll still be allowed to have non-ESPN guests on his show. I asked him why he’s leaving FanDuel. I asked him why he chose ESPN over three other suitors. If you think I asked McAfee softball questions, I’d love it if you told me which questions I should’ve asked.

Who is this year's MLB "fun team"?
It was San Diego, but this year Cincinnati seems to be the winner.

— Jeremy Kasperson (@jeremykasperson) June 20, 2023

I agree with Cincinnati thanks to rookie Elly De La Cruz. I think the Orioles are also a fun team, especially after they've been so bad for so long.

What live event would you be willing to go to if you knew you’d be stuck in traffic for hours after it ended?

— mongoocess (@mongooces) June 20, 2023

Fascinating question. I wouldn’t mind being stuck in traffic for hours as long as I was prepared for it and really wanted to attend the event. It’s when the traffic is much worse than you expected that you lose your s---.

Now, what event would I really want to attend that badly? Not many. There certainly isn’t a sporting event I’d want to wait in traffic for. Maybe if Eddie Murphy returned to stand-up. Maybe Billy Joel’s last-ever concert. 

Why does Hank still not get his respect amongst the greatest Wack Packers? Beetle and High-Pitch are incredible, but Hank paved the way.

— Matthew Bubar (@BroIncognito) June 20, 2023

Totally agree. Hank absolutely blows High Pitch away and is a Mount Rushmore Wack Packer. I think Hank gets snubbed because, sadly, he passed away so many years ago and never even made it to the Sirius years.