One of the biggest names in sports broadcasting just cemented his legacy in the most official way possible. Joe Buck, who’s been the voice behind some of the most iconic moments in baseball history, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. At 56 years old, he’s now the second-youngest person ever to win this prestigious honor, trailing only the legendary Vin Scully, who was 54 when he received it in 1982.
What makes this achievement even more special is that Buck becomes only the first son in history to join his father in receiving this award. His dad, Jack Buck, won the Frick Award back in 1987, making them the only father-son duo to both be honored for broadcasting excellence by the Hall of Fame. When Buck got the call from the Cooperstown area code, he claimed his heart felt like it stopped, and his thoughts immediately drifted to his late father. It’s the kind of moment that reminds you why these awards matter so much — they’re not just about the achievements on screen, but about the legacy you build over a lifetime in your craft.
The numbers behind Buck’s career are genuinely staggering. He’s called more World Series and All-Star Games on network television than any other play-by-play announcer in history. From 1996 through 2021, when he left FOX Sports, Buck called 26 League Championship Series and 21 All-Star Games. He also voiced FOX’s Saturday Game of the Week for years, becoming a fixture in American households every single weekend. When you think about how many of baseball’s most significant moments Buck has narrated, it’s genuinely hard to comprehend the scope of his impact on the sport.
It’s worth noting that Buck hit the ground running early in his career. In 1996, at just 27 years old, he became the youngest World Series play-by-play announcer since Vin Scully himself called one in 1953. He handled his first Fall Classic that year and then returned in 1998 before becoming a consistent fixture on the World Series broadcast from 2000 through 2021. That’s an incredible run of consecutive years covering the sport’s biggest event. Along the way, he won eight Emmy Awards for his work, a testament to the quality and consistency he brought to every broadcast.
Working alongside some of baseball’s broadcasting greats also shaped Buck’s career. He partnered with 2012 Frick Award winner Tim McCarver and Hall of Famer John Smoltz at FOX, helping set the standard for national baseball broadcasts. One particular record stands out: Buck and McCarver called a combined 15 All-Star Games together, the most by any broadcast duo in the show’s history. That kind of continuity and partnership really matters in sports broadcasting, and Buck proved he could maintain excellence over two and a half decades of coverage.
Of course, Buck’s career has evolved beyond baseball over the past few years. In 2022, he made the move to ESPN to become the eighth play-by-play voice in Monday Night Football history. He’s now in his 24th season calling football alongside Troy Aikman, and they’ve become the longest-tenured broadcast duo in NFL history. It’s a remarkable achievement in its own right, showing that Buck’s talent and consistency transcended one sport. He’s even won the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, making him one of only six broadcasters ever to win both the Frick Award and the Rozelle Award, joining an elite group that includes his father, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels, and Lindsey Nelson.
What’s particularly impressive about Buck’s journey is how he built his own identity while following in his father’s enormous footsteps. Jack Buck was a legend in St. Louis Cardinals history, calling games for the team for decades. Joe started his broadcasting career with the Cardinals in 1991, which meant he was literally calling games for his hometown team even as he was building his national profile. The Hall of Fame recognized this perfectly in their statement about his selection, noting that Joe Buck authored his own historic legacy while following in the footsteps of his father on a path to Cooperstown. During an era when baseball viewership was unprecedented, Buck was the consistent voice audiences heard for the World Series, the All-Star Game, and Saturday baseball games that defined American summer television.
Buck earned the highest point total ever recorded in voting by the 16-member Frick Award Committee, beating out finalists including Brian Anderson, Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper, John Rooney, Dan Shulman, and John Sterling. That kind of unanimous support from the voting committee speaks volumes about how respected Buck is among his peers and the broadcast historians who help evaluate these candidates.
Buck will be honored during Hall of Fame Weekend, scheduled for July 24-27, 2026, in Cooperstown, New York.
Here’s the thing, folks: There’s something poetic about the timing — he’ll receive this honor during the same event where new players are inducted, cementing his place not just as a legendary broadcaster but as someone who belongs in Cooperstown for his contributions to the game. For anyone who grew up watching baseball on network television over the past quarter-century, Joe Buck was likely the voice you heard calling the moments that mattered most.
With that… As someone who lost their father this news made me very happy because I grew up falling in love with Joe Bucks call and it goes without saying but the three calls of his which I will remember the most are the final outs of the 2004, 2005, and 2016 World Series!
If you cannot work with them, then you should enjoy their work!