If Joe Buck had his way, the late, great Vin Scully would have taken Buck’s spot in the broadcast booth to call the World Series.
“If he showed up ever and said, ‘I’ll do an inning,’ I would have been in the lunchroom watching it,” Buck told The Athletic’s “Sports Media” podcast Wednesday, after Scully passed away Tuesday at the age of 94.
Scully, the voice of the Dodgers for 67 years, called three World Series during his time working for NBC Sports. Buck — who has called 23 World Series for FOX — said he even tried to “go through intermediaries” and others close to Scully to convince him.
“We’re not working this a circus, but people want to hear you on national television,” Buck recalled telling Scully. “… If I could somehow pay homage to somebody who is that great and let them take my spot, that would be, in the weirdest way, one of the highlights of my career. I understand why he didn’t want to do it. But I just wish he had.”
Buck noted that Dodgers fans would frequently write letters saying “Let Vin do it.”
“Yes, please,” Buck said, agreeing. “I was hoping he’d go for it. … Just that voice and that cadence and that rhythm and that ability to weave stories in would have been so great.”
Ultimately, Scully — who retired in 2016 — never obliged.
“For an older man, and I saw this with my Dad and others that I’ve worked with, being in an unfamiliar situation and national TV, I don’t care who you are, it’s not a comfortable feeling,” Buck said. “This is why I think he didn’t really want to do it. You’re coming into a completely foreign situation, and now somebody is talking to you in your ear and you have no idea who the hell that is. You’re working with a director that you don’t typically work with, and you’re working with an analyst that you’ve never worked with.”