Longtime play-by-play man Joe Buck has been announced as the 2026 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, which is given by the baseball Hall of Fame for excellence in broadcasting.
Buck and his dad Jack are now the only father-son duo to win the Frick Award. Jack Buck, who worked St. Louis Cardinals and national broadcasts for nearly half a century, won the award in 1987.
“Joe Buck authored his own historic legacy while following in the footsteps of his father on a path to Cooperstown,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “During an era of unprecedented audience growth throughout the game, Joe was the voice of the World Series and the All-Star Game, calling the biggest moments in baseball for more than a quarter of a century. He was a Saturday staple in homes across America while still serving as the voice of his hometown St. Louis Cardinals.”
According to the baseball Hall of Fame, Joe Buck was one of 10 finalists along with Brian Anderson, Skip Caray, René Cárdenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper, John Rooney, Dan Shulman, and John Sterling.
Buck got his start with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in Louisville in 1989 before joining his dad in the big leagues on Cardinals broadcasts from 1991 through 2007.
A little over a decade after his start calling games, Buck was hired to do national NFL and MLB broadcasts for Fox Sports. In 1996, he called his first World Series at age 27 as the New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves.
During Buck’s time as the national broadcaster for the MLB on Fox, he called 26 League Championship Series, 21 All-Star Games and 24 World Series.
In 2022, Buck joined ESPN to be the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football with Troy Aikman, his NFL broadcast partner at Fox.
Buck was named the winner of the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, which is given to broadcasters “for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football.” He joined his dad, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels and Lindsey Nelson as the only broadcasters to win the award and the Frick Award.
The 56-year-old Buck is the second-youngest Frick Award winner. Only Vin Scully was younger when he won the award in 1982 at 54. He will be honored during Hall of Fame Weekend, July 24-27.
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