He resides among the cellar dwellers in RFT's St. Louis Sports-Media Power Rankings (at No. 44 in our list of 50), but Dan Caesar can still throw a punch.
In fact, in a tussle back in 1990, the Post-Dispatch sports-media critic once made Joe Buck (No. 8 in RFT's ranking) cry.
Sports Illustrated leaked details of the sports-media shocker in last week's magazine that profiled Buck as he prepared to call the World Series for FOX Sports. The story mentioned how Buck's dad (the late, great voice of the Cardinals, Jack Buck) steered his son toward the broadcast booth. By the age of 21, the young Buck (pardon the expression; it's unavoidable) was well on his way to achieving stardom when Caesar weighed in on the matter. As SI writes:
Joe was ready for every part of the job except this: "Why is a kid, still in college, showing up on what many broadcast people consider the premier local team network in baseball?" Dan Caesar wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in June 1990. "The reason is simple. And it's spelled B-U-C-K." Joe read the column and cried.
And that's not all Caesar wrote. In the same article he added:
- "But the burning question is why is Joe Buck, at age 21, being force-fed to Cardinals fans?"
- "In a highly competitive, sometimes vicious field, how many people would take vacation, a leave of absence or even quit their job to do even a few Cardinals broadcasts?...Would that chance be taken with any other unproven announcer?"
- "Joe Buck makes it clear where he wants to end up. [St. Louis] Maybe. Eventually. But not at age 21, even in a limited role. It just doesn't sit right."
