He's just Jack

Promise me one thing. Promise that at the end of this you don't feel sorry for Jack Buck.  As square as a pan of corn bread, as American as a red Corvette, Buck has been doing what he loves in the St. Louis Cardinals' radio booth for 47 years, which make him just about the exact center of this country. The last thing he wants is sympathy. Yeah, Buck has Parkinson's disease , which makes his hands tremble and his arms flail. He also has diabetes, which means poking needles into himself twice a day. He also has a pacemaker. And cataracts. And vertigo. And excruciatingly painful sciatica. And a box of pills the size of a toaster. But that only gives him more material to work with.

"I wish I'd get Alzheimer's " he cracks . "Then I could forget I've got all the other stuff ".  Luckily, you can still find the 76 yer old Buck at the mike during every S.Louis home game, broadcasting the Cardinal Nation over more the 100 radio stations in 11 states. Herking and jerking in his seat, his face contorting this way and that, he still send out the most wonderful descriptions of games you've ever heard.

"I've given the Cardinals the best years of my life " , Buck says. "Now I'm giving them giving them the worst".
That's a lie.  Despite enough diseases to kill a moose, Buck has gotten even better lately. "I have no idea how ",says his son and radio partner, Joe, "but his voice has been stronger lately. It's like he's pouring every ounce of energy God can give him into those three hours of the broaddcast.

This is a man who is coming up on his 10,000 game broadcast. ; who was in the stands the day that Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak ended; who called Stan Musial five home run doubleheader; who ate dinner with Rocky Marciano in Havana; whom Jesse Owens called friend ;who survived he ice bowl and 16 years in the booth with Harry Caray.

 I would eat a bathtub full of rubber chicken just to hear him emcee a banquet .  I would pay good money to listen to Jack call a game.

John Francis "Jack" Buck (August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002) was an American sportscaster, best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous Halls of Fame, such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the National Radio Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
Buck was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts but moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area with his family in 1939. After graduating from high school, he worked on large shipping boats that traveled the Great Lakes. Buck was drafted into the United States Army in June 1943 and later was awarded a Purple Heart as part of his service. After completion of his military service in 1946, Buck enrolled at (and graduated from) Ohio State University. His early sportscasting career included work for the minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1954, Buck was promoted to radio play-by-play of Cardinal games on KMOX, a position that he maintained for nearly all of the next 47 years. He was known in St. Louis for his trademark phrase "That's a winner!", which was said after every game that the Cardinals had won.
In addition to his work with the Cardinals, Buck also earned assignments on many national sportscasts, including radio coverage of 18 Super Bowls and 11 World Series. Some of his famous play-by-play calls include the dramatic walk-off home runs hit by Ozzie Smith in Game 5 of the 1985 National League Championship Series, by Kirk Gibson in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, and by Kirby Puckett in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. In the final years of his life, Buck also became recognized for writing poetry, culminating in national attention for his poem "For America", written after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The later part of his career found him working side-by-side in the Cardinals booth with his son Joe Buck, who also has risen to national sportscasting prominence.