Joe Buck Named 2026 Ford C. Frick Award Winner
Joe Buck could have coasted. He could have been the broadcasting equivalent of a trust fund kid, riding the coattails of his legendary father, Jack, all the way to a cushy, unmemorable career. But that’s not Joe. Instead, the man who became the voice for a generation of baseball fans carved out his own path, and now, that path has led him straight to Cooperstown.
On Wednesday, the call came. Joe Buck, the voice of “Monday Night Football,” the man who has called more World Series games than anyone else, is the 2026 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award. It is the highest honor for a baseball broadcaster, and it makes the Bucks the first and only father-son duo to ever receive it. Jack won it back in ’87, and you can almost hear him now, with that iconic gravelly voice, saying, “That’s a winner!”
“I am shocked in many ways. I didn’t think this was coming right now,” Buck said. But for fans who grew up with his voice painting the picture of October baseball, this feels less like a shock and more like an inevitability.
Following a Legend, Becoming a Legend
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: being Jack Buck’s son. Joe has never shied away from it. He’s the first to admit he got a “leg up.” He grew up in the booth, a kid soaking in the game at the feet of a giant. But a head start only gets you on the track; you still have to run the race. And boy, did Joe run.
At 27, an age when most of us are still trying to figure out how to properly file our taxes, Buck was calling his first World Series. He went on to call 24 of them for Fox. Think about that. For a quarter of a century, if it was the “Fall Classic,” Joe Buck was the soundtrack. He wasn’t just Jack Buck’s kid anymore; he was the voice of baseball’s biggest moments.
More Than Just a Baseball Guy
Of course, now he’s the guy you hear on Monday nights, trading barbs with Troy Aikman. But even with his focus on football, Buck’s love for baseball has never faded. “I still dream as a baseball announcer at night,” he said.
This award isn’t just a nod to his past; it’s a recognition of his entire body of work. He joins an elite club of broadcasters who have won both the Frick Award and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Award. The list is a murderer’s row of broadcasting royalty: his own dad, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels, and Lindsey Nelson. That’s not just good company; that’s the Mount Rushmore of the men behind the mic.
So, next summer in Cooperstown, when Joe Buck stands on that stage, it won’t just be as Jack Buck’s son. It will be as Joe Buck, a legend in his own right, a voice that defined an era, and now, a Hall of Famer.
