Lucky Bastard

October 3, 2016
In this entertaining memoir, sportscaster Buck writes a tongue-in-cheek memoir about bonding with his father, sportscaster Jack Buck; the importance of family; and a worthy profession he feels fortunate to be in. Buck considers how lucky he was that his father was the adored “Voice of the St. Louis Cardinals,” and acknowledges that he learned broadcasting from his idol and never considered any other job. His debut gig was as a commentator for the Cardinals’ Triple-A team at age 19. His meteoric rise, complete with a few hiccups, is well chronicled here, from his first game with the Cardinals in 1990 to his current high-flying status as the lead Fox Sports announcer for the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Major League Baseball All-Star game, and the U.S. Open. Buck sings the praises of legends Mel Allen, Harry Caray, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, and Vin Scully. With a comic yet reverent approach to his life and broadcasting, Buck effectively captures the merging of his career and the popularity of American sports.

An Emmy-winning sportscaster--and son of broadcasting legend Jack Buck--rehearses his life with early frivolity and later gravity.In the first few pages, readers may think they're seated in coach with a jokester and are in for an interminable flight. But soon the "jockular" surrenders to the more thoughtful, and, by the end, readers will know a lot about the longtime FOX sportscaster. Several times Buck declares that he knows he's the beneficiary of great fortune--he had a paved pathway into his profession--but he also confesses some insecurities (we get much detail about his hair-plug operations and his issues with weight), one of the most significant of which was his having to follow his father. Buck sometimes pauses in his chronology to reflect on friends, failures, awkward on- and off-air moments, and successes--to his credit, he does not dwell too long on these. Although he discusses his failed marriage, he does not convey with absolute certainty what caused the collapse; some general comments about decay and unhappiness suffice. Still, he remains self-deprecating throughout, confessing his weaknesses, including what he has perceived as a failure to be as emotional as he thinks he should be on the air. (He says he has worked to remedy that.) The author writes affectingly about the decline and death of his father and about the near loss of his own voice following a hair-plug surgery. He also writes enthusiastically about FOX Sports, his longtime professional home, and takes only a few potshots at other sports journalists--Phil Mushnick and Keith Olbermann among them. He heaps praise on Mike Tirico (the best, he says), Al Michaels, and Bob Costas, and he ends with a brief discussion of his recent tattoos. With light humor and darker emotion, Buck candidly calls the game of his own life. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2016
Joe Buck broadcast his first major-league game when he was 20 years old. In a little more than five years, he had become the lead announcer on Fox broadcasts of both big-league baseball and NFL football. He's a capable, pleasant voice in the broadcast booth whose personality never outshines the game he's describing. This autobiography is much the same, with one exception: in print, he unleashes his inner stand-up comic, sprinkling the text with surprisingly funny and often self-deprecating wit. He also discusses his father, the late Jack Buck, who is in the broadcast wing of both the baseball and football Halls of Fame, and acknowledges Dad's help in getting him started. Naturally, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes broadcast trivia here, as well as wonderful anecdotes about star players and big games. Buck is well known, and this is very pleasant autobiography that will generate considerable interest among those who watch MLB and the NFL on TV.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)