From the people who brought you football robots…

Yeah, it sounds like a country club clothing brand, but it’s actually our October friends at Fox, the dudes in the booth who offer pithy observations after Fox adds sound effects when a player slides. Last night was my first real taste of this year’s magic, when Kevin Youkilis, playing first base, failed to catch a pick-off throw and McCarver said “I don’t think he even touched it with his glove! That ball just hit his ankle!” The replays–from multiple angles–showed the ball deflecting off of Youkilis’ glove, but McCarver remained steadfast.

Still, Buck & McCarver rants are passe. And neither is a truly odious announcer–unlike, say, Billy Packer. So instead of ranting, I’ll share my favorite Buck & McCarver memory. It was the 2001 LCS, and Arizona had just beaten St. Louis, with Tony Womack getting the game-winning hit. Our boys in the booth were interviewing Womack after the game. I can’t remember which one actually did the interview, but usually Buck handles those, so I’ll assume it was him [Reader Anthony insists it was McCarver; this matches my memory, too, but I saw some accounts online indicating it was Buck. The moral? Trust your memory over the series of tubes!]:

McCarver: Congratulations, Tony. Great performance and a big win.
Womack: Thanks, Tim.
(Womack gets a hug from a woman)
McCarver: Is that your mother?
Womack: That’s my wife, Tim.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.