Jack Buck lives on for the Cardinals’ lead radio and television announcers, both of whom fondly remember being scolded by the legendary broadcaster while working with him early in their careers. Those memories remain vivid now two decades after Buck’s passing.
John Rooney, who now is in the top radio play-by-play chair that Buck occupied for four decades, was working his way up by calling games of the Louisville Redbirds, the Cards’ top farm team, in 1983. One time that season when the Cardinals were playing in Cincinnati, about 100 miles away, he was invited to join Buck and partner Mike Shannon to get a taste of broadcasting a big-league game.