“I miss Jack Buck”.

Still to this day, those words are the one’s I feel define my writing.  An article I wrote for the now closed Baseball Digest site took that theme.  It was in Spring Training and I realized the game just did not sound the same.  That article, more than any other, has shown my heart and soul towards this game on every level.

 Read my thoughts on Jack from last year here on i70 as well as my original work for Baseball Digest on Going 9 Baseball’s site.  The original work, both the I Miss Jack Buck article and an interview with Christine Buck can be read by clicking the respective links.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the day heaven gained a legendary announcer and we all lost a golden voice.  Last night, during my weekly Seamheads podcast, Gateway To Baseball Heaven, Daniel Shoptaw reminded me of the anniversary.  I reminded everyone just what that anniversary was.

For many people around the world, they lost a lot of things when Jack Buck passed away.  Most remember the war hero, the poet, the author and of course the announcer.  Fans around the nation and the world lost a storyteller that had very few parallels within his peers.

For myself and many others, there was something more.  We lost a friend.

I remember that day 10 years ago, when the news was announced that Jack had left us.  I remember, for the first time in my life, I wept over a baseball figure.

I grew up with this game.  I watched “my team” lose the 1985 and 1987 World Series.  I suffered through horrible stretches of players and games.  I watched as a new generation of legends took over the game.  I watched as players that were involved in the tales that Jack himself would spin were no longer around, having departed this world and the game and I was seemingly unphased.

I teared up when Ozzie retired.  It shook me to my roots when the Cardinals took the field days after the events of September 11, 2001.  I was emotional when I said goodbye to a man known by many as The Mayor Of The Bleachers, the first real friend that I had developed because of this game.  Never before, however, had I openly lost control of my emotions over someone that I had never personally spent any time with.

That was Jack.  Through the years of radio listening, television watching and bonding with my father over this game that grown men play, Jack was always there.  For countless months every summer, nights when I was supposed to be asleep, and days that were too hot to fathom, Jack Buck was my companion.

He was real.  You never got the impression that Jack was not genuine.  He wore his heart on his sleeve.  He was professional and forthcoming yet a fan at the same time.  He was the expert in the room and the guy sitting next to you at the bar at the same time.

Time heals all wounds.  We find new friends and we move on when there is loss.  The Cardinals will employ many different announcers in my lifetime alone.  The game will evolve and change and somewhere along the lines a new legend will assume the role behind the microphone.  I’m not sure it will ever change anything for me.

I still miss Jack Buck.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.
Follow him on Twitter here.

Cardinals Announce Plans For September 11th Tribute
Special Ceremonies Planned Before & During Game to Commemorate 10th Anniversary

ST. LOUIS, MO September 9, 2011 – This Sunday, the St. Louis Cardinals with join with Major League Baseball and all teams to observe a National Day of Service and Remembrance to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001.

Ten years ago, in the wake of worst terrorist attacks in American history, the Major League Baseball family came together to help the nation heal, rebuild and unite, vowing that “We shall not forget.” On Sunday, the Cardinals will renew this promise while paying tribute to all emergency first responders and honoring those lost in the attacks.

More than 5,500 St. Louis area first responders will be in attendance as guests of the Cardinals as the team distributed free tickets to recognize the sacrifice and service of all police, fire and emergency medical technicians as emergency first responders. The team will pay tribute to these men and women during both the pre-game ceremony, as well as during the game.

The pre-game ceremony will start at 1:00 p.m. with a replaying “For America,” the patriotic poem by Jack Buck that was read by the former Cardinals Broadcaster prior to the game the first night that Major League Baseball resumed after the attacks. The pre-game ceremony will also include leaders representing local first responder agencies, as well as Angela Brock-Bokern, a St. Louis native who survived the World Trade Center attacks in New York City. Brock-Bokern will throw a ceremonial first pitch to Cardinals First-Baseman Albert Pujols, the 2001 National League Rookie of the Year and only remaining player on the current roster from the 2001 team.

Labor Day. Many people recognize this as the end of summer. The Boys Of Summer in Kansas City may very well feel the same. With a loss today and a Tigers win, the Royals will find themselves mathematically eliminated from winning the American League Central division, putting an official end to a race they have not been a part of for months.

The strike shortened season of 1994 would see the Royals finish the closest to first place that they ever have since the installation of six divisions in baseball. They would be eliminated from competition on August 7th due to the strike, but they were only four games back when the season came to a close on August 10.

Despite a losing season in 1995, the Royals would finish second in the American League Central. That may be just a bit deceiving however as the team finished 30 games behind the Cleveland Indians and would find themselves mathematically eliminated on September 8th. It would not be the smallest margin they would trail by, but it would be the highest finish they would enjoy since then.

Looking back across the dates, the research shows that the Royals have faded over the last 17 years fairly early. Below you will see the date that the boys in blue found themselves aware that it would be impossible for them to find post-season baseball.

Only one time in the last 17 seasons have the Royals found themselves in the hunt past the second week of September. With the young guns on the horizon, that may finally change. Maybe then the Kansas City area can find more to celebrate than the beginning of football season.

EMERGENCY FIRST RESPONDER TICKET OFFER ANNOUNCED
Team To Provide Free Tickets to Commemorate 10 Year Anniversary of 9/11

ST. LOUIS (August 31, 2011) – The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that the team, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, is offering all emergency first responders free tickets to the Sunday, September 11th game vs. Atlanta to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001.

Emergency first responders may go to cardinals.com/911 to obtain four tickets to the game with the print-at-home option. The offer extends to any individual who works directly as a first responder (police, firefighter or emergency service personnel), any individual who works for an emergency first responder agency or any individual who has an immediate family member who serves as an emergency first responder.

“We want to recognize the selfless service of all of our police, fire and emergency response workers” said Bill DeWitt III, the President of the St. Louis Cardinals. “Every day these men and women put their lives on the line to protect our community. We want to thank them for their service, as well as the sacrifice each of their families make on our behalf.”

Major League Baseball and all thirty teams will join in observing September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance. The Cardinals will pay tribute to all first responders in a special pre-game ceremony before the game on September 11th. First responders and their family members can obtain their tickets by going to cardinals.com/911.