Jack Buck: Forever a Winner

Soldier, poet, broadcaster, emcee, philanthropist, friend, colleague, sports fan. Jack Buck was many things to many people in his 77 years -- but the role that he was most suited to was that of family man. Here in the pages of Jack Buck: Forever a Winner, his family shares an inside look at the man they shared with the world. To many, Jack Buck was baseball. Several generations of devoted Cardinal fans considered the warm, deep tones of Jack's voice the very essence of summer. Sitting on the back porch, listening to Jack calling a doubleheader, made you feel like you were right there in the ballpark. Jack's calls highlighted so many great moments in Cardinals history -- Bob Gibson's no-hitter, Lou Brock's stolen-base record, Ozzie Smith's playoff home run. You held your breath as Jack narrated Mark McGwire's quest for home-run immortality. And all of baseball shared his disbelief following Kirk Gibson's 1988 World Series home run, when Jack exclaimed, "I don't believe what I just saw!" There is no doubt that Jack had a way with words, whether in spoken or written form. He occasionally shared another dimension of his personality with the public: his gift for poetry. His reading at Busch Stadium of the patriotic poem he wrote following the events of 9/11 left few dry eyes in the audience and restarted baseball for many Americans. This poem and a collection of his other touching verses are featured in these pages. On that sad day in June of 2002, when the nation lost Jack after his long struggle with illness, a great voice in the history of American culture was silenced. Players, broadcasters, and fans from around the world expressed their admiration for the beloved icon and grieved the loss of this amiable spirit.