a memorial patch for jack buck

jack buck, who had been a broadcaster for the cardinals for more than four decades, succumbed to lung cancer on june 18, 2002.  the redbirds added a patch featuring his initials, "jfb" to their right sleeves in his honor.  fernando vina is sporting the patch on his 2004 topps card

as is jd drew on the front

and back

of his 2003 upper deck victory card.  

jason isringhausen's 2004 upper deck vintage card

provides a good look at the patch, along witih the 'chalk on the cap' memorial for darryl kile that some players wore immediately after the pitcher passed away.

the patch is also visible on edgar renteria's 2003 donruss card

on which he is turning two, but it's a different renteria card that represents this memorial in my binder.  his 2003 upper deck 40 man card gives a good view of the patch

buck passed away just a few days before cardinals' pitcher darryl kile died suddenly (kile also received a memorial patch from the team - i'll cover that later today), ending a hall of fame broadcasting career that included not only cardinal broadcasts, but national baseball broadcasts, nfl, nhl, and aba broadcasts as well.  he began his career with the cardinals in 1954, and aside from a couple of years (1959-1960), buck remained part of the cardinals' broadcast team into 2001.  he was teamed with harry caray in the 1960's, taking over for caray as the play-by-play man in 1970.

as a dodger fan, i am well aware of buck's famous call of ozzie smith's home run in the 1985 nlcs ("go crazy folks") and of kirk gibson's home run in game 1 of the 1988 world series ("i don't believe what i just saw").  the latter came on the national stage with buck providing play-by-play for cbs radio.  he also did television coverage for cbs of other fall classics, including the 1991 world series between the braves and the twins in which he followed kirby puckett's game 6 series extending home run with another famous call, "and we'll see you tomorrow night!"  buck was 77 years old when he died.