Last week Fortune reported on a Change.org petition asking Major League Baseball and Fox to replace Joe Buck with Bob Uecker, beloved former player and still-active color commentator.
The petition, posted late on October 21, sought 50,000 signatures. And it got them, plus 5,000 to spare. Although that didn’t lead to any changes in the Fox (FOX) booth Tab Bamford, the life-long Cubs fan who started this movement, is happy. The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians, after all, breaking the National League team’s 108-year championship drought.
In a November 4 update to his petition—posted under the heading “Cubs Win! Cubs Win!”—Bamford said that while Uecker, aka Mr. Baseball, aka Miller Lite pitchman extraordinaire, aka star of cult favorite film Major League, was not on the air, all is forgiven.
He wrote: “Thanks to everyone for supporting and sharing this initiative. See you in Spring Training!”
Many fans of teams outside of the St. Louis Cardinals universe claim that Buck is be biased against their teams, a charge he has always denied.
Buck, and his father Joe Buck Sr., were formerly broadcasters for the Cardinals organization. Buck was very gracious about the kerfuffle, tweeting that he would be happy to share the booth with Uecker. That was not to be, however. Instead Buck and former Atlanta Braves ace John Smoltz had the booth to themselves.
