Byline: Tom Hoffarth Daily News Staff Writer
It was a very subtle yet very important element of Fox's coverage Tuesday during Mark McGwire's record-breaking 62nd home run.
As soon as McGwire's line-shot down the left-field line in the fourth inning cleared the fence, the live camera stayed with him all the way around the bases. No cutting away to fan or family reaction. No flashes of exploding scoreboards.
In this day of media immediacy, how the moment is chronicled seems almost as important as the moment itself, because that's how it'll be remembered.
``We're in an age of cameras and tape machines and expensive trucks, but if you look at footage and video of some of the greatest moments, the best are the ones that follow the athlete,'' said Fox play-by-play man Joe Buck, who had the honor of making the home-run call while director Bill Webb had the presence of mind to keep things simple.
``We realize this is Mark's moment. It's worth us not showing off. We just tried to do him justice and follow every step. If there was a lot of cutting done, you might not have seen things like him missing first base. It was like in 1988 when Kirk Gibson hit his World Series home run and rounded second and he was pumping his arm. That's the moment.''
Ironically, the home run call that Buck admits he cribbed on his scoresheet to read off if he had to couldn't be used: ``There it goes, here it is, a new single-season home-run champ . . . Mark McGwire with number 62 . . . as he floats around the bases and into the history books.''
But when McGwire swatted the first Steve Trachsel pitch toward the foul pole, Buck barely had time to get out: ``Down the left-field line. . . . Is it enough? Gone! There it is . . . 62 . . . touch first base!''
So much for a rehearsed ad-lib.
``That home run shot was the old script buster,'' Buck said by phone moments after the Fox telecast.
``The best thing was to hit a bullet and watch it to make sure it was fair. That was the way his last three were. None of them allowed the freedom to get in everything you wanted to say, but that's fine. The best possible scenario unfolded.''
Almost. While he drew the lucky assignment for Fox - ESPN did the St. Louis game Monday and will do the game tonight - Joe's father, Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck, didn't get to make the call on radio. The long-time Cardinals broadcaster had that inning off, so radio partner Mike Shannon, who was Roger Maris' closest friend when the two played for the Cardinals in 1967 and 68, called the shot.
``There's no disappointment at all,'' Joe Buck said about his father missing another call-for-the-ages. ``It was a no-lose situation in the radio booth. Sure, I would have like it (if his father made it), but dad has had some of greatest calls in the game.''
Including Monday, when he said as McGwire hit No. 61: ``Look it there, look it there . . . pardon me while I stand up and applaud.''
Joe Buck, the Cardinals' regular TV play-by-play man, says that separating himself as a national broadcaster from a fan wasn't possible Tuesday.
``I consider myself like a fan, and I did it like a fan would, and I'm not sure on a night like this that's not such bad way,'' Joe Buck said. ``I'm not going to forget that I'm a broadcaster, but I love what happened in front of me tonight.''
