A new voice: Meet Joe Davis
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For the first time since 2000, someone other than Joe Buck will call play-by-play for the MLB All-Star Game. His name is Joe Davis, and his voice is about to become much more familiar.
The big picture: When Buck moved to ESPN earlier this year, Davis replaced him as Fox's lead MLB commentator. Tonight's call will be his biggest assignment to date — until this fall's World Series.
The backdrop: Davis, 34, has worked his way up the ranks surprisingly fast, and Buck is neither the first nor biggest industry titan whose shoes he's filled. Those belong to Vin Scully.
- Davis played QB at Beloit College in Wisconsin, a tiny D-III school whose less intensive athletics schedule allowed him to call basketball and baseball games the rest of the year.
- After graduating in 2010, he became the voice of the Montgomery Biscuits (Rays Double-A). By 2014, he was calling football, basketball and baseball games for FS1.
- In 2016, Davis became an alternate in the Dodgers' booth, and a year later he replaced Scully as the voice of the team. He was prepared, having studied story structure to help emulate Scully's style.
What they're saying: "It's just amazing, the little wrinkles he's always ready for, and it never feels scripted," Davis told NYT of Buck. "When the moment happens, he captions it … and gets out of the way."
- The same has been said of Davis: "I was caught off guard by a young broadcaster who actually wasn't over-talking," Fox Sports exec Brad Zager said of the first time he heard Davis about a decade ago.
- "He was ... letting the crowd be part of the broadcast. That's stuff you usually teach to people as they grow in this business — let the moment breathe, don't try to be the star — and he had it naturally."
Go deeper: The best broadcast booths to call an MLB All-Star Game (The Big Lead)
