Joe Buck’s charity of choice, the Missouri-based KidSmart, is $159,601 richer, just weeks after he guest-hosted “Jeopardy!”
The game show announced it was giving to the Fox Sports sportscaster’s choice charity on Friday. Buck was the final guest-host of Season 37 before “Jeopardy!” ended its permanent host competition.
After eight months and 15 guest hosts, the show producers went with executive producer Mike Richards and actress Mayim Bialik.
The non-profit KidSmart’s massive haul will help Missouri children succeed in school by providing accessible, essential tools for learning.
Buck Dressed The Part for ‘Field of Dreams’ Game
In Thursday’s “Field of Dreams Game” between the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, Joe Buck and the broadcast went all out.
Between Kevin Costner and drone footage, Buck almost took a backseat to the fanfare.
As the players wore unique Nike throwback uniforms, Buck dressed up in old-timey garb and commentator and Hall of Famer John Smoltz. Buck opted for the classic bowtie while Smoltz threw on an old-fashioned dress cap.
One Twitter fan inquired if Smoltz was wearing knickers. Overall, Twitter posters liked Smoltz’s effort.
The network hit a home run, scoring 5.9 million viewers for the Dyersville, Iowa pro baseball game. Fox Sports also announced it was its most-viewed regular-season game in 16 years.
Major League Baseball reportedly poured $5 million into the event. Originally set for 2020, it was postponed because of the pandemic.
Commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB.com that the event was so positive that he anticipates pro baseball coming back to the cornfield next season.
Manfred said, “it’s just been so successful that it’s hard not to take the opportunity to do it again.”
Buck’s ‘Jeopardy!’ Stint United His Sports Haters
“Jeopardy!” fans and former contestants had their fun with Buck during his recent week of gameshow hosting.
The usual comparisons to Buck and the successful but universally hated Canadian rock band Nickelback were there. Also, the fans offered a different take on the saying, ‘Don’t quit your day job.’ Instead, many begged him to do so.
Legendary “Jeopardy!” champion James Holzhauer seemed to score the most points at times, garnering thousands of Twitter post likes.
“Jeopardy says whoever hosts full time will have to quit their other job, so I’m crossing my fingers it’s Joe Buck,” Holzhauer said.
One fan managed to reference “A Clockwork Orange” to express their hate.
Another fan couldn’t hold back about her Joe Buck hate.
“I didn’t think I could hate Joe Buck more, but then they made him a host on #Jeopardy,” the user said.
Buck, for the most part, has taken it all in stride.
In a 2018 Esquire article, the 52-year-old sportscaster acknowledged the distaste by fans.
He told the magazine that he would “try to have fun with it. I think you kind of stick the pin in the balloon and let the air out, and if people know you can laugh at yourself, well, I can’t be that big of a dick.”
