Penn Stater Verducci to join Joe Buck and Harold Reynolds in Fox baseball booth

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FROM KEITH GROLLER

Speculation about how Fox was going to replace Tim McCarver in its main baseball broadcast booth ended Monday when it announced that both Harold Reynolds and Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci, a Penn State graduate, would be joining Buck for baseball's biggest games.

In a teleconference with the media, Buck said he's very comfortable with the new setup after working with McCarver in a two-man booth since 1996.

"A three-man booth is not easy," Buck said. "It's easy to have too many voices. It won't work if the two analysts are lock-step in their opinions. But it works when the two analysts come in with two completely different perspectives and we'll have that with Harold and Tom. We knew immediately during rehearsals that this was going to work. We were instantly comfortable with each other."

Reynolds, of course, will offer the traditional players' viewpoint. He has been largely known as a studio analyst for both ESPN and MLB. He left ESPN in 2006 in controversy, having been accused of sexual harassment. He later sued ESPN for wrongful termination and the case was settled out of court.

Verducci, meanwhile, will come at it from a journalistic perspective.

In that regard, he'll be one of the few non-athletes to ever work in the broadcast booth of one of professional sports' major broadcast teams.

Others include Tony Kornheiser and Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football and Howard Cosell on MNF and many other events.

Verducci and Reynolds know each other from their time at the MLB Network. Reynolds will continue at MLB and Verducci will continue at MLB and will also continue to write for Sports Illustrated.

"Tom looks at games with more detail," Reynolds said. "He looks at each game like he's writing a column. He'll see how a pitcher is working a hitter and he'll notice a 14-pitch at-bat."

"Tom brings a different perspective and has the unique ability to put his analysis into words and in a succinct manner," Buck said.

Verducci said preparation is the key to his success and he'll prepare for every game just as he would if he was writing a column.

He said he has a baseball beat for more than 30 years and loves the game.

"All of us are passionate about the game and that's important," Buck said.

What will help the broadcast is that all three guys are about the same age and will come at it with the same generational perspective. Reynolds is 53, Verducci 52 and Buck will turn 45 in April.

Fox Sports 1 will have the lion's share of the regular season games this year. The trio's first game is the April 5 contest between the Giants and the Dodgers.