I realize that headline sounds a bit . . . weird. But that’s really what happened.
Fox’s lead baseball broadcaster Joe Buck reveals as much in his upcoming memoir, excerpted by Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated. Buck famously suffered vocal cord damage back in 2011, which left his voice weak for some time. He claimed that it was due to a virus but reveals in is upcoming book that that was a lie. It was damaged by a protective cuff used while he was under anesthetic for a hair plug procedure. His eighth such procedure:As a young man, one of Buck’s overwhelming fears was losing his hair, and the possibility soon consumed him. So at age 24, in Oct. 1993, he flew to New York City to get his first hair replacement treatment. He writes that, after the procedure, “I, Joseph Francis Buck, became a hair-plug addict.”
Buck said that whenever he had a break in his schedule—usually between the end of the NFL season and the start of baseball—he would fly to New York to have a plug procedure. The one in 2011 resulted in a surgical cuff resting on his neck and damaging his vocal cord.
Buck calls his addiction to hair plugs “pure vanity.” He also notes that, at the time of the procedure which damaged his vocal cords, his was marriage was breaking up and he was on antidepressants as well, all of which could’ve contributed to the nerve damage and, even if not, certainly entailed stress. He says he’s revealing all of this now because, rather than just write a book about sports and broadcasting stories, he wanted to share something personal. To talk about difficulties he dealt with.
He says the reason behind it all -- his vanity -- is embarrassing. But it certainly is brave of him to share this.
