As if the moment the Tampa Bay Rays walked off the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the World Series wasn’t special enough, FOX play-by-play man Joe Davis honored a few legends of the craft at key moments in the broadcast. From late Brewers radio play-by-play Bob Uecker to current broadcast icon Joe Buck, Davis had a few tricks in his sleeve to capture the beauty of baseball.
The Rays, facing a 3-0 deficit and elimination as the Brewers hunted their first ever World Series ring, brought in Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th inning with the game tied 2-2. What happened next was nothing short of legendary.
Joe Davis’ Bob Uecker Tribute in World Series
Bob Uecker, who delivered radio play-by-play calls of the Brewers from 1971 to 2024 and sadly passed January 16, 2025, was perhaps best known for his home run call: “Get up, get up, get outta here, gone!”
From Hank Aaron’s walk-off in 1976 to Dale Sveum’s ninth-inning walk off homer to cap off a historic win streak in 1987, Uecker’s career was full of those moments.
So, when Brewers rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt hit the first pitch he saw from Seymour out for what seemed to be a potentially World Series-clinching home run, Davis delivered Uecker’s famous line on the World Series stage as the many Brewers fans at Tropicana Field erupted.
Davis was far from the first broadcaster to honor the Brewers great, as the Giants‘ Dave Flemming and Jon Miller both invoked Uecker’s legendary call so that his art could live on.
Joe Davis’ Tribute to Joe Buck
As if the Uecker tribute wasn’t enough, Davis dug deep into broadcaster lore when he said the line popularized on baseball broadcasts by the legendary Joe Buck, originally an homage to his father and fellow on-air legend Jack Buck.
With World Series Game 4 hanging in the balance, Joe Davis said “we’ll see you later tonight” as Rays pinch-hitter Ben Williamson poked a base-hit to right field to win it for the Rays. Williamson staved off elimination for one more night, making it a 3-1 World Series deficit. Not only that, but the Rays’ distant hopes of clawing their way back in the World Series did not feel over just yet.
Notably, in dropping Buck’s iconic line, Davis turned the clock back to Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, when David Ortiz, facing a 3-0 deficit with the Red Sox, walked off the Yankees in the 12th inning. The Red Sox would win the next night, the next game, and the game after that to claw back and win the series 4-3.
Was Davis trying to invoke the ghosts of the 2004 ALCS and maybe gift baseball fans a few more games of baseball before a long hibernation? Maybe. But his World Series tributes to Uecker and Buck certainly serve as a great reminder of how sports play-by-play is an artform in and of itself, and life imitates art, and, to paraphrase Rays slugger Yandy Diaz, baseball imitates life itself.
Joe Davis Pays Tribute to Joe Buck and Bob Uecker With Iconic Calls During World Series