Joe Buck doesn’t hand out compliments to the St. Louis Cardinals these days. The longtime broadcaster, who spent most of his life tied to the team through both his career and his father Jack Buck’s Hall of Fame tenure, ripped into the franchise after seeing Busch Stadium look more like a ghost town than the baseball cathedral fans once packed.
During a recent game, Buck took to X and posted a photo of the half-empty stands with a biting caption: “Welcome back to the 70s. This is what it used to look like. I was there. Pre-Whitey. Buying shag carpet asap. A major rebuild of roster and trust better be coming. One can only hope.”
For Buck, the point was clear. He didn’t call out the fans. He called out the organization. St. Louis sits 17 games out in the NL Central and looks nothing like the powerhouse that once terrified opponents every September. And Buck, usually measured when talking about his hometown team, refused to sugarcoat it.
Fans Aren’t the Problem
When pressed by a follower online about whether he blamed the crowd for the embarrassing turnout, Buck fired back. “Oh to be clear I am NOT blaming the fans,” he replied. “The fans have sent a loud message and I’m hopeful it’s resonating. How can it not? Turn the page and hope Chaim Bloom has the leeway to truly reshape this team and, hopefully, the minor league system. If not, I shudder at where it goes.”
That wasn’t mild frustration—it was a warning. For a broadcaster who has called World Series games and witnessed sellout crowds at Busch for decades, the message carried weight: the Cardinals have lost the trust of their supporters. In St. Louis, where baseball defines civic pride, management can’t afford to ignore that indictment.
Buck’s comments land harder than most critics because he’s seen this decline before. In the 1970s, before Whitey Herzog’s era, the Cardinals slipped into mediocrity and fans abandoned the stands. To compare 2025 to that period isn’t nostalgia—it’s a blunt reminder that the team is drifting toward irrelevance again.
The Cardinals No Longer Intimidate
The most brutal truth in Buck’s words is simple: the Cardinals no longer intimidate anyone. Empty seats now symbolize a team that lost its identity. The aura that once carried St. Louis deep into October has evaporated, and fans are speaking loudly by staying home.
The Cardinals once thrived on sellouts, playoff runs, and a pipeline that produced stars year after year. Now, silence fills Busch Stadium, the farm system needs a reset, and the fanbase stopped buying what ownership keeps selling.
Joe Buck may not call many baseball games anymore, but he didn’t need a microphone to capture the moment. His message was sharp and direct: the Cardinals look broken, and until they rebuild both roster and trust, Busch Stadium will keep resembling the 1970s.
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