Joe Buck: MLB Stars As Ready As Ever To Help Promote, Grow The Game

(CBS) Fox broadcast Joe Buck is realistic enough to understand that the in-game interviews he was conducting with players in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night would be highly unlikely to fly in anything other than an exhibition game.

That said, Buck thought the conversations with Astros outfielder George Springer and Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper with the ball live in play and the players with ear pieces in is reflective of something bigger: MLB stars are willing to do whatever they can to help grow the game.

"What I came away from last night with was these guys are amenable to doing what they can to promote the game -- and at times promote themselves," Buck said in an interview with Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes on 670 The Score on Wednesday. "And that's fine. You see that in the NBA. I don't know a league that has players that promote themselves better (than the NBA) and that in turn promotes the sport and promotes the league.

"The inning before we talked to Bryce Harper, his microphone wasn't working. He was supposed to go first. He's out there, I'm talking to him, he can hear me, but we couldn't hear him. I said to him, 'Hey, look, this is a pain in the neck, I know, but take that transmitter out of your pocket, jingle it around. It's not working, we can't hear you.' Again, he can hear me. I said, 'Just leave it in if you will, and we'll try to do it next inning.' And he did. Which tells me he's a good guy and tells me these guys want to do this kind of stuff. I don't think you can do it in the postseason. But if they're willing to do it, my god, we are. It's cool for us as fans to dip into that world from the outside."

Listen to Buck's full interview with Spiegel and Holmes below. He addresses a variety of topics, including a story about eating a pot brownie -- really -- in Cabo.