Joe Buck hilariously shades Phil Mushnick over Rickey Henderson column

ESPN announcer Joe Buck has gotten off a few zingers at athletes and coaches through the years, but he’s probably never shaded anyone on social media the way he did Phil Mushnick Friday.

Mushnick, a curmudgeonly columnist with The New York Post, wrote a column Thursday on the late Rickey Henderson. The Baseball Hall of Famer died Dec. 20 at age 65 after a bout with pneumonia. The title of Mushnick’s column, “Rickey Henderson was far from MLB’s greatest baserunner,” tells you this was not a tribute-type story on one of baseball’s all-time greats.

Mushnick got widely criticized for his take, coming so soon after Henderson’s death. He called Henderson, who holds the MLB career record for steals, a “poor baserunner,” and “expendable … changing teams 13 times in 25 seasons.”

One line, however, drew snickers, as Mushnick wrote that, “But nonsense has a way of being repeated, then clinging, then becoming legend until it’s taken for granite.”

The correct phrase there is, of course, “taken for granted.”

Buck posted an image of the column on X. He circled Mushnick’s “granite” malapropism, and then shaded Mushnick.

“I need help. I know I’m a dumb announcer — obsessed with stats and the like,” Buck wrote. “But can someone who knows Phil Mushnick — a true renaissance man and someone who is here to show the rest of the world how dumb it is — tell him that the phrase is ‘taken for GRANTED’ not ‘granite.’ Thanks!”

I need help. I know I’m a dumb announcer – obsessed with stats and the like. But can someone who knows Phil Mushnick – a true renaissance man and someone who is here to show the rest of the world how dumb it is-tell him that the phrase is “taken for GRANTED” not “granite.”Thanks! pic.twitter.com/XMte1GV1VI

— Joe Buck (@Buck) December 28, 2024

What a brilliant post by Buck, rightfully pointing out the minor grammatical error, but also getting in a sly yet brutal dig at Mushnick for the column.

[Joe Buck on X]