James Francis "France" Laux Jr. (December 3, 1897[1] – November 16, 1978) was an American sportscaster, notable as the first full-time radio voice of Major League Baseball in St. Louis.
[1] He also worked as an insurance and real estate broker in Bristow (a suburb of Tulsa), refereeing college football games part-time.
Laux' work soon came to the attention of the management at KMOX in St. Louis, who invited him there for a 30-day trial as the voice of both the Cardinals and Browns in 1929.
Laux became very popular, in large part because, at the time, the Cardinals were the southernmost and westernmost team in Major League Baseball.
A 1936 newspaper article about Laux noted that his work at KMOX included "broadcasting all baseball, football, hockey, boxing, wrestling, basketball and horse races besides carrying on his regular duties as chief announcer.
In the late 1950s he and Jack Buck hosted a program called Batting Practice, which served as a pre-game show for telecasts of Cardinals road games on KTVI-TV.
[4] His popularity soon gained Laux notice with CBS, which had bought KMOX shortly after the start of the 1929 season.