Buck Martinez

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948 in Redding, California) is a former catcher, manager and is currently a play-by-play commentator in Major League Baseball. He also managed the American national team at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Broadcasting 3 Managerial Career 3.1 Managerial record 4 Trivia 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

Martinez made his major league debut in 1969, playing 72 games with the Kansas City Royals. Over the next few years, however, he developed the reputation of being an offensive liability, and he never appeared in more than 95 games during his time with Kansas City (through 1977).

Martinez was traded twice over the next few years, first to the Milwaukee Brewers in late 1977 and then to the Toronto Blue Jays in early 1980 after being designated for assignment. Martinez is most remembered for his time in Toronto, where he twice hit 10 home runs (in 1982 and 1983) and was regarded as a solid defensive catcher.

Martinez's career took a bad turn when he severely dislocated his ankle and broke his leg as a result of a collision with Phil Bradley of the Seattle Mariners at home plate during a game at the Kingdome on July 9, 1985. After the collision, he still managed to throw the ball to third base in an attempt to catch the advancing runner, his former teammate Gorman Thomas; when the throw went into left field, Thomas tried to come home. However, he was tagged out by a sprawled out Martinez, who had managed to catch the return throw from George Bell on the ground, thus completing probably the only 9-2-7-2 double play in Major League history.

Martinez attempted a comeback in 1986 but retired after hitting .181 in 81 games.

[edit] Broadcasting

In 1987, Martinez began his career as a radio color analyst for Toronto Blue Jays games. Eventually, this led to a job with TSN in which he was first paired with Jim Hughson. Hughson left TSN in 1994, and was replaced by Dan Shulman. The high quality of Shulman and Martinez's calling and strategy analysis placed them among the best televised baseball commentators. ESPN lured Shulman away from TSN and hired him for national and regional game-calling, whereas Martinez pursued a managing career.

Since 2003 he has been a color commentator for Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts, alongside play-by-play announcers Fred Manfra and Jim Hunter. In 2005, Martinez was named a co-host of XM Radio's Baseball This Morning show on MLB Home Plate radio.

[edit] Managerial Career

In 2000, Martinez was hired as Toronto's manager after Jim Fregosi was fired. Martinez' energetic attitude was seen as the right fit for the Jays' young roster and through the first two months of the season Toronto outperformed expectations. The success, however, was shortlived as the team struggled through the remainder of the season and they finished a mediocre 80-82. He was fired 53 games into the 2002 season after posting a 20-33 record. Ironically, at the time he was fired the Blue Jays were on a three-game winning streak, having just swept the Detroit Tigers. Martinez was selected as the field manager for Team USA in the 2006 inaugural World Baseball Classic. He lead the team of superstar American players to the second round.

[edit] Managerial record

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		! Won	Lost	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
TOR	2001	80	82	.494	3rd	-	-	-	-
TOR	2002	20	33	.377	3rd	-	-	-	-
United States	2006	3	3	.500	8th	-	-	-	-
MLB Total		100	115	.465		-	-	-	-
Int. Total		3	3	.500		-	-	-	-
Total		103	118	.466		-	-	-	-

[edit] Trivia

• Martinez wore number 13 as both a player and a manager in the Major Leagues. He wore number 31 while managing in the WBC, as Alex Rodriguez wore number 13.
• He has been featured as a commentator with Jim Hughson in the Electronic Arts Triple Play video game series. He's also featured as a commentator with Sean McDonough for Triple Play Baseball during the ballgame for Playstation 2.

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
• Baseball Library: Buck Martinez

Preceded by Jim Fregosi

Toronto Blue Jays Manager 2001–2002

Succeeded by Carlos Tosca