Buck Martinez

Buck Martinez
Catcher / Manager
Born: (1948-11-07) November 7, 1948 Redding, California
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 18, 1969 for the Kansas City Royals
Last MLB appearance
October 3, 1986 for the Toronto Blue Jays
Career statistics
Batting average	.225
Home runs	58
Runs batted in	321
Games managed	215
Win-loss record	100-115
Winning %	.465
Teams
As player Kansas City Royals (1969–1977) Milwaukee Brewers (1978–1980) Toronto Blue Jays (1981–1986) As manager Toronto Blue Jays (2001–2002)

John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball catcher and manager, and currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in the majors with the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays.^[1] Since the end of his playing career, he has been a broadcaster, working on Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles radio and television broadcasts, and nationally for TBS.

Martinez managed the Toronto Blue Jays from 2001 to May 2002 and Team USA at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.^[2] He attended Elk Grove High School, Sacramento City College, Sacramento State University and Southwest Missouri State University.

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, including to the Milwaukee Brewers in late 1977. In the midst of an 18–8 loss to Kansas City on Wednesday, August 29, 1979, the Brewers made several position changes, willingly losing their DH in the process. Amongst other moves, 3B Sal Bando was moved to pitcher in the 4th inning – he hurled three innings, going to bat in the fifth as a pitcher and popping up. In the 7th, Bando and 2B Jim Gantner switched positions, though while a pitcher Gantner never made it to the plate as a batter. The next inning, Martinez entered the game as the Brewers sixth pitcher of the day. As a pitcher, Martinez batted in the 9th inning, stroking an RBI single. For each of Bando, Gantner and Martinez, all of whom played in over 1,000 ML games, this game was their lone appearance in the majors as a pitcher.

Martinez was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays May 10, 1981 after being designated for assignment. He 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 broke his leg and severely dislocated his ankle in a home plate collision with the Seattle Mariners' Phil Bradley 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 what is perhaps 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.

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 Fergie Olver; when Olver was replaced by Jim Hughson in 1990, Martinez remained the color analyst. The pair of Hughson and Martinez also worked together on a number of ESPN telecasts, as well as on EA Sports Triple Play Baseball video game series. Hughson left TSN in 1994, and was replaced by Dan Shulman. Like Hughson, Shulman also frequently moonlighted on ESPN and eventually joined ESPN full-time, whereas Martinez pursued a managing career.

For the 2003 to 2009 seasons, he was the color commentator for Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts, alongside play-by-play announcers Jim Hunter and Gary Thorne on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. From 2005 to 2009, Martinez was a co-host of XM Radio's Baseball This Morning show on the MLB Home Plate channel and contributed color commentary for Sunday afternoon games and on TBS, as well as for the network's postseason coverage. In late April 2009, Buck substituted for the ill Jerry Remy as commentator for the three game Red Sox-Rays series for NESN.

Martinez returned to the Blue Jays' broadcast booth in 2010, this time as a play-by-play announcer for their sister company and exclusive broadcaster, Rogers Sportsnet, replacing Jamie Campbell, who now hosts the telecasts. His main broadcast partner on Sportsnet is former Blue Jay Pat Tabler. Martinez continues to work for TBS during the postseason.^[3]

Managerial career

In 2000, Martinez was hired as Toronto's manager after Jim Fregosi's contract was not renewed. Martinez's 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 short-lived 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. He was then replaced by Carlos Tosca.

Martinez was selected as the field manager for Team USA in the 2006 inaugural World Baseball Classic. He led the superstar-laden American squad to the second round. While 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.

Managerial record

Personal life

Martinez and his wife have one son Casey, a 47th round pick by Toronto in the 2000 First Year Player Draft. They reside in Clearwater, Florida.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buck Martinez.

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Library: Buck Martinez