Buck Martinez

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.

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 (code for "he couldn't hit a curve ball"), 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. 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 turn for the worse 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. Even after the collision, he still threw the ball to third base in an attempt to catch advancing runner 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.

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 colour commentator for Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts on Comcast Sportsnet, alongside play-by-play announcer Fred Manfra. In 2005, Martinez was named a co-host of XM Radio's Baseball This Morning show on MLB Home Plate radio.

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.

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 also been featured as a commentator with Jim Hughson in the Electronic Arts video game Triple Play '98 all the way up to Triple Play Baseball for Playstation and PC during the ballgame. He's also featured as a commentator with Sean McDonough for Triple Play Baseball during the ballgame for Playstation 2.
• Said of disqualified WBC Team Mexico's reserve infielder, Principe Goro, "it's a miracle he never made it in the majors... it's a shame that the WBC won't let him play."

External links

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference
• Baseball Library: Buck Martinez