Buck Martinez

Buck Martinez
Catcher / Manager
Born: November 7, 1948 (1948-11-07) (age 61) 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
Hits	618
Home runs	58
Runs batted in	321
Teams
As Player Kansas City Royals (1969-1977) Milwaukee Brewers (1978-1980) Toronto Blue Jays (1981-1986) As Manager Toronto Blue Jays (2001-2002) United States (2006)
Career highlights and awards

John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948 in Redding, California) is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball, and currently a television baseball commentator. He also managed Team USA at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.

Martinez 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, 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 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. Hughson left TSN in 1994, and was replaced by Dan Shulman. Like Hughson, Shulman also frequently moonlighted on ESPN. Eventually, Shulman 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 MASN. Since 2005, Martinez has served as a co-host of XM Radio's Baseball This Morning show on the MLB Home Plate channel. Martinez also contributes color commentary for Sunday afternoon games 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. On 10 December 2009, Rogers Sportsnet announced that Martinez would be the play-by-play announcer for the broadcaster's telecasts of Toronto Blue Jays games starting with the first game of the 2010 season. He replaced Jamie Campbell.

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 team of superstar American players to the second round. 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

External links

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