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.

Martinez attended Elk Grove High School, Sacramento City College, Sacramento State University and Southwestern Missouri State University.

[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 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.

[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 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.

Since 2003, he has been a color commentator for Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts, alongside play-by-play announcers Jim Hunter and Gary Thorne. 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's contract was not renewed. 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. 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.

[edit] Managerial record

[edit] External links

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