Buck Martinez

John Albert Martinez

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 190 lb.
• School Sacramento City College, California State University, Sacramento
• High School Elk Grove (CA) High School
• Debut June 18, 1969
• Final Game October 3, 1986
• Born November 7, 1948 in Redding, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Catcher Buck Martinez played seventeen seasons in the majors for three different clubs. Following his playing days, he was a broadcaster and big league manager.

Originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1967, Martinez played two years in their chain before being taken by the Houston Astros in the 1968 Rule V Draft. He never wore their uniform, as he was traded to the Kansas City Royals just weeks later. He reached the majors in 1969 and got his only postseason experience in the 1976 ALCS, going 5-for-15 with 4 RBI as Kansas City fell to the New York Yankees in five games. He remained with the Royals through the 1977 season, after which he was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, who in turn sent him to the Milwaukee Brewers. He spent three years with the Brewers, splitting duties behind the plate with Charlie Moore.

Early in 1981, Martinez was traded to the Blue Jays for Gil Kubski. He played 454 games over six seasons with Toronto, sharing catching duties with Ernie Whitt. He had his best seasons in 1982 and 1983, hitting 10 home runs each season.

After his playing days, Martinez became a Blue Jays broadcaster and then spent a decade with ESPN. He became Toronto's manager in 2001 and led them to a third place finish that year. After a 20-33 start the next year, he was replaced by Carlos Tosca. In 2003, he became a television analyst for the Baltimore Orioles, and in 2010, he rejoined the Jays broadcast team, replacing Jamie Campbell as the play-by-play announcer on Rogers Sportsnet broadcasts. He was also manager of the United States team in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. In later years, he teamed on Blue Jays television broadcasts with Dan Shulman and Pat Tabler, the three rotating among the two positions in the booth. On April 17, 2022, he took a leave of absence from the job after announcing he was fighting cancer. The treatment was successful and he was able to return to the broadcast booth at the end of July. In 2023, he was named the recipient of the Jack Graney Award given by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize excellence in broadcasting or sportswriting about baseball.

He suffered a relapse of the cancer during the 2025 season, as a routine medical check-up in late May revealed it had reappeared in his lung. He stepped away from the booth during the next ten weeks, while the Jays caught fire, and Joe Siddall and Caleb Joseph took his place beside Shulman. Nothing was announced at the time, but Martinez made his condition public when he returned in early August, having successfully beaten the dreaded disease for a second time. He stayed until Game 7 of the World Series, working alongside Shulman for the entire postseason as Sportsnet held broadcast rights in Canada for any postseason game involving the Blue Jays. While the Jays ultimately lost the World Series in seven games, the ratings were through the roof, and it was a fitting end to Buck's broadcasting career: the following January, he announced that he was calling it a day.

Martinez's son, Casey Martinez, played several years of minor league ball in the Blue Jays and Phillies organizations. Buck served as President of the Baseball Assistance Team for many years before turning the position over to Eduardo Perez in 2025.

Buck is mentioned briefly in Jim Bouton's classic, Ball Four, by the name John Martinez. During a team meeting on how to pitch to certain players, and with a lack of knowledge of Buck, Seattle Pilots skipper Joe Schultz suggests the best course of action would be to "zitz him".

Preceded by Jim Fregosi

Toronto Blue Jays Manager 2001-2002

Succeeded by Carlos Tosca

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
2001	Toronto Blue Jays	National League	80-82	3rd	Toronto Blue Jays
2002	Toronto Blue Jays	National League	20-33	--	Toronto Blue Jays		replaced by Carlos Tosca on June 3

Further Reading

• Chris Cwik: "Blue Jays announcer Buck Martinez taking leave of absence after cancer diagnosis", Yahoo! Sports, April 17, 2022. [1]
• Rob Longley (Toronto Sun): "'It's My Life': Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez happy to be back, reveals lung cancer fight", Yahoo! News, August 7, 2025. [2]
• Keegan Matheson: "Buck Martinez retires after legendary Blue Jays broadcast career", mlb.com, February 6, 2026. [3]

Related Sites

• Buck Martinez at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Manager page