Buck Martinez

Playing career

Buck Martinez played college ball at Sacramento City College, Sacramento State, and Southwest Missouri State after attending Elk Grove High School. He first signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an amateur free agent, then the Houston Astros picked him in the 1968 Rule 5 draft. A month later, the Astros sent him to the Kansas City Royals along with Mike Sinnerud and Tommy Smith for Johnny Jones. Martinez debuted in the majors on June 18, 1969, against the Oakland Athletics, pinch-hitting for Ellie Rodríguez and flying out to end the game.

That season he appeared in 72 games for the Royals, hitting .229 with four homers and 23 RBIs. In Jim Bouton’s 1970 book Ball Four, he’s called John Martinez, a rookie so unknown that manager Joe Schultz told his pitchers to just “zitz” him. Martinez gained a reputation as a weak hitter and never played more than 95 games in a season with Kansas City through 1977. In the 1976 ALCS, though, he batted .333 with four RBIs over five games.

During the 1977 Winter Meetings on December 8, he was traded twice: first with Mark Littell to the St. Louis Cardinals for Al Hrabosky, then to the Milwaukee Brewers for George Frazier. On August 29, 1979, in an 18-8 loss to Kansas City, Martinez became the Brewers’ sixth pitcher of the day, making his only career pitching appearance and hitting an RBI single. The Toronto Blue Jays acquired him on May 10, 1981, in exchange for Gil Kubski. In Toronto, he hit 10 home runs twice (1982 and 1983) and earned a reputation as a strong defensive catcher, forming a reliable battery with ace Dave Stieb.

Broadcasting

After his playing days ended in 1986, Buck Martinez jumped into broadcasting the very next year as a color analyst for the Toronto Blue Jays. That gig led him to TSN, where his first partner was Fergie Olver. When Jim Hughson took over for Olver in 1990, Martinez stayed on as the color guy. The duo of Hughson and Martinez later worked ESPN games and voiced the EA Sports Triple Play Baseball video game series.

Hughson left TSN in 1994, and Dan Shulman came aboard. Martinez earned a Sports Emmy as part of the crew that broadcast Cal Ripken’s record-breaking 2,131st consecutive game. From 2003 through 2009, he served as the color commentator for Baltimore Orioles broadcasts on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, alongside Jim Hunter and Gary Thorne. During that same stretch, he co-hosted XM Radio’s Baseball This Morning on MLB Home Plate and provided color for Sunday afternoon games and TBS postseason coverage.

In April 2009, he filled in for an ailing Jerry Remy on NESN for a Red Sox-Rays series. Martinez returned to the Blue Jays in 2010, this time as a play-by-play announcer for Sportsnet, replacing Jamie Campbell and working primarily with Pat Tabler. Rogers announced a five-year extension for Martinez in September 2014. From 2016 to 2020, he was the color analyst for MLB International’s World Series broadcasts.

In April 2022, he took a leave of absence for cancer treatment, returning in July. He received the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award in 2023. Martinez stepped away again in May 2025 for lung cancer treatment and returned that August.

Managerial career

Buck Martinez took over as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2001 after Jim Fregosi was let go. His high-energy style was supposed to spark a young team, and the Jays played better than expected for the first two months. But they faded to an 80-82 finish. Martinez was fired just 53 games into the 2002 season with a 20-33 record, even though the team had just swept the Detroit Tigers. Carlos Tosca replaced him. In 2006, Martinez managed Team USA in the first World Baseball Classic, guiding the star-studded roster to the second round. He wore number 31 instead of his usual 13 because Alex Rodriguez had already claimed that number.

Personal life

Buck Martinez and his wife Arlene live in New Port Richey, Florida, and have one son, Casey, who was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 47th round (1,384th overall) of the 2000 MLB draft. Martinez has written three books: From Worst To First: The Toronto Blue Jays in 1985, The Last Out: The Toronto Blue Jays In 1986, and Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better, published in 1985, 1986, and 2016 respectively. He led the Baseball Assistance Team as its president from 2020 until 2026, when Eduardo Perez took over.

His paternal grandparents came to the United States from Spain, and he is enrolled in the Karuk Tribe of northern California; his mother, Shirley, was born and raised in Happy Camp, the tribal center. In 2012, he entered the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. Martinez was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in April 2022 and finished treatment that June. He underwent treatment for lung cancer in May 2025.