Buck Martinez's kid went to the same primary school as me, at the same time. He was younger, but we all knew who his dad was.
Martinez, in the twilight of his career, was a solid back up to Ernie Whitt who was enjoying some all-star seasons behind the plate for our Toronto Blue Jays. I remember that year Martinez got run over blocking the plate but still managed to fire a bullet to second third base. He was out for the year and the strip in the top right corner of the following page in my scrapbook shows BJ Birdy protecting Whitt from the same fate.
Why am I writing about Buck Martinez today, a popular back up catcher for the Jays in the 80s? It's because he calls a great ball game, and his years doing Blue Jays broadcasts with Dan Shulman were pretty special.
Wouldn't it be great having Buck Martinez back calling Jays games on television? Perhaps on Sportsnet? In place of Jamie Campbell?
It's true, Jays fans.
