news-engine

TORONTO -- One of the most prominent figures in Canadian sports broadcasting history was honored Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre when Buck Martinez, the noted baseball broadcaster and former MLB catcher and manager, was inducted into the Blue Jays’ new Hall of Excellence prior to Saturday’s game against the Mariners. This latest edition to the Rogers Centre is located on the 100 Level concourse of the stadium and is divided into two categories -- players and managers, and builders and broadcasters. Each area includes unique artifacts, memorabilia, videos, images, and information recognizing their significant contributions and impact on the franchise. The Hall contains all 12 inductees currently on the stadium’s Level of Excellence including HOFer Roy Halladay, power-hitting mashers George Bell and Carlos Delgado and World Series hero Joe Carter. Martinez has been part of the Blue Jays organization for 40 years serving as a player (1981-86), manager (2001-2002) and broadcaster (1987-2000 and 2010-2025). He retired from broadcasting earlier this year after calling a memorable final game for Canadian broadcaster Sportsnet -- Game 7 of the 2025 World Series against the Dodgers. Baseball fans in America of a certain age might remember he and Chris Berman famously called Cal Ripken Jr.’s historic 2,131st consecutive game on ESPN on Sept. 6, 1995. They stayed completely silent in the booth for 19 minutes. “Chris and I did ‘Wednesday Night Baseball’ for ESPN for several years and that game happened to come up on Wednesday night because they had a rain out earlier,” Martinez said. “When it got time to decide who was going to broadcast the game, ESPN wanted Joe Morgan to do the game. Boomer wouldn’t allow that. He said this is our game Uncle Bucky, that’s what he always called me, and he told them Uncle Bucky and I are doing this game. I think people remember me for two things, which kind of sums up my whole career. One was breaking my leg in Seattle (as a player in 1985) and the other was not talking during the Cal Ripken game. But there was nothing to say. He had just broken a record that was unbreakable. Brooks Robinson was sitting between us at the time, and all three of us had tears in our eyes. Because we just saw something we thought would never happen.”