Buck Martinez, pictured at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in September, 2022, says he is stepping out of the booth after more than 4,000 games over the course of his career.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Buck Martinez, one of the longest-serving Toronto Blue Jays baseball broadcasters, announced Friday morning that he has called the final game of his career.
Martinez, 77, said in a statement issued by Sportsnet that he would not return for the coming season.
He had been a part of Blue Jays baseball for about 38 of the team’s 49 seasons, first as a player and then as a broadcaster, calling more than 4,000 games over the course of his career.
“It’s hard to believe I came to Toronto in a trade in May of 1981, thinking that would be the end of a very good career. Little did I know that I still would be associated with the Blue Jays through the 2025 season,” he said in the statement.
“What a glorious season it was. It was a joy and an honour to be involved in each and every game through Game 7 of the World Series. Only one other outcome could have topped the fantastic year.”
From 2022: Blue Jays broadcaster Buck Martinez drops a quiet bombshell about his future
Martinez said that, after last season, he and his wife, Arlene, decided it was “time for me to step out of the booth and enjoy the years ahead.”
He had first served as a colour analyst for Jays games in 1987, after retiring from the team the previous year. He left broadcasting to manage the team in 2001 and 2002, then called Baltimore Orioles games from 2003-2009. He rejoined the Jays booth in 2010, when Sportsnet became the team’s exclusive broadcaster.
Martinez had toyed with the idea of retiring in the fall of 2022 after a bout with cancer took him out of the booth for three months.
At the time, he told The Globe and Mail that he was tiring more easily, and that he didn’t know whether he wanted to continue the grind.
“It has been a fantastic journey with Sportsnet, the Blue Jays and the wonderful Blue Jays fans all over the world,” he said in his statement on Friday. “Thank you all for embracing me and welcoming my family and me in a way that has made us feel like we are part of yours.”
Addressing Jays fans, Mr. Martinez says he’ll miss the “selfies, the handshakes and welcoming smiles.”
Dan Shulman, who shared the booth with Martinez from 1995 to 2000 and then again from 2016 until the end of last season – fans affectionately called the duo “Buck and Dan” – praised his partner.
“He’s one of the most significant figures in Blue Jays history,” Shulman said.
The Sportsnet statement did not mention who might replace Martinez for the coming season, which begins March 27 in Toronto.
Over the course of his broadcast career, Martinez had worked for the U.S. broadcasters TBS, the Baseball Network and MLB International, as well as TSN. He was on the call for five World Series, including last year’s seven-game fall classic, the first produced by a Canadian broadcaster.
In 2022, Martinez told The Globe that when the time came for him to retire he would like to be remembered simply as “a guy that did the Blue Jays broadcasts for a long time.”
“Longevity comes along with competence. Comes along with credibility, and it comes along with performance,” he explained. “People aren’t allowed to do things for a long time if they’re not performing.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misstated that Buck Martinez was the longest-serving Blue Jays broadcaster. He was one of the longest-serving broadcasters.