Baseball Broadcaster Impressions: Toronto Blue Jays

Continuing my baseball broadcaster impressions project today with a look at the Toronto Blue Jays broadcasters.

TV broadcasters: Buck Martinez, Pat Tabler

Have you ever listened to someone describe something they have seen and you sit there and wonder if that person is full of shit or an idiot? This is how I feel when I listen to Buck Martinez calling a Toronto Blue Jays game.

This is amazing because Buck Martinez has been a part of baseball either as a player/manager/broadcaster since 1969. And yet I often wonder if Buck has ever seen a baseball game in his entire life. He gets everything wrong from names to situations to to what he actually see's. After a while you just have to laugh and take a drink whenever Buck screws up.

Hell Buck has blundered so many times that a website, rightfully named Buck's Blunders, keeps track every game of the Buck Blunders. Here are some examples:

"Buck Martinez said that a father and son were enjoying the game when the camera was panned on them. However, the child was a girl!"

"Buck Martinez said that the Tampa Bay Rays were playing the New York Mets tonight, but wait a minute, the Mets are playing the Blue Jays right now :p The Rays are playing the Braves."

"First game in the BIGS and Buck Martinez gets his name wrong. Yan Gomes is not Aaron Gomes."


These are just three recent examples. There's a whole catalog of games with multiple Buck's Blunders. Canada or any other country doesn't deserves to listen to someone who is as bad at their job as Buck Martinez.

Buck's partner is Pat Tabler, who I don't consider to be a bad announcers but he's not someone I'm going out of my to listen to. Tabler reminds me of Mike Krukow with his analysis. If you can get past the simple wording, he's actually pretty good with analysis. Don't expect him though to quote Fangraphs.

Radio Announcers: Jerry Howarth, Alan Ashby, and Mike Wilner with updates and fill-in duties

As much as I hate Buck Martinez, I will listen to the Blue Jays radio crew. Howarth isn't someone I would describe as a Vin Scully type of storyteller which isn't always a bad thing. I've listen to many announcers who go for the Scully story and they forget about the game. Howarth explains thoroughly what is happening and he lets Ashby deal with the analysis. Howarth isn't flashy, but he isn't boring either.

Whenever you ask Astros fans about their radio announcers, almost all of them will tell you how much they miss Alan Ashby and after listening to Ashby I understand why. I enjoy both Ashby's analysis and his play-by-play. He has an easy going voice and is entertaining with the way he interacts with Wilner who provides updates and sometimes fills in for either Howarth or Ashby.