Shushkewich: Martinez always seemed to light up the room

Buck Martinez received the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Jack Graney Award in 2024. Photo: Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame

September 1, 2026

By Tyson Shushkewich

Canadian Baseball Network

Buck Martinez became the 12th member of the Toronto Blue Jays’ Hall of Excellence on Saturday.

The Blue Jays officially opened the Hall of Excellence on the same day. It’s a shrine designed to celebrate the players and staff who have made an impact on the organization throughout its 50 years of existence.

The Level of Excellence has adorned the outfield trim of the Rogers Centre, featuring 11 names that range from Day 1 executive Paul Beeston to José Bautista, whose bat flip is one of the biggest home runs in Blue Jays’ history.

Not many can say they wore as many hats as Martinez throughout their time in the game of baseball, but he really did it all. Of the club’s 50 seasons, Martinez has had a hand in 38 of them — a staggering 76% of all seasons, for those keeping score at home.

He donned a Jays jersey as a player for over six seasons, including 454 games before his playing career ended in 1986. He managed the club in 2001 and 2002 and was in the booth broadcasting from 1987 to 2000, then again from 2010 through 2025 before he hung up the mic for the last time. This included more than 4,000 games on the television screens of Blue Jays fans, as well as work outside of Toronto’s hemisphere, including time with ESPN, XM Radio, and TBS.

You may not have always enjoyed hearing Martinez on the television screen, but there is no ignoring the fact that he had an impact on the game itself and those in and around the Jays’ organization. This also extends beyond the confines of the Rogers Centre, where Martinez was a beacon of positivity in any room he stepped into.

A personal favourite of mine comes from the summer of 2024. It was a hot day in St. Marys, Ont., and it was the Saturday of the 2024 Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

That year, there were six individuals heading into the Hall: Jimmy Key, Russell Martin, Ashley Stephenson, Paul Godfrey, Rod Heisler and Howard Birnie. Key was the lone American on the ballot but was heading into the Hall of Fame for his stellar nine seasons with the Jays, which included 33 starts during their 1992 World Series championship season.

Martinez was also at the event that day, as the broadcaster was the 2023 recipient of the Jack Graney Award, which is given to a media representative who has made significant contributions to the game in Canada, and would be receiving his award that afternoon as well.

Key wasn’t able to attend the ceremonies.

Before the bigger festivities take place on the grounds, there is a press conference in the museum in morning where media personnel get a chance to ask specific questions behind closed doors. There was a handful of journalists there to write about Key, and there was a bit of a lull as the official press conference started that morning, with one chair empty with Key missing.

And that lull was quickly filled by Martinez, donning a dark blue jacket that shone almost as brightly as the home run jacket the players currently adorned. After the six inductees were announced at the press conference, Martinez was introduced as the Jack Graney Award winner and given a chance to speak.

He told how Paul Godfrey made the engineers building the Rogers Centre add a retractable roof after he said they would lose the ability to play in the sun on nice summer days. He talked about his early days of transitioning from the role of a player to a broadcaster and how he knew the writing was on the wall, but the Jays were giving him a new chance to stick around the game.

Martinez went on for about 10-to-15 minutes, and by the end of his speech — which was 100% on the fly, might I add — there was a renewed energy in the room.

He’s just that good at what he does.

On top of his rousing words, he made time for every journalist or media personality. From small-time podcasters to myself, he answered every question given and made you feel like we had known each other for years and were just reconnecting now. His persona you see on television is not made up; that’s Buck Martinez to a tee, every single day.

I got to see it firsthand last year when I expanded my media credentials with the Blue Jays. We would all be sitting in John Schneider’s office pregame, waiting for someone to kick off the question period, and Martinez wasn’t afraid to get things going for everyone around him. His questions were always thoughtful but to the point, and he held Schneider accountable as well, but in a way that didn’t feel belittling or mean.

Following this, we’d all make our way to the field, and you would always see Martinez chatting with someone, whether it was his partner in crime, Dan Shulman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., or a fan behind the batting cages asking for a photo.

Buck made time for everyone, and always had a new story to share or a smile that couldn’t be wiped off his face. He made you feel like you mattered, even when he likely wasn’t feeling his best or was in the midst of a long season behind the mic.

Martinez’s place in the Hall of Excellence is rightfully earned, not just for what he accomplished on the field or in the booth, but for what he brought to the organization on almost a daily basis until he called it quits after almost 40 years in the game.

He and his wife were also ambassadors for the Jays Care Foundation, and he served as a member of MLB’s Baseball Assistance Team Board of Directors, giving back to the game when someone needed that helping hand.

He’s a well-deserving member of the Hall of Excellence, and it’s great to see his name enshrined alongside some of the other Blue Jays greats.

There might not be any more “Swing and a Drive” calls for the Jays broadcasts, but you can be sure that people won’t forget that call for years to come, or the memories that come with someone as special to the Blue Jays organization as Buck Martinez.