Transition from booth not simple
A sizable media contingent traveled from Los Angeles to Houston back to Los Angeles earlier this fall, covering the thrilling World Series between the Astros and Dodgers. Within this caravan occurred at least one interesting conversation, one that becomes particularly meaningful for the 2018 Yankees.
“He asked me about my experience,” Buck Martinez said of Aaron Boone.
Boone is set to go directly from playing to the broadcast booth to managing, as the Yankees will formally introduce him this coming week as Joe Girardi’s successor. Martinez followed the identical path 17 years ago when he became the Blue Jays’ manager.
The Martinez experiment shortcircuited when Gord Ash, the Toronto general manager who took a shot on the former catcher for the 2001 season, got fired one year after hiring Martinez. Ash’s replacement, J.P. Ricciardi, now a critical member of the Mets’ front office, dismissed Martinez 53 games into 2002, and Martinez returned to broadcast life in 2003 and has stayed there, except for a stint managing Team USA in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.
Nevertheless, given how few people have tried what Boone is attempting to do — and how even fewer have succeeded — it made sense for Boone to tap Martinez’s memory bank.
“Once I got back into the dugout, it was a reminder of how quick the game is,” Martinez, who last played in 1986, said Saturday in a telephone interview. “It’s a great reminder for my broadcasting career to not be so critical when something happens on the field.
“No matter how long we’ve been in the game, you see something new happen. And then everyone on the bench looks at you and says, ‘ What’s the rule on that one?’ I think that’s why it’s important to put together a great coaching staff.”
Martinez finished with a 100-115 record as a manager and remains beloved in Toronto, where he spent his final six years as a player and is in his second long stint as an announcer.