Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better

In the spirit of Moneyball, the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays offers cutting insights on baseball

Buck Martinez has been in and around professional baseball for nearly fifty years as a player, manager and broadcaster. Having witnessed enormous change in the game he loves, seeing it morph from a grassroots pastime into a big business, he recognizes that not every change has been for the better. Today’s fans struggle to connect to their on-field heroes as loyalty to club and player wavers, and free agency constantly changes the face of every team’s roster.

In Change Up, Martinez isn’t shy with his opinions and offers his unique insights into how Major League Baseball might reconnect with its fan base, how the clubs might train and prepare their players for their time in “The Show” and how players might approach the sport in a time of sagging interest.

Comparing the style of play and preparation that made the all-time greats he played with—including George Brett, Reggie Jackson and Dave Stieb—the best at their respective positions to how today’s players are managed at all levels, he explains why baseball needs to return to its roots in order to win back its fans.

As the play-by-play announcer for the Blue Jays throughout their incredible run in 2015, Martinez shares his insights into how the Jays became Canada’s team again, more than twenty years after their last World Series win.

BUCK MARTINEZ has spent nearly fifty years in professional baseball, including twenty years as a catcher (six years as a Toronto Blue Jay), twenty-five years in broadcasting, and two as a manager. Martinez is currently the play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays on Rogers Sportsnet.

Dan Robson is Head of Features and a Senior Writer at The Athletic Canada. An award-winning journalist, he is the bestselling author of Quinn, Bower and co-author of Change Up, The Crazy Game and Killer. Robson lives in Toronto. Visit him at danrobsonstories.com