Sportsnet's Joe Siddall shines as clear heir apparent to Buck Martinez on Blue Jays broadcasts

National Post

3 hours ago

It was early days in his broadcasting career when Sportsnet's Joe Siddall was getting a cameo in the television booth and quickly learned how Buck Martinez, his partner that day, was much more than just a smooth voice and a revered Blue Jays personality.
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And the lessons learned that day resonated to the point that it provided Siddall one of his biggest leaps forward in his own broadcasting career.
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'Buck and I were taping an intro and 10 or 20 seconds in I butchered it and it was 'OK, Take 2,'' Siddall recalled of that day in the Rogers Centre TV booth where he was moved up from the radio booth as a fill-in for Pat Tabler. 'Then 20 seconds into the next one, I butchered that one as well and it was on to Take 3.
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'Finally, Buck just looked at me and said 'Put your (bleeping) paper down, look in that camera and pretend you're talking to your son about baseball.'
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'The light bulb went on and it just freed me up. It was early on but to this day I say it was a turning point for me.'
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Siddall hasn't looked back since, developing into one of the most trusted and versatile voices on Sportsnet's Blue Jays telecasts.
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He also has emerged as the heir apparent to Martinez, whenever the day comes that Buck stops talking baseball for a Canada-wide TV audience.
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To be clear, Martinez has no plans to go anywhere even though he has been absent for the past 22 games for what he described as regular time off in his reduced schedule. The 76-year-old is set to return to the Sportsnet airwaves next Monday when the New York Yankees visit the Rogers Centre for a four-game series.
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For the third year now, Siddall has been the steady backup to Martinez after the latter trimmed his workload to 100 games a season. The resulting reconfiguration Siddall shuffling from the Blue Jays Central studio to the game broadcast booth for a near-even split of the 130 contracted games he works each season.
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The Windsor native and former catcher (like all Jays analysts, it seems) has quietly become an important voice to the team's coverage. His in-depth breakdowns — and honest, transparent criticism when warranted — shines through in his studio segments. And that insight has travelled nicely to the booth.
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'What I like about doing both is the variety,' Siddall said prior to a game in the Jays recently completed homestand. 'That mix is great. But what I love about the booth is that it's almost like you're back in the game again. You're going pitch to pitch, thinking along with the pitcher and catcher, what the infield is doing, how the outfield is playing. It's in the moment more. It's that little fix to make up for not playing any more.