TORONTO – Only a very small handful of people are connected to every generation of the Toronto Blue Jays the way Buck Martinez is, which is why he’s such a fitting choice for induction to the club’s new Hall of Excellence. 

The beloved former player and broadcaster will be celebrated Saturday afternoon, when the club transitions the current Level of Excellence to a new venue for team history, located in the right-field concourse on the 100 level at Rogers Centre. 

Paul Beeston, the team’s first employee and now its president emeritus, described Martinez’s selection as “a just reward” that “recognizes all the hard work he's done, and rightly so, when you put it all together.”

“He was there just after the foundation had been put down and he came when we started to get good. Is it a coincidence we got good when he came along? I don't know,” Beeston said with a mischievous laugh. “But I do know that he brought professionalism. He brought a work ethic. He brought a sense of humour. He knew how hard it was to play the game. He had no intention, when he first came here, of staying for the rest of his life be affiliated with the ballclub like he did. But he became an integral part of everything that we've accomplished over the years.”

Paul Quantrill, the former all-star reliever who pitched for Martinez when he managed the Blue Jays, put it this way: “He belongs up in the Hall of Excellence because when I think of the Blue Jays, I think about guys like him and Tom Cheek and some players like Carlos Delgado. But Buck is as much a Blue Jay as any human being that I know.”

True as those words are, Martinez’s impact spreads even wider across nearly six decades in the sport, as a player, a union representative, a manager, a broadcaster and a support leader in the player fraternity. Here’s a look at the 77-year-old’s legacy in each of those lanes: 

Martinez had already spent 11 seasons in the big leagues when the Blue Jays acquired him in May 1981 for outfielder Gil Kubski, pairing him behind the plate with future all-star Ernie Whitt, who had just started establishing himself in the majors.

“I played off of his being a veteran leader on the team,” said Whitt. “I was very in tune to his feeling on the game, learning how to call a game and working with the pitching staff. I knew a lot, but I’ve always felt that it’s good to absorb as much as you can. I thought Buck and I worked really well together as players. We both accepted our roles and our ultimate goal was to get the best out of our pitching staff and to lead them in the right direction.”

Martinez helped teach Whitt various intricacies of the game.

“The biggest thing was paying attention to the opposing team, the opposing hitters, things that they can do from at-bat to at-bat. Watching the footwork of the hitters. Are they getting closer to the plate? Are they moving up in the box, or back in the box? Things like that,” said Whitt. “I never really paid that much attention until Buck and I started working together. That really helped out. And then to recognize pitchers when they didn't have their A game going, how we can get them through five or six innings so we don't burn our bullpen out.”

Whitt wasn’t the only Blue Jays player on a developing contender to benefit from Martinez’s wisdom.

“He was very easygoing and anything that we talked about, it was for the betterment of the team,” said Whitt. “His approach was good as far as talking about things, even when he was talking to other hitters. Maybe he knew the pitcher or had caught the pitcher before with Kansas City or Milwaukee. He was there to help his teammates. It was always very professional, and the bottom line is he wanted to win. I always respect people that go out and do their job, and the bottom line is they want to do the best they can and they want to win.”

Donald Fehr, the longtime executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, first met Martinez during the union's annual........

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