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Toronto Blue Jays fans give Buck Martinez massive ovation and he was really touched by it

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Aug 13 2025, 2:40 pm
Toronto Blue Jays fans give Buck Martinez massive ovation and he was really touched by it
Sportsnet

While he had returned to the Toronto Blue Jays broadcast booth last week on the road, Buck Martinez was finally home on Tuesday.

The legendary broadcaster returned to the Rogers Centre broadcast booth after months of treatment for lung cancer, with his first game coming against the Chicago Cubs.

And in a tribute shown both in the stadium and across the country on Sportsnet, Martinez was given a massive ovation by those in attendance.

“Thank you, thank you,” Martinez said, standing up and putting his hand to his heart to acknowledge the applause from fans and players in attendance.

“Everybody’s so happy to have you back,” Blue Jays play-by-play broadcaster Dan Shulman said on the broadcast.

“It’s great to be back,” Martinez added. “I missed all the crew, missed the great fans. It’s a great way to finish the season. We’re going to be strong, we’re gonna finish it and go right on through October.”

“I didn’t know if I was getting back,” Martinez admitted to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun. “That was a big thing. When I first found out about it, I was pretty grumpy. But my wife has been phenomenal. She never let me feel sorry for myself. She always pointed to the children we saw in [the hospital] in Houston and said, ‘You don’t have it so bad.’ She’s a rock.”

Martinez had also taken a lengthy hiatus from the role in 2022 due to cancer treatments.

Martinez is planning on getting more treatments after this homestand, before returning to the broadcast booth for the rest of the season in September. Sportsnet has been using a mix of broadcasters this season in the meantime, with Dan Shulman being the lead play-by-play man for most of the year.

The fans in attendance got treated to a pretty good game, too, with the Blue Jays beating the Cubs by a 5-1 score. The win put them 4.5 games up on the Boston Red Sox, as they remain in first place in the American League East.

Toronto has two more games at home this series against the Cubs, starting Wednesday night, before hosting the Texas Rangers for another three-game set. They’ll then head out on a six-game road trip, playing a series in Pittsburgh before heading to Miami.

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