Courtesy Toronto Globe & Mail

(July 4, 2010) With the Toronto Blue Jays (in the immortal words of Dennis Leary) swaying like hippies around a campfire, the critical styles of the team's catchers-turned-broadcasters stand in marked contrast. On TV, Buck Martinez's approach has been to broadcast as though still managing. That means playing down the highs and lows of a long season. While he offers criticism, the reflexive second guess on pitching changes and hit-and-run strategies is not for Martinez. “Nothing to see here, move along,” is Buck's soothing refrain to most of the tempests that have struck the team.

This world-weariness works in the dugout, because players need reassurance and stability to survive 162 punishing games. But does it make compelling TV? It could work better if Martinez had a foil, someone to push him the way Bob McCown does when the pair spar on the radio. But Pat Tabler is also baseball culture, talking “inside baseball” without generating screaming headlines. So there's a Prozac effect that moderates the highs and lows out of games on TV.

On radio, however, Alan Ashby is more than happy to rip and tear. In a recent game, the former MLB veteran catalogued the ineptitude of Jays' catcher Jose Molina in getting crossed up on pitches. (In Ashby's opinion, this whiffing was on the catcher, not the pitchers.) Ashby also described the psychodramas surrounding players stealing bases. Did stealing mean the runner had no faith in the batter to deliver? Did this alpha-dog attitude disrupt teams? Ashby does not broach these subjects to make friends and influence baseball neighbours.

Ashby has a natural foil for his barbs in genial Jerry Howarth, who could make Torquemada seem like a swell guy. For the critical baseball fan, the radio crew is the edgier medium. The TV product suits those who just like to watch a game without being yelled at. With the season threatening to get out of hand again, it will be interesting to see which style wins out with fans.

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