What were Sportsnet’s Blue Jays on-air talent doing in 1993?

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Sixteen games into this magical Toronto Blue Jays post-2025 season and the players have become larger than life.

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But so do the men and women who tell their stories every night on television.

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No one is touching Vladdy Guerrero Jr. on the popularity scale these days, but Sportsnet's Buck Martinez is probably one of the closest people in terms of views.

However, with the Jays winning their first World Series title in 32 years, we decided to go back in time to the very last time baseball owned this town in the month of October and examine what the people filming Sportsnet today were doing back then.

BUCK MARTINEZ

Let's start with the simplest. Buck did much the same job then as he does today, although he played a more important role in today's game than in 1993. It was a different time then. of course, with the radio tandem of Tom Chick and Jerry Howarth having the best earnings even on television, which was in the capable hands of Jim Hewson and Martinez.

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DID YOU KNOW? This World Series preceded a rather significant move for Martinez. In 2001, he moved from the coverage booth for the team for which he was a catcher to the manager's office, replacing Jim Fregosi.

AND SHULMAN

The Blue Jays broadcaster was just starting his career in the industry when the Jays won their second straight title. Shulman joined The Fan 590 (then 1430) in 1993, working on some of the pregame and most of the postgame shows after Blue Jays games on The Fan.

DID YOU KNOW? Shulman's first job as a Blue Jays broadcast announcer began in 1995. He also spent many years covering baseball and college basketball for ESPN.

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HAZEL MAY

A sideline reporter with quick reflexes to avoid all those post-game Gatorade showers, he worked several jobs at York University's radio station in 1993 and worked part-time at the waiting tables.

DID YOU KNOW? Mae used her growing knowledge of sports as a waitress to engage customers in sports conversations, which helped when the bill came and the tip amount was determined.

KALEV JOSEPH

Joseph was just seven years old growing up in Tennessee when the Jays won their second World Series in a row.

DID YOU KNOW? Joseph's MLB career spanned seven seasons and three teams, including the Jays, but he is the only rookie in MLB history to hit a home run in five straight games, doing so with Baltimore in 2014.

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JOE NEEDLE

Siddall, a Windsor native, got his own breakthrough in 1993. That same season he made his Major League debut at Expo.

DID YOU KNOW? Tommy Harper, then-Expos coach, was less than complimentary when discussing Siddall's chances of staying with the team long-term. “He's a damn smart player, but he's going to have to learn how to hit to make an impact here,” Harper told a reporter in 1993. For the record, Siddall hit a single in his debut and played parts of four seasons in the majors with three teams.

JAMIE CAMPBELL

Campbell, like Shulman, was just starting out in the business, working for CBC in Edmonton in 1993. He moved to CJOH in Ottawa before joining Sportsnet in 1995.

DID YOU KNOW? Campbell became one of Sportsnet's first-day staffers, joining Daren Millard as co-host of the network's first Sportscentral show.

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MADISON SHIPMAN

Shipman likely has few memories of the 1993 World Series. At that time she was only one year old. She was born in Houston, Texas, but grew up in Valencia, California.

DID YOU KNOW? Shipman is a former SEC Softball Player of the Year who played for the University of Tennessee from 2011-14. She led volunteers to two appearances at the Women's College World Series.

KEVIN PILLAR

Pillar was just four years old when the Jays beat the Phillies in the 1993 World Series.

DID YOU KNOW? Pillar spent the first six-plus seasons of his MLB career with the Blue Jays from 2013-2019. He considered retiring after the 2024 season, but decided to sign with the Texas Rangers for this year. He officially announced his retirement on July 2 of this season and made a nice transition to behind the mic immediately after.

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