Who’s On First: The Podcast

Episode 2: Blue Jays First Base Coach Mark Budzinski

Welcome to Episode 2 of Who’s on First: The Podcast.  Who’s on first today?  That would be Mark “Budz” Budzinski, first base coach of the Toronto Blue Jays.
 But before we begin, I’d like to tell you a bit more about myself. I have been many things in my 63 years: Magician, escape artist, performer, pitchman, rock balancer, birder, photographer, videographer and podcaster, to name just a few.  In fact, some players have even referred to me as “That Dos Equis  guy.”  But the one  thing I did for the most years continuously, besides breathe, was to spend 41 years as video coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays.  In 1980 I applied for and got a job on the Blue Jays grounds crew at the old Exhibition Stadium, “The Mistake by the Lake.”  Well, I didn’t get the job exactly.  I Kind of snuck in the back door, so to speak. You see, in 1980 I was such a skinny kid, that it would have been an exaggeration to say I weighed 100 lbs soaking wet, dry or fully clothed with heavy shoes on my feet.  On a cold February day down by Lake Ontario I interviewed with then Jays stadium operations manager, Gord Ash.  Yes, that Gord Ash, who would go on to be General Manager, years later.  He took one look at me and I’m sure was thinking that I would not cut it as a grounds keeper.  Mr Ash said there were not openings, but I guess he felt sorry for me and invited me to come to the orientation meeting the next weekend and get an idea of what the job entailed.  I’m sure he wanted me to realize that the job was way more than I could handle and he’d never hear from me again.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I went to the meeting, sat quietly at the back of the room and when they handed out sheets of paper to fill in your name and address, for payment and tax purposes, I quietly took it, filled out the pertinent information and  handed it back. No one said anything and somehow I was hired.  How about that!  Yes, it was hard work for a skinny 19 yr old, so I just worked harder than anyone else, and eventually became responsible for making sure the mound and home plate were repaired after every game and even went for a flight with the tarp on a very cold, rainy and windy opening day in 1980, my first day on the job.  I was in school for Television and film production so, in April of 1981, when they needed someone to record the players during the game, I seemed to be the only choice.  I got both a job and a career I never knew I wanted.
So, here I am over 40 years later and still talking baseball. You see, the 2024 Major League Baseball Spring Training season is here and the Toronto Blue Jays are getting ready for their 48th season in Dunedin Florida.  And hard at work is the Jays first base coach, Mark Budzinski. When Budz joined the jays in 2019 I was still the video coordinator and he approached me with a new project: create videos of opposing pitchers, sync’d up and side by side throwing each of their pitches to the plate while also showing them throwing over to first first base.
Now, I am not giving away any sacred secrets here, so I’m sure I’m still in compliance with the ND signed when I left the team in early 2021.  These videos helped Budz and the baserunners with strategies at first base, whether to have a runner stay put or try for that extra 90 feet.  They say in golf you “drive for show and put for dough.  Well in baseball, the home runs are for show but gaining an extra 90 feet on the bases is where you make your dough.  You can’t win without scoring runs, no matter how good your pitching is.  Just as former jays pitching star Dave Steib, who, at the height of his career, was losing 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 more often than a player spits sunflower seeds.
So, thank you for tuning in to Episode 2 of my fledgling podcast and enjoy my chat with Mark Budzinski.
 

Episode1 with Lyle Overbay

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Who’s On First: The Podcast
Hi,
I’m Robert Baumander.  
Who, you ask?
No, Who’s on First.
I spent over 40 years with The Toronto Blue Jays. In 1980 I was on the ground crew studying film and television production in college.  I wasn’t cut out for manual labor, so I put my education to good use and in 1981 I was asked to run the camera to record the players when they were hitting or pitching during the games. From then on I was known as Captain Video.  It was the early days of huge portable video machines and I captured the players on individual VHS with a large, by today’s standards, black and white video camera.  No HD, no color, no super slow motion.  Just a pause button, that if you hit it rapidly enough, as if sending Morse Code, you could simulate a form of frame by frame analysis.  Oh, and we only had one angle.  
Over the next 40 years I helped revolutionize how video was captured in baseball and viewed, being the first to use SVHS, DVD recorders, 1000 frame per second slow motion, multiple camera angles and digital capture using a Mac Pro and iMac viewing stations, before commercial video systems ever hit the market.
Over the years with the Blue Jays, I learned a lot about baseball and was in on some cool behind the scenes drama and wackiness that goes along with a long Major League Baseball season.  But one thing that I never got in on were the conversations that took place at first base.  
Since retiring from my position as video coordinator in March of 2021, I had moved on, but still loved baseball.  So, I have returned, this time asking the questions I’ve always wanted to get the answers to.  One of the great mysteries of baseball.  What the heck do they talk about at First Base?  Sorry, What’s on Second Base.  I don’t know.  THRID BASE!
So, who’s on first today?  Well, it’s my old friend Lyle Overbay, former first baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays.  Lyle was born in 1977, the inaugural year of the Toronto Blue Jays, and was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1999.  He made his Major League debut in 2001 and joined the Blue Jays in 2006, playing in 723 games with the Jays, before finishing out his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a return to Arizona, Atlanta, the Yankees and in 2014 121 games with Milwaukee.  
These days he’s enjoying life on the west coast and coaching High School baseball.  And for you stats nerds out there, he had a career .266 batting average, slugged 151 home runs, and most importantly these days, had a WAR,(Wins Above Replacement, of 16.5.
On that note, let’s dial up the old telephone and see if we can get a juicy story or two about his career at First base.  I hope you enjoy my first episode and request that you please like, subscribe and leave a kind comment or two, so I know you’re out there enjoying my show. 
 

Who’s On First : The Teaser

After retiring from the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club in March of 2021 I have still kept up my interest in baseball.  Now I am beginning a new baseball journey: Who’s on First: The Podcast.
For over 40 years I worked for the Toronto Blue Jays.  After spending 1980 on the grounds crew, I was given the job of Video Assistant in 1981. I eventually became the Video Coordinator for the entire organization and contributed to two Word Series Championships along the way. 
Join me for talks with players, coaches, and perhaps even umpires as we delve into the secret conversations at first base, during the game.