Marty York is a former Canadian sports journalist with The Globe and Mail, TSN, Sportsnet, and Metro newspapers across Canada. [1] [2] [3] He is currently the Director of Communications for B'nai Brith Canada. [2] [3] [4]
York was born in Toronto and studied political science and history at York University. [5] He began his journalistic career as a young reporter and summer staffer for The Globe and Mail, covering both sports and news during his high school and university days. [5] [6]
York first wrote for The Globe as a teenager in 1974, after a reporter who visited his class recruited him to write about amateur sports. [7] [1] Not long afterwards, popular Globe sports columnist Dick Beddoes took York under his wing and became his mentor. [1]
After his graduation, then-Globe managing editor Clark Davey hired York full-time for sports coverage and asked him to inject objective and tough reporting into his work. [7] [8]
While on assignment in 1989, York was in the upper deck of San Francisco's Candlestick Park, preparing to cover the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics, when the deadly Loma Prieta earthquake struck. York escaped unscathed but witnessed the horrible aftermath of the tragedy. [1] [2]
York went on the record in 1989 correctly predicting that Cito Gaston would be hired as the Blue Jays permanent manager. [9]
York spent part of his time with the Globe as the paper's Associate Sports Editor. [10]
During and after his decades with the Globe, York emerged as one of the "insiders" in TV sports coverage and worked for both of Canada's leading sports TV networks, TSN and Sportsnet. His segment with Sportsnet was called The York Report, and he broke countless sports stories in that role. He became well known for his signoff on The York Report, which consisted of him pointing a finger at the camera and bidding farewell. [11] [12] [2] [13] York was a member of TSN's original CFL panel. [2]
York professionally covered close to 250 World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA Championship, Super Bowl, and Grey Cup games. [4]
Throughout his career, York has been known as a vocal critic of "homerism," which he defines as reporters showing favoritism or openly cheering for teams they cover rather than reporting objectively. [2]
York broke many major, controversial stories as a reporter and then columnist for The Globe. One such example occurred when he discovered that Toronto Blue Jays star Kelly Gruber was spending time water-skiing and playing tennis in Northern Ontario, while simultaneously missing games on and sitting out on his team's injured list. [1] [2]
In 2015 and 2016, York criticized then-Blue Jays star Jose Bautista for his infamous "bat flip" after a game-winning home run in the 2015 ALDS. He called Bautista a poor sport, accused him of violating the norms of baseball etiquette, and also called him "evil" for his disrespectful treatment of reporter Steve Simmons. York continued to criticize Bautista after Texas Rangers player Rougned Odor punched him in the face the following season, believed by many to be in retaliation for the bat flip incident. [2]
York is active on Twitter and often ruffles the feathers of Toronto fans with provocative commentary on Toronto sports teams. [3] [2] He often predicts losses for Toronto teams in playoff series, or less-productive seasons than reporters that he calls "homers" predict for the teams. [14] [2] He often refers to Sportsnet, for instance, as a "sister media organization" for the Blue Jays because they are both owned by the same company. [2] [15] [16]
York at times reported hostile treatment from athletes, including incidents where he said Blue Jays players threw items such as socks and food at him during team flights. [7] In 1982, his nickname among some CFL fans was "the enemy." [17] In 1993, former Blue Jays' star George Bell reportedly lost his temper when York was questioning him, angrily exclaiming that York should "get the hell over to Saskatchewan or Calgary and cover Canadian football like you're supposed to." [18]
In 1990, York reported that hockey legend Bobby Orr had become a pariah at York University's sports clinic after he stopped supporting their efforts. York claimed that the clinic subsequently wanted nothing to do with Orr. [19]
York sparked another controversy in 2006 when he claimed that Toronto Raptors players were secretly rooting to see their coach, Sam Mitchell, ousted from the job. [20] In recent years, York repeatedly claimed on Twitter that Blue Jays manager John Gibbons would imminently be fired—something he later acknowledged was at least in part meant as a joke. [21] [22]
York has at times been confused by some with the actor of the same name, most famous for the film The Sandlot. [23]
In January, 2016, York was appointed to the dual role of Senior Coordinator of Media and Sports for B'nai Brith Canada, the country's oldest Jewish human-rights organization. [4] He subsequently became Chief Media Officer and Director of Communications for the organization. [3]
Under York and CEO Michael Mostyn, B'nai Brith Canada gained a reputation for issuing frequent press releases revealing detailed findings about people and organizations in Canada tied to antisemitism, discrimination and other societal wrongs.
York created the organization's annual charity golf tournament, in which a slew of well-known athletes often participate. He has continued his involvement in this annual event ever since. [24] [25]
In 2019, during York's time as Director of Communications, B'nai Brith unearthed a series of controversial comments and social media posts made by Hassan Guillet, a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party in that year's Canadian federal election. When B'nai Brith went public with its findings, the Liberal Party dropped Guillet as a candidate. The story received considerable national media coverage. [26] [27] [28]
York spoke to the media on B'nai Brith's behalf when the organization successfully advocated for the firing of Ryerson University teaching assistant Ayman Elkasrawy, who was accused of making antisemitic remarks in the classroom. [29]
York is Jewish and the son of Holocaust survivors. [30] [31] He lives in Thornhill, Ontario. [7] He is the father of two adult sons. [3]
Since its inception, York has been the chairman or co-chairman of B'nai Brith Canada's annual charity golf tournament in the Toronto area, one of the charity's largest annual fundraisers. The event has emerged as one of the most popular golf tournaments in the Toronto area and has consistently been sold out. Sports celebrities recruited by York for this tournament have included friends of his such as NHL Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne, Canadian Football Hall of Famer Damon Allen, horseracing legend Sandy Hawley, former NHL stars Mike Palmateer, Rick Vaive, Dennis Hull and Dennis Maruk and current NHL star Zach Hyman. [4] [32] [33]
York has indicated that out of the sports he covered, his personal favorite was football, and his second favorite was baseball. [34]
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games primarily at Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto.
CJCL is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toronto, while its transmitters are located near Grimsby atop the Niagara Escarpment. It is the flagship station for the Toronto Blue Jays, and also airs games from the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Bisons and Buffalo Bills. CJCL is also a CBS Sports Radio affiliate.
B'nai Brith Canada is a Canadian Jewish service organization and advocacy group. It is the Canadian chapter of B'nai B'rith International.
Jim Hughson is a retired Canadian sportscaster, best known for his play-by-play of the National Hockey League. He was the lead play-by-play commentator for the NHL on Sportsnet from 2014 to 2021 and Hockey Night in Canada from 2008 to 2021. His career spanned 42 years.
Robert Alan "Bob" McCown is an American-Canadian radio personality. He is best known as the long-time host of the Canadian sports talk show Prime Time Sports from its inception on October 2, 1989 to June 21, 2019. He now currently hosts The Bob McCown podcast on his YouTube channel, which is also broadcast on satellite radio station Sirius XM weekdays from 6-7 p.m.
Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN.
The Pearson Cup was an annual midseason Major League Baseball rivalry between former Canadian rivals, the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos. Named after former Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, it was originally created to raise money for minor league baseball in Canada. In later years, it was incorporated into the interleague baseball schedule.
The Jewish Tribune was a privately owned community-based Canadian weekly Jewish newspaper founded by and closely associated with B'nai Brith Canada. It was founded in 1964 as The Covenant, B'nai Brith's in-house newsletter and was later relaunched in the mid-1990s as an external publication under its current name. The Tribune was initially a fortnightly newspaper but became a weekly after several years. At its peak it had a circulation of over 100,000.
James Cybulski is a Canadian broadcaster. He is currently the play by play voice for the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League and the NHL video game franchise from EA Sports. Cybulski also worked as host of The Starting Lineup on Sportsnet 650 Vancouver from 2017-2021. Prior to his role on Sportsnet 650 Vancouver, he hosted Cybulski and Company on TSN Radio 1050, and worked as a television sportscaster and reporter for SportsCentre on TSN and Sportsnet Central on Sportsnet Pacific.
Hazel Mae Barker, known professionally as Hazel Mae, is a Filipino-Canadian sportscaster. She was the former lead anchor for the New England Sports Network's SportsDesk news program and most recently the anchor on MLB Network. Mae worked for Sportsnet until 2004, when she left to work for NESN SportsDesk. Mae returned on November 14, 2011. Mae grew up in Toronto and began her sports broadcasting career hosting a sports update show on campus at York University. Hazel Mae worked as a Field Level Reporter for TBS MLB Tuesday starting in 2022.
Joseph Todd Siddall is a Canadian former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, Florida Marlins, and Detroit Tigers.
Stephen Chadwick Jenkins is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Michael Samuel Wilner is a former Canadian baseball broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays. From 2014 through 2020, he called play-by-play for the Blue Jays' radio broadcasts, and authored a blog on Sportsnet.ca/590. He formerly hosted a postgame radio call-in show called BlueJaysTalk on the Fan 590. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1994. As of February 11, 2021, Wilner has been a baseball columnist for the Toronto Star.
Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet is a live telecast of Toronto Blue Jays baseball games that air on Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, or Sportsnet 360. Starting in 2003, some games were broadcast in high definition. As of 2007, all games that air on the network are presented in high definition, and as of 2016, all home games are broadcast in ultra-high definition. Sportsnet began showing Blue Jays games in 1999 and is now their official television carrier, carrying all televised Blue Jays games throughout the regular season.
Roberto Osuna Quintero Jr. is a Mexican professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros.
Kevin Andrew Pillar is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Pillar was an All-American center fielder in college. He set the NCAA Division II record with a 54-game hitting streak in 2010, and established his school's all-time record with a career batting average of .367. Pillar was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 32nd round of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft.
Barry Davis is a Canadian sportscaster formerly of Sportsnet and current host of the Outta The Park podcast.
Jeff Blair is a Canadian newspaper columnist for The Globe and Mail, a sports columnist for Sportsnet and sports talk radio host on Sportsnet 590 The FAN in Toronto.
{{cite web}}
: External link in |title=
(help){{cite web}}
: |last=
has generic name (help)