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.