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Mike Wilner

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Mike Wilner
Born
Michael Samuel Wilner

(1970-03-14) March 14, 1970 (age 54)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sports commentary career
TeamToronto Blue Jays
Sport(s)Baseball, basketball, football, hockey

Michael Samuel Wilner[1] (born March 14, 1970) is a Canadian former 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.

Broadcasting career

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Wilner began his broadcasting career at the University of Toronto in 1988, and was named sports director there a year later. During his tenure at the University of Toronto, Wilner did play-by-play for various sports including hockey, basketball, and football. Wilner began his professional broadcasting career at the age of 19 with the Class-A Welland Pirates. He later did play-by-play for various baseball teams including the Class-A Watertown Indians, and the Double-A Hardware City Rock Cats. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Wilner hosted 2010 Winter Games Today in Vancouver with David Alter from Whistler, British Columbia.[2]

On June 1, 2010, Mike Wilner got into an argument during a media scrum with the Toronto Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston about Gaston's field level decision making. Wilner detailed the confrontation on his blog.[3] A day later his employer, the Fan 590 announced Wilner would not be covering the team for several days, presumably a suspension though the Fan 590 refused to state the reason.[4] Because Rogers Communications, owners of the Toronto Blue Jays, also owns the Fan 590, the suspension had at least the appearance of a case of media censorship. The Toronto Chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America issued a letter of protest suggesting the suspension was an attempt by the Blue Jays to muzzle media criticism.[5] The controversy received coverage in all three of Toronto's daily newspapers, largely in sympathy with Wilner.[4][5][6]

From 2014 to 2017, Wilner performed play-by-play duties for select innings of all Toronto Blue Jays home games. In 2018, following the retirement of longtime Blue Jays play-by-play commentator Jerry Howarth, Wilner called most Blue Jays games with Ben Wagner.[7] He officially became the full-time radio play-by-play announcer with Wagner prior to the 2019 season.[8] That same year, he was replaced by Scott MacArthur as host of the BlueJaysTalk radio show.[9]

Wilner continued as the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer through the 2020 season. However, on November 27, 2020, Sportsnet announced that Wilner would not return to the position in 2021.[10] For his part, Wilner did not elaborate on any reasons behind the termination, commenting only " I shouldn't have been so condescending to the fans on social media. A regret I will never live down"[11]

Newspaper columnist

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On February 11, 2021, Wilner announced that he had become a baseball columnist for the Toronto Star.[12] Wilner's work for the Toronto Star also includes hosting a weekly baseball-themed podcast, titled Deep Left Field, where he interviews various guests.[13]

Personal life

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Wilner's brother, Norman Wilner, is a former film critic for Now who joined the programming team for the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.[14]

Wilner is divorced, and together with his ex-wife from Buenos Aires, Argentina, they have two daughters and he resides in Mississauga.

References

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  1. ^ Rogers Sportsnet (March 15, 2014). "Blue Jays This Week - March 15 - Saturday". Sportsnet 590 The Fan (Podcast). Rogers Sportsnet. Event occurs at 0:55. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  2. ^ "Radio plans announced for Olympic Coverage". The Canadian Press. ctvolympics.ca. January 28, 2010. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  3. ^ "FAN590 - Blogs - Miked Up » Blog Archive » Again?". Blog.rogersbroadcasting.com. 2010-06-02. Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  4. ^ a b Canada (2010-06-06). "Confronting Gaston not a wise career move". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  5. ^ a b "Commentary: Wilner's weekend off does disservice to audience | Posted Sports | National Post". Sports.nationalpost.com. 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  6. ^ Steve Buffery. "The curious case of Wilner". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2010-07-29.
  7. ^ Mike Harrington (2018-08-13). "Broadcaster Ben Wagner on a whirlwind after getting big-league call". buffalonews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  8. ^ Paul Lungen (2019-03-28). "MIKE WILNER: BLUE JAYS BROADCASTER ENJOYING 'DREAM JOB'". cjnews.com. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  9. ^ @SportsnetPR (2019-03-14). "As announced by @SNJeffBlair moments ago on @FAN590, Scott MacArthur (@ScottyMacThinks) is your new host of Blue Jays Talk on the @Sportsnet Radio Network. Welcome to the SN team Scott! ⚾️🧢" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Sportsnet parts ways with veteran Blue Jays announcer Mike Wilner". 27 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster Mike Wilner let go and fans are outraged".
  12. ^ Mike Wilner (2021-02-11). "Blue Jays fans, I'm getting back in the game with the Star. Here's why". TheStar.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  13. ^ Star Staff (2021-03-08). "Introducing Deep Left Field, a baseball podcast with Mike Wilner". TheStar.com. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  14. ^ "Revolving Door". Broadcast Dialogue, April 21, 2022.
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