Patrick Sean Tabler (born February 2, 1958) is an American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player. After retiring professional baseball, he became a color analyst for the

Toronto Blue Jays 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 ...

on the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sports television networks TSN and Sportsnet.

Playing career

Tabler graduated from St. Mary's Elementary school in Hyde Park Ohio then

Archbishop McNicholas High School Archbishop McNicholas High School is a coed school in the neighborhood of Mt. Washington in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The school was opened in 1951 and named in honor of John T. McNicholas, Archbishop of Cincinnati. In 1915, St. Joseph Academy, a ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

. Tabler was a first round draft pick of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(sixteenth overall) in 1976, and entered the organization as an outfielder, but he never reached the majors with the Yankees and on August 19, 1981, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for players to be named later (the Cubs sent

Bill Caudill William Holland Caudill (born July 13, 1956) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Caudill was one of the top closers in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . Early years Caudill attended Aviation High School in Redondo Beach, C ...

and

Jay Howell Jay Canfield Howell (born November 26, 1955) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds (1980), Chicago Cubs (1981), New York Yankees (1982–1984), Oakland Athletics (1985–1987), Los Angeles Dodgers (1988–1992), ...

to the Yankees in 1982 to complete the transaction). 1980 Nashville Pat Tabler

Chicago Cubs

Tabler made his debut with the Cubs in 1981 as a second baseman, hitting .188 in 35 games. In 1982, the Cubs moved him to

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and he hit .235 while playing in 25 games. On January 25, 1983, the Cubs traded Tabler along with Scott Fletcher, Randy Martz and

Dick Tidrow Richard William Tidrow (May 14, 1947 – July 10, 2021) was an American professional baseball pitcher and the senior vice president of player personnel and senior advisor to the general manager for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Basebal ...

to the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

in exchange for Steve Trout and Warren Brusstar.

Cleveland Indians

On April 1, 1983, he was traded to the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

in exchange for Jerry Dybzinski and became their starting

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

. That year he hit .291 in 124 games. He became quickly known as a

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

hitter and continued to have modest success at the plate. His best season was in 1987 when he became an all-star, hitting .307 with 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 86

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

. Along with first base he was well suited for the designated hitter role he inherited from Andre Thornton in 1987. He gained attention for his amazing success in bases-loaded situations and was even recognized and nicknamed "Mr. Clutch" on his 1986 Donruss baseball card (#129). He played in Cleveland until 1988, when he was traded to the Kansas City Royals for pitcher

Bud Black Harry Ralston "Bud" Black (born June 30, 1957) is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Colorado Rockies. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher from 1981 through 1995, most notably ...

Kansas City Royals

He played for Kansas City until the 1990 season, when he was traded to the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Toronto Blue Jays

Tabler finished his career with the Toronto Blue Jays (1991–1992), winning a

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

championship with the club in his final year as a player. Tabler was also known as a remarkable

clutch hitter A clutch hitter is a baseball player who is seemingly adept at getting a hit in high-pressure situations, i.e. Clutch_(sports), in the clutch. This usually refers to getting a hit (particularly a home run) when the player's team is trailing late in ...

and for his uncanny ability to hit with the bases loaded, batting just under .500 in such situations (43 for 88) for his career. Twice in his career Tabler had 6

in one game, on September 25, 1983 and June 8, 1985, both versus the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

Broadcasting career

After his retirement, Tabler joined TSN as a studio analyst for Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts in 1993. After the network's color commentator, former Blue Jays catcher

Buck Martinez John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ( ...

, was named the team's manager in 2001, Tabler replaced him in the broadcast booth alongside

play-by-play In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narration ...

Dan Shulman Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Shulman serves as a play-by-play announcer for select Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet and during 2018 and 2020 he hosted the baseball-the ...

. He continued as the TSN color analyst when

Rod Black Rod Black (born September 28, 1962) is a Canadian sports announcer best known for his work with CTV Sports and TSN from 1990 to 2021. He is now a host and brand ambassador for NorthStar Bets, a brand of NorthStar Gaming. Education Black was bor ...

replaced Shulman, who left for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Tabler took over as the main color commentator for TSN's main rival, Rogers Sportsnet in 2005 after the sudden death of their regular commentator, former pitcher

John Cerutti John Joseph Cerutti (April 28, 1960 – October 3, 2004) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers between 1985 and 1991, and was later a broadcaster for the Blue Jays. Playing ca ...

, calling the majority of games for both networks from 2005 to 2009 alongside Jamie Campbell and

. Tabler worked exclusively for Sportsnet, which is the exclusive Toronto Blue Jays broadcaster. His partners were Martinez, who returned to the Blue Jays broadcast booth as play-by-play announcer in 2010, and Shulman, who returned as a part-time announcer in 2016. On September 25, 2014, Rogers announced Tabler had signed a five-year extension. On December 2, 2022, Tabler and Sportsnet parted ways.

Personal

Tabler has mentioned on a few occasions he is a fan of the band Jethro Tull. He is married and has five children.

References

External links

List of baseball nicknames This is a list of nicknames of Major League Baseball teams and players. It includes a complete list of nicknames of players in the Baseball Hall of Fame, a list of nicknames of current players, nicknames of popular players who have played for eac ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabler, Pat 1958 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American League All-Stars Baseball players from Cincinnati Canadian television sportscasters Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Iowa Cubs players Kansas City Royals players Maine Guides players Major League Baseball first basemen Nashville Sounds players New York Mets players Oneonta Yankees players Toronto Blue Jays announcers Toronto Blue Jays players West Haven Yankees players