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

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player. After retiring from 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

on the

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

sports television networks TSN and

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...

from 2001 to 2022.

Playing career

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

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, followed by Archbishop McNicholas High School in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. 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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

(sixteenth overall) in 1976, and entered the organization as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

, but he never reached the majors with the Yankees and on August 19, 1981, he was traded to the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Division. Th ...

for players to be named later (the Cubs sent Bill Caudill and Jay Howell 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 In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

, 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 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

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) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

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 hitter and continued to have modest success at the plate. His best season was in 1987 when he became an

all-star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

, hitting .307 with 11

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 86

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

. Along with first base, he was well suited for the

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

role he inherited from

Andre Thornton André Thornton (born August 13, 1949), nicknamed "Thunder", is an American former professional baseball player and business Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and designated hitter from to , m ...

in 1987. He played in Cleveland until 1988, when he was traded to the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

for pitcher

Bud Black Harry Ralston "Bud" Black (born June 30, 1957) is an American professional baseball manager and pitcher who most recently served as manager of the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB from 1981 through 1995, most not ...

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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

Toronto Blue Jays

Tabler finished his career with the

(1991–1992), winning a

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

championship with the club in his final year as a player. Tabler was also known as a clutch hitter and for his ability to hit with the bases loaded, batting just under .500 in such situations (43 for 88) for his career.

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 color commentator for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) ...

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

Dan Shulman Daniel Shulman (born February 9, 1967) is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Shulman serves as the play-by-play announcer and the moderator for the Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet. Durin ...

. He continued as TSN color analyst when Rod Black replaced Shulman, who left for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Tabler took over as the main color commentator for TSN's main rival, Rogers

in 2005 after the sudden death of their regular commentator, former pitcher John Cerutti, calling the majority of games for both networks from 2005 to 2009 alongside Jamie Campbell and Rod Black. 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 a five-year extension with Tabler. On December 2, 2022, Tabler and Sportsnet parted ways. Prior to the 2023 season, he joined the Bally Sports Great Lakes as a color commentator for select

Cleveland Guardians 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 , the team has played its home gam ...

games.

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 e ...

{{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 Guardians announcers Cleveland Indians players Columbus Clippers players Fort Lauderdale Yankees players Iowa Cubs players Kansas City Royals players Maine Guides players Major League Baseball broadcasters 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