Full disclosure, I was a fan of A Martinez before I ever met him in person. As an avid Dodger fan, I would listen to Martinez deftly handle the pre and postgame show that could mimic a war zone after particularly tough losses. Hosting DodgerTalk had him sitting with the legendary Ross Porter, who handled the fan base so well for more than 2 decades. I knew what his sitting in that seat meant. 

I’d followed Martinez’s rise in LA sports radio from his days on the Mason and Ireland show, always liking to hear a fellow Latino make the most of an opportunity. That he was a fellow graduate of CSUN made me follow him some more. And coming to find out that his given name is George (Jorge when talking in Spanish), well, there was even more common ground for me to root for his success.

When I joined the Dodger front office in January 2006, it was not long after that I would come face to face with him. We shared about our common alma mater, as well as our respect/admiration/fear for one of our favorite journalism professors, Cynthia Rawitch. That the Dodgers’ PR Director Josh Rawitch was Cynthia’s son brought forth several amusing stories from our college days.

Martinez’s smooth delivery and deep voice seemed perfect for radio. That’s why it was so fun to hear him retell the story on the Familia FFB podcast about how he practically fell into working in sports talk radio.

Martinez had just graduated from CSUN in 1995, and he’d prepared a slew of resumes and cover letters that he was going to mail out to prospective employers — this was the age before email — when he paid a visit to the university’s journalism office to check and see if there might be any other opportunities for him to explore. The receptionist was about to pin up on a job board a posting for a radio board operator for XTRA Sports 690. Fans of Southern California sports talk remember that station as the hub for sports talk during the 1990s. 

When Martinez called, he was offered the chance to come in and interview at the Woodland Hills office immediately. When he mentioned that he was wearing shorts, they said not to worry, it was a casual environment. Not only did he nail the interview, they offered to have him start that very afternoon. “I never sent any of those envelopes out with those clips,” he said.

Up to that point all he’d wanted to do was to become a sportswriter, doing interviews and banging out stories under demanding deadlines. Suddenly he was in a totally different environment where the spoken word was the beginning and end, all in a matter of moments. “It felt really great to be put in a live environment,” Martinez said. “This was immediate. Radio was happening now.”

To hear how a career was built almost on a pure coincidence is too simplistic. Martinez had to do the work day after day. It helped that Steve Mason and John Ireland took a liking to Martinez. Mason even gave him his moniker, mostly because it was easier to say, “Ayy Martinez, can you do this read?” Or whatever request he might have. They also gave him opportunity after on-air opportunity, even encouraging him to read a highlight and then translate into Spanish on the spot. “They’re my radio fathers,” Martinez said. “They gave me opportunity. They brought me along with them when they didn’t have to.”

I knew a lot of this story, but it was fun to hear him tell it again for our Familia FFB audience. It also showed me how much of success in life is just showing up. If Martinez doesn’t make that call and go to the interview, where else might he have matriculated? It’s pretty cool to know how the work on Mason and Ireland led to the Dodgers, which led to his covering the Lakers and then his own evening show.

I won’t go too much into the Dodgers and Lakers here, because I just couldn’t do justice to his stories in the interview. It was fun to watch him work during the days our paths crossed at the Dodgers. He was dogged in his getting players to do pregame interviews, and his focus and positioning during postgame scrums was something I looked to emulate as I was getting my feet under me.

When he went to the news side in 2012 with KPCC’s Take Two show, I knew it would be a big jump for him, having spent his entire career in sports. But I also was confident that he’d bring the same smarts and grit to make it work in the new arena. After a first year that was filled with learning experiences, he’s become a respected figure on the news airwaves. “When it comes to politics, policy and culture, especially in a place as large and diverse as LA, you have to dive in and get completely wet,” Martinez said. “Show them who you are. Let them hear who you are… Do I want to show the persona? Or do I want to show the person?”

On a visit we had a few years ago, A and I spent a good chunk of our time talking about our respective fantasy baseball teams. When we started our recent interview, he kicked it off with, “I can’t wait to talk fantasy. Any break from news.” 

Hearing how he’s seen fantasy sports grow, both as a player and as a radio host, it was good to get his perspective. A told me about the time he wanted the final segment of his evening ESPN show to be about fantasy football, and how the board filled up “like a Christmas tree” with phone calls. It showed him how far the fantasy game has come from the days that people said it was just for geeks.

Martinez is such a fan that at one point he was in over 100 leagues, as he’d never turned down an invitation from his listeners. That has calmed down, but he’s become even more studious in how he approaches the preparation, both before the draft and during the season. When people would call in, he found that these people were more looking for A to agree with them rather than asking him for straight advice. He almost was a therapist for the callers. “You just want confirmation for what you already want to do,” Martinez said. “In the end, it’s all a guess.” 

He added that guesses have become more educated over time. With the waves and waves of stats and analytics that are available online, there is so much information available for people to justify choices in either direction. 

When he was hosting his evening show, Martinez found a very elementary process for helping fantasy callers get to their desired answer. He called it “Let’s Talk It Out,” when he would encourage the callers to break down the pros and cons of each choice that they were discussing. Opposing defenses. Weather. Home-field advantage. Tendencies of the offensive coordinator. How the quarterback plays at night. All factors are discussed to get to the answer, and it’s something he does to this day.

Listen and find out more about his preferred scoring formats and what sleepers Martinez has for the upcoming drafts season (hint: He likes veterans.). I have a feeling this won’t be the only time that he’s going to be on our Familia FFB podcast.

“I love talking about fantasy so much, I’ll even talk to my opponent about how to beat me, because I might get an idea out of it,” he said with a chuckle.

A Martinez is on KPCC’s Take Two weekdays from 2-3 p.m. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @AmartinezLA.