Mike Wilner facts for kids

Michael Samuel Wilner, born on March 14, 1970, is a Canadian who used to talk about baseball on the radio. He was a broadcaster for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. From 2014 to 2020, he described the games live on the radio. This is called "play-by-play." He also wrote a blog about sports. Before that, he hosted a radio show called BlueJaysTalk. Fans could call in after games. Since 2021, he has been writing about baseball for the Toronto Star newspaper. He went to the University of Toronto and finished in 1994.

Mike Wilner's Broadcasting Career

Mike Wilner started his career in broadcasting at the University of Toronto in 1988. A year later, he became the sports director there. While at the university, Mike described games live for many sports. These included hockey, basketball, and football.

He began his professional broadcasting job when he was 19 years old. His first team was the Class-A Welland Pirates. After that, he continued to do play-by-play for other baseball teams. These teams included the Class-A Watertown Indians and the Double-A Hardware City Rock Cats.

In 2010, Mike Wilner helped cover the 2010 Winter Olympics for a radio station called the Fan 590. He worked from Whistler, British Columbia, reporting on the events.

Working with the Toronto Blue Jays

From 2014 to 2017, Mike Wilner described parts of all Toronto Blue Jays home games. He did the play-by-play for certain innings. In 2018, a long-time Blue Jays announcer named Jerry Howarth retired. After that, Mike Wilner called most Blue Jays games with Ben Wagner.

Before the 2019 season, he officially became a full-time radio play-by-play announcer with Ben Wagner. In the same year, he stopped hosting the BlueJaysTalk radio show. Scott MacArthur took over that job.

Mike Wilner continued to be the Blue Jays play-by-play announcer through the 2020 season. However, on November 27, 2020, Sportsnet announced that he would not return in 2021. Mike thanked the fans for their support when the news was shared.

Writing for the Newspaper

On February 11, 2021, Mike Wilner shared exciting news. He announced that he had become a baseball columnist for the Toronto Star newspaper. A columnist writes articles and opinions for a newspaper.

His work for the Toronto Star also includes hosting a weekly podcast. A podcast is like a radio show you can listen to online. His podcast is called Deep Left Field. On the show, he talks to different guests about baseball.

Mike Wilner's Personal Life

Mike Wilner has a brother named Norman Wilner. Norman used to be a film critic, which means he wrote reviews about movies. In 2022, Norman joined the team that plans the Toronto International Film Festival.

Mike Wilner is divorced. He has two daughters with his ex-wife, who is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mike lives in Mississauga, Canada.