NEW YORK -- John Gibbons has been a big league manager for 10 seasons. He won a division title, an American League Wild Card berth and has been to the AL Championship Series in back-to-back seasons. On Monday he added something else to his resume: First-time Blue Jays talk show caller.
Gibbons called into the team's official postgame show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan following Monday night's 7-1 victory over the Yankees as "John from the Bronx" to have a little bit of fun with play-by-play broadcaster, Blue Jays Talk host Mike Wilner.
The 54-year-old Gibbons started off with a softball question about Marco Estrada before he got down to the real reason for calling. Earlier in the day, Wilner had been asking Gibbons about the decision to start Luke Maile instead of Russell Martin. With Estrada allowing just one run over seven innings with Maile behind the plate, Gibbons decided to have a little bit of good-natured fun.
"I think it was great on Gibby's part there to catch that Maile," Gibbons said over the phone from the desk at his office with a group of reporters surrounding him. "I thought that Maile did a great job. I heard you before the game, and what an expert you are man, and I'm glad you were wrong once again."

Gibbons attempted to slightly disguise his voice during the phone call, but it appeared as though Wilner figured out what was going on midway through the call. The two had a playful back and forth, but Gibbons didn't let anything slide, including a promotion that was read just before he went on the air.
"What about them free tickets up there if you call in?" Gibbons asked. "You said something about promising free tickets."
The Blue Jays got off to the worst start in franchise history earlier this year but there has been some improvement of late. Toronto is fresh off its first series victory of the season, and a win over New York on Monday night gave the Blue Jays their first three-game winning streak of the season.
The seven runs were tied for the second-highest output this season, and the recent run of positive results clearly had Gibbons in a playful mood. He even couldn't resist getting in one more playful dig at the Toronto broadcaster before hanging up the phone.
"One more question for you, what kind of ratings do you get on this show?" Gibbons asked. "Is it the same bozos every night? They have trouble talking?"