Athletes - Edgar Martinez

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	Athletes - Edgar Martinez

Edgar Martinez (born January 2, 1963 in New York, New York) is a longtime Major League Baseball player who retired at the end of the 2004 season. He spent his entire major-league career with the Seattle Mariners, in the American League West division. Martinez was perhaps the greatest designated hitter (DH) in history. Edgar Martinez, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, and Lou Gehrig are the only players in history with 300 home runs, 500 doubles, a career batting average higher than .300, and a career on-base percentage higher than .400.

Career

In 1982, the Seattle Mariners signed Martinez to a minor league contract. Martinez worked his way through the Mariners minor league system, making stops at Chattanooga and Calgary. Martinez made his major league debut in 1987, and finally became a fixture in the Mariners lineup in 1990. He started out as a third baseman and won an American League batting title in 1992. After a series of injuries forced him to miss parts of the 1993 and 1994 seasons Martinez became a full-time DH in 1995. To date, he is the only DH ever to have won a batting title (in 1995 with a .356 average).

His eighteen seasons with the Mariners netted him seven All-Star nominations, along with two batting titles and five Silver Slugger awards. He finished first or second in on-base percentage (OBP) in 6 different years, and top 5 in OBP in 10 different years. Over the seven year span of 1995-2001 he was probably the best and most consistent right-handed hitter in the game. During this time he hit .329 with a .445 on-base percentage and a .574 slugging percentage for an OPS of 1.019.

He is most remembered for his performance in the 1995 American League Division Series against the New York Yankees in which he hit .571 and was on base 18 times in 5 games. In game 4 of that series, he hit a three run homer, then a grand slam home run that gave the Mariners a 10-6 lead en route to an 11-8 victory. The win knotted the best-of-five series at two games apiece and forced game 5. Down 5-4 in the 11th inning of that decisive game, Martinez hit a two-run double (called "The Double" by Mariners fans) off Jack McDowell, winning the game for the Mariners, 6-5. Baseball lore says that Edgar Martinez "saved Seattle baseball" with that double. While his series-winning hit did help build the groundswell that the Washington State Legislature eventually had to respond to (by enacting legislation to fund Safeco Field), it was one of many moments in a "miracle run" by the Mariners in September and October 1995 that changed public sentiment towards the team and towards public financing of a baseball-only stadium as a partial replacement for the Kingdome.

Possible Induction in the Hall of Fame

Some baseball critics have speculated that having spent two thirds of his career as a designated hitter could limit his chances for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The recent induction of Paul Molitor, however, seems to discredit this argument. Martinez was not given regular playing time in the major leagues until 1990 (when he was 27), despite hitting extremely well in the minors. Therefore, he has not amassed the totals for hits (fewer than 2,300) and home runs (309, 100th all time) that many associate with a Hall of Fame slugger. But Martinez was more of a gap hitter as evidenced by his 514 career doubles (35th all time). And because of his incredible plate discipline, he is ranked 69th all time in number of times on base (3619). Compared to the 162 Hall of Fame hitters, Martinez's on-base percentage (.418) would rank him 13th, and his .933 OPS would rank him 17th. Since 1946 only two Hall of Famers have finished with an on-base percentage better than Martinez's .418: Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle.

Recognitions

1990 Finished 6th in the batting title and 3rd in on-base percentage.
1991 Finished 5th in on-base percentage.
1992 Won the American League batting title. Finished 3rd in OPS.
1992 Awarded the American League (AL) Silver Slugger at 3B
1995 Won the American League batting title. Led the league in on-base percentage and OPS.
1995 Awarded the AL Silver Slugger at DH.
1996 Finished 2nd in on-base percentage, 4th in OPS, and 8th in batting.
1997 Awarded the AL Silver Slugger at DH. Finished 2nd in the batting title and on-base percentage.
1998 Led the AL in on-base percentage, finished 6th in OPS, and 7th in batting.
1999 Led the AL in on-base percentage, finished 4th in OPS, and 4th in batting.
2000 Led the AL with 145 RBIs, finished 6th in on-base percentage, and hit 37 home runs.
2001 Awarded the AL Silver Slugger at DH and finished 2nd in on-base percentage.
2003 Awarded the AL Silver Slugger at DH and finished 4th in on-base percentage.
In October 2004, S. Atlantic Street between 1st and 4th Avenues S., just south of Safeco Field, was renamed Edgar Martinez Drive S. in his honor.
In 2005, he was named the third baseman on Major League Baseball's Latino Legends Team
.
The MLB award given annually for the best designated hitter is named the Edgar Martinez Award.

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Athletes - Edgar Martinez

Career

Possible Induction in the Hall of Fame

Recognitions

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