Locked On Mariners - Daily Podcast On the Seattle Mariners - Edgar Martinez Was Inducted Into the Hall of Fame Last Summer, So the Host Talks About His Career While Failing To Come Up With a Decent Title For the Show

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

Edgar Martinez was finally enshrined in Cooperstown last summer after remaining on the Hall of Fame ballot for the maximum of 10 years. D.C. Lundberg talks about his career and his experience at the Hall of Fame. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thank you for tuning in to Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Here's your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you very much, J.M., D.C. Lundberg here with you to present another edition of Locked-on Mariner's, which is part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Lockdown Mariner's on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitchier Radio, or whichever podcasting app that you personally care to use. smart device to play Locked on Mariner's podcast or locked on anything podcast. It'll do it for you. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg, L-U-N-D-B-E-R-G if you are scoring at home. Yesterday, we briefly spoke about each year-o's final two games as a big leaguer at the beginning of last season and then went over

some of his career highlights. Today we'll speak of another Mariner legend. Well, each year's career did come to an end last year, Edgar Martinez was rewarded for his outstanding, consistent career in a ceremony in Cooper's Town in late July, the culmination of a lot of hard work, dedication, and patience. Ichiro and Edgar took very different paths to the big leagues and had very different careers. I hope to get into that a little bit tomorrow when John Miller joins me to discuss both players. Speaking about Edgar, however, he was originally signed in December of 1982 as an amateur free agent after a tryout session. He noted being very tired during the workout, having worked late the night before, and he was so

tired that he, quote, couldn't swing the bat, end quote. He was working two jobs in Puerto Rico at that time and was making pretty good money, so he nearly declined the offer of a $4,000 signing bonus, which is a small amount even for the early 80s. His cousin, Big Leaguer Carmelo Martinez, convinced Edgar to take the offer, and Edgar began his pro career with the Bellingham Mariners in 1983 at the age of 20, where he had, unfortunately, a pretty poor season in the short season league. The scouting department convinced upper management to move him up in the system, however,

and in 1984, he hit 303 and then began moving up through the system and reached the big leagues in 1987 at the age of 24. His first full season didn't come until 1990, however, at the age of 27. So he was something of a late bloomer. He hit 302 that year at the big league level, accompanied by 11 home runs and 27 doubles. He also had a propensity for drawing walks as evidenced by his 397 on base percentage and also was not striking out very much. Next year was very similar with more gap power and a higher on base percentage of over 400.

1992 was Edgar's first batting title, where he hit 3.43. He also led the league in doubles that year with 46. He smacked 18 home runs and also drove in 73 on what was a pretty bad Mariners team. His on-base percentage was largely the same as it was the year before. He still had the good eye and only struck out 61 times, but his walk total was down. 1992 was also his first All-Star appearance and his first Silver Slugger Award and his only as a third baseman. His second career batting title came in 1995 after two injury-riddled seasons. His 356 batting average, 479 on-base percentage, 52 doubles, 121 runs scored, and 185 total bases all led the league.

He also drove in 113 runs and hit 29 home runs, his first season with 20 or more. He was third in MVP voting, made his second All-Star team, and won his second Silver Slugger, his first as a designated hitter. 1995 was also his first season as a full-time designated hitter, as he had split time in 1993 and 1994 with Mike Blowers at both third base in DH. They'd kind of alternate. Edgar was not the best. fielder. He did not have a lot of range, but pretty much fielded what he got to. He did not have a

strong arm, but it was pretty accurate. His minor league fielding numbers were better than his big league numbers, and he even led his league in fielding percentage one year. I'm wondering if it had to do with the kingdom's artificial turf, but without having the time to go back and watch a lot of video of him fielding at the big league level, and with his minor league games probably never being captured on video, I can't say for certain. It's merely speculative. In any case, he thrived as a DH, which a lot of players do not do. There are several players who just cannot DH for whatever reason. They need to keep their head in the game and play the field.

I get that. Edgar just was not that way. Mariners trivia question for today is the following. Edgar's first big league hit came in his second game on September 14th, 1987, against the Cleveland Indians at the Kingdom. Who was the Cleveland pitcher? who gave up this hit? Answer coming shortly, but first, this.

Now back to Lockdown Mariners and your host, D.C. Lundberg. Thank you once again, J.M. The trivia question today was, off whom did Edgar collect his first big league hit? It was a man named Reggie Ritter. In the bottom of the second inning of Edgar's second big league game on September 14, 1987 at the Kingdom, Edgar hit a triple off of Reggie Ritter.

The following at that, he scored on an ardual. RBI ground out by Mario Diaz. I have to be honest, I have never before heard of Reggie Ritter. Anyways, speaking more about Edgar Martinez, since he was enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame last summer, which was one of the Mariners' few highlights last year, he was a very hard worker. He worked on perfecting his swing tirelessly,

which was very sound, fluid, compact, and could shoot line drives to all parts of the field. If a pitch was inside, he could either use his inside out swing to drive the ball to the opposite field or pull the ball with power down the left field line. He was a versatile patient hitter who did not swing and miss often. His hand-eye coordination was supreme, and he was one of the most consistent and pure hitters of his day. He also had hitting drills which would work his eyes so he could recognize pitches and location. During his final game as a big leaguer in 2004, Commissioner Bud Seelig was present and renamed the Outstanding Designated Hitter of the Year Award, the Edgar Martinez Award, much to the surprise and delight of the Safeco Field crowd.

And yes, I was among them. His Hall of Fame candidacy started off not very promising. He hovered around 35% of the total vote for several years and actually fell to about 25-ish, I believe, before 4,000. finally beginning to climb the ladder towards that 75% threshold in his final years of eligibility. The Mariners retired his uniform number 11 on August 12, 2017, prior to one of the final games I attended at Safeco Field before I moved out of the Seattle area and before the ballpark was shamelessly turned into a cell phone store. Prior to that game, a video was played on the big screen narrated by another model of consistency, Hall of Famer Cal Ripkin Jr. It ended with Ripkin saying that the players in the

hall would welcome Edgar into Cooperstown when elected. This line elicited some gasps from the crowd and a lot of cheering. The following ballot was Edgar's penultimate year of eligibility. Many national sports writers who had refused to vote for a designated hitter had either retired or reconsidered given Edgar's career numbers. He accused. accumulated over 70% of the vote that year, putting him in great position to finally gain entry the following year, which he did, with about 85% of the vote. A well-deserved honor for one of the purest and most consistent hitters of the day, and maybe the purest right-handed hitter of his day. His day in the sun came July 21st, 2019 in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Clark

Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, just as south of the Hall of Fame. He was enshrined along with Harold Baines, the best left-handed hitting DH of his era, Lee Smith, Mike Musina, the late Roy Halliday, and the great Mariano Rivera, who Edgar absolutely owned. While I was in upstate New York during this time and was planning on going to the ceremony, I couldn't. I watched it from my hotel room in Syracuse with my friend. I did go to the hall itself the next day to view the plaques, though. There was a long line to see them, but it was absolutely worth it. When it was my and my friend's turn, we found that Edgar's plaque was placed right next to Mariano Rivera, which I loved, since Edgar seemingly

was the only batter Moe could not get out. It was my second trip to the Hall of Fame, as I also was there for Ken Griffey Jr.'s enshrinement, and I actually did go to that ceremony, which honestly was somewhat disappointing, since all the Mets fans that were there for Mike Piazza left after Piazza was done speaking before it was junior's turn. Classless. I even heard one 400-pound yokel in a Mets jersey say, oh, I don't care about Griffey. Really? It was super frustrating and not representative of the Mets fans that I know. Just a note. On the positive side, it was a thrill just to be there, imbecilic Mets fans notwithstanding, but it was still a wonderful experience. Anyways, if you have not been to the Hall of Fame yet, make it a point.

to see it if you can, even if it's not the weekend that new inductees are being honored. In fact, the crowd may not be as heavy, so it may be a better time, and the hotels will certainly be cheaper. The whole place is just a sight to behold. The Hall of Fame itself, Main Street, everything. It's an experience you cannot get from just looking at pictures, but the best part is the Platt Gallery. It feels different in there. You can tell that it's hallowed ground. It was almost a religious experience, and I say this as a devout Catholic. I do not just toss those words around. Tomorrow, we will tie today's and yesterday's shows together as John Miller will join me

to talk about the great careers of both Edgar Martinez and Itiro Suzuki. Please remember to download, rate, and subscribe to Locked on Mariner's on Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, whichever podcasting app you like to use. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Mariners. Follow me on Twitter at D.C. underscore Lundberg. Remember tomorrow John Miller will join me to talk about both Ichiro and Edgar. Until then, have a wonderful evening. This is Joey Martin.

Join us tomorrow for the next edition of Locked-on Mariners, part of the Locked-on podcast network. Ask your smart device to play Locked-on Fantasy Baseball upon the conclusion of this program.