Edgar Martinez will always be known for the hit that represents the most exciting moment in Seattle sports history – his double in the 11th innng of the 1995 playoffs to clinch the Division Series against the Yankees. Ask anyone their fondest memory of Martnez, that almost always comes to mnd.
I can’t limit my memories to just that.
Martnez, enshrined into the Marners’ Hall of Fame on Saturday, is defined by so much more than that one momentous hit. The previous day, in a win-or-else Game 4, his seven-RBI performance pulled the Mariners from behind in what Martinez himself considers the greatest game he has played.
There was his magnificent ability to turn on a pitch and drive it down the left-field line, or lash a ball over the outside half of the plate the opposite way down the right-field line for a double.
There were those rare times he’d seem to be struggling at the plate and he’d simplify his approach, aiming only to drive the ball up the middle or the opposite way. When Martinez would start plugging balls into the right-center field gap, you knew he had his stroke back.
I remember those games when the Mariners rode him to victory, and then he would seem surprised in the clubhouse afterward when reporters wanted to talk with him about it.
Edgar Martinez was the best right-handed hitter and the most humble baseball player I’ve ever seen and he earned every bit of the honor he received Saturday night at Safeco Field.
In two years, when he’s eligible for the big Hall of Fame, he deserves a similar moment in Cooperstown.
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