The Boston Red Sox will raise No. 45 to the right-field roof Tuesday night, continuing a week of celebrating the career of Pedro Martinez. He’ll be the only pitcher to have his uniform number retired by Boston.
A man twice traded for being too small of frame went 117-37 over seven seasons with Boston, and was an integral part of the group that broke an 86-year old “curse” and won the World Series in 2004.
Martinez came to Boston from Montreal, where he won the first of his three Cy Young Awards. Once in Boston, his starts were must-see events – whether in person or on TV. Red Sox season-ticket holders would try to figure out the rotation in April, wanting to hold onto their tickets for his starts.
Martinez’s impact on the field was immediate. He won 19 games that first season, leading the Sox to the playoffs. Boston would make the postseason in four of the seven years Martinez pitched for the Red Sox. They had been there only once in the seven years before his arrival.
His impact in the stands was just as impressive. The arrival of Pedro Martinez changed the very culture of baseball in Boston. Red Sox Nation had long been considered a stodgy fan base. All that changed in 1998. Dominican flags began to pop up around Fenway Park. Dancing in the seats and aisles became common after he struck out a batter. A group of fans with red face paint calling themselves the “K men” began to hoist K cards after every strikeout.
When Pedro pitched, there were a lot of them.
Fans of other teams thought he was a headhunter, a man who would throw a fastball at a batter as a means of intimidation. We knew better. We knew Martinez threw every pitch with a chip on his shoulder. The man who was told he was too frail to succeed was out to prove his critics wrong with every start.
We celebrated his greatness, his passion, every time he took the mound.
He was a proud man. In 2003 he told me he was hurt by finishing second in the previous year’s Cy Young Award voting. Martinez’s ERA was nearly half a run lower than the winner, Barry Zito of Oakland. Martinez also had 57 more strikeouts (in 30 fewer innings.) Zito started and won more games, and won the award.
It was still on Martinez’s mind at the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
“In 2002, I wasn’t given a Cy Young supposedly because I missed the start,” said Martinez. “Well, that Cy Young I didn’t win because I chose to give an opportunity to a kid named Josh Hancock.” Martinez wanted that final start of 2002 – after the Sox had been eliminated from playoff contention – to go to Hancock, a September call-up.
It was one of only 12 career big-league starts Hancock would ever make. He was killed in an auto accident in 2007 while with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bringing up the 2002 snub was a reminder that Martinez can still deliver a purpose pitch. That chip remains firmly planted on his shoulder.
The final image of him on the Hall of Fame stage was a photo op with Juan Marichal. They are the only two natives of the Dominican Republic to be enshrined in Cooperstown.
The crowd erupted. Martinez fans danced and waved their own Dominican flags. For a moment, it felt like Fenway Park 15 years ago.
Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.
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