TERRY MOSHER
EDGAR MARTINEZ
It makes me sick that voters failed to recognize the brilliance of Edgar Martinez and kept him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame once again. C’mon, man, this should be a no-brainer.
I’m not much of a baseball analytics man. Baseball experts have developed all kinds of statistics to show the worth of a player. That is all good. It continues the progression toward rewarding the players who really do make a difference.
So don’t get me wrong when I say I don’t need all those statistical analysis to know Edgar Martinez belongs in the Hall of Fame just as much as anybody else who is already in the famed chamber in Cooperstown. He may not be Babe Ruth or Stan Musial, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Honus Wagner, Rogers Hornsby or Tris Speaker, but he belongs at the table with them.
In over 60 years of being around baseball – nearly 30 years covering Mayor League Baseball as a writer/scorekeeper – I believe I know a little bit about baseball players and their greatness or lack of greatness.
Edgar Martinez is greatness.
Martinez is the best right-handed hitter I ever saw. Period. End of story.
A few times I have written about the time when pitchers just could not get Edgar out. He was in a zone where nobody else had ever gone. It was unbelievable, and lasted for a long home stand at the Kingdome.
In the pressbox, there are some unofficial rules of conduct. One of them is there no cheering. It’s a workplace and writers working there know the decorum that is expected and abide by it.
Me, I have always been quiet so the rule was meant for somebody like me. I wouldn’t say boo if a gun was pointed at my head. But as Edgar continued on through this particular homestand just gutting every pitcher he faced I was having a hard time containing myself.
Finally, I snapped. It was about two-thirds away through the homestand and as Edgar slowly strolled to the plate half-way through the game my arms suddenly grew goose bumps because I knew what was about to happen. Edgar was going to hit this guy and I knew I would not be able to be quiet.
So Edgar fouls off about five pitches. I knew he was intentionally doing that. He didn’t like those pitches, so instead of taking a close strike, he just fouled them off. Then it came, the pitch he wanted. And he did what he almost always did, banged it to left center for a double. And at the crack of the bat I just started laughing. Decorum be dammed.
As Edgar raced toward first and my unexpected laugher filling the pressbox, other writers looked at each other and wondered what Mosher was laughing about. If those writers who didn’t vote for Edgar today had been there with me in that pressbox that day they would have quickly understood why Edgar Martinez belongs in Cooperstown because what he was doing during that homestand was what he usually did to pitchers – hit the heck out of them.
I don’t know what those writers who didn’t vote for Edgar want to have before they will change their vote next year, the last year that Martinez will be on the Hall of Fame ballot.
Is that he walked more than he struck out in his 18-year career?
Is it that he hit more doubles (512) than Babe Ruth (506)?
Is it that he had a better career batting average (.3115) than Jackie Robinson (.3113)?
Is it that Martinez’s on-base percentage of .4178 was better than Stan Musial’s .4167?
Or maybe it’s his on-base plus slugging percentage of .9333 that is better than Chipper Jones’ .9304 or Tris Speaker’s .9283?
Edgar fell 20 votes short of induction this time and those 20 voters belong in the Hall of Shame. Sure, he got 70.4 percent of the vote (it takes 75 percent to get inducted), but it’s a crime that he’s not in, and it will always be a crime.
And it won’t be easy for Edgar next year because new to the ballot will be Roy Halladay and Mariano Rivera, both of whom should make it. Then you have the alleged steroid guys – Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens – so voters who demean Edgar have a good chance to demean him again.
There are a lot of injustices in our world and they all hurt me. But this one could be easy to rectify – just do the right thing and put Edgar in the Hall of Fame.
I know being a nice guy doesn’t guarantee you entry to the Hall of Fame, but if it did Edgar would have been in it nine years ago when he was first eligible. He is a super person.
Ok, enough of this. I’m going to go someplace where I can weep in secret for the injustice that has been done. Life goes on. It is what it is.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a good day.
You are loved.