The campaign launched from the Great Northwest was compelling and largely convincing.
The Seattle Mariners sent out messages highlighting the worthiness of Edgar Martinez, their longtime star and current hitting coach, to Hall of Fame voters. News media members and fans from the area chimed in as well. Even Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Steven Souza Jr. joined in, tweeting in jest that he would put the local newspaper’s beat writer “on probation from interviews’’ for leaving his longtime idol off his ballot.
In Puerto Rico, where Martinez grew up, news reporters tried to read the tea leaves before Wednesday’s announcement in hopes a fifth son of the island would join baseball’s immortals in the Hall.
MORE ON THE HALL OF FAME
- Chipper, Vlady, Thome, Hoffman elected to HOF
- Nightengale: Chipper, Vlad, Thome, Hoffman another world-class group
- Breaking down the ballot
- Hall of Fame countdown: How we ranked them
- How USA TODAY Sports voted
The drive to send Martinez to Cooperstown fell just short on his ninth try, as the two-time batting champion garnered 70.4% of the vote in this year’s balloting, 20 votes shy of the 75% needed for induction. He still made headway, going up from 58.6% last year.
“I didn’t think this year it was going to happen, especially looking at the (online) tracker for the last week or so,'' said Martinez, who was thankful for the team and fan support. "I didn’t have high expectations. I was fine with it.’’
Martinez’s steady march up the ranks, the recent history of the voting and the trend toward more sabermetric analysis of each contender augur well for his chances next year, his final one on the ballot presented to eligible members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.
The mere fact there’s been such a push to get Martinez elected may help tilt the voting in his favor, for it speaks of the impact he had on baseball in Seattle. Without the Mariners’ come-from-behind victory in the 1995 American League Division Series – a five-game thriller capped by Martinez’s two-RBI double in the 11th inning of the finale – the club may not have generated enough momentum for the building of a ballpark that assured its viability in the state of Washington.
Of course, it wasn’t just that one hit that enhanced Martinez’s candidacy.
A career .312 hitter, Martinez earned seven All-Star Game invites and posted a career on-base percentage of .418, which would rank 13th among current Hall of Famers. His .933 OPS is not far behind Jeff Bagwell’s .948 mark, and Bagwell was elected to the Hall last year.
Martinez was such a hitting savant that the award given every year to the top designated hitter was named after him. Then again, serving as a DH for three-quarters of his games during an 18-year career has cost Martinez with some of the voters, who point to his lack of defensive contributions as a factor in bypassing him.
Fewer of them have been holding the DH role against him, judging by the rise in Martinez’s voting figures from 27% in 2015 to a near-miss this year. And his case, though not his career, may have some parallels with Tim Raines, who gained entry into the Hall on his final try in 2017.
From 2015 to last year, Raines’ voting figures surged from 55% to 86%, which he attributed to a reexamination of his case based on advanced metrics that showed him to be one of the greatest leadoff hitters of all time.
Similarly, Martinez’s hitting exploits have been put into perspective by newer stats like OPS+, or adjusted OPS. His 147 mark would tie for 24th among current Hall of Famers, alongside Mike Schmidt, Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey. Nobody questions their Hall-worthiness.
“I think it has helped a lot in my case, just like Tim Raines,'' Martinez said. "There’s more information out there now that writers can look at in terms of all the different stats and how they can impact a team.’’
Martinez has also gotten a boost from testimonials by contemporaries like Pedro Martinez and Mariano Rivera, both of whom called him the toughest batter they ever faced, and a shoutout by longtime teammate Ken Griffey Jr. during his induction speech in 2016, Griffey said Martinez belongs in the Hall.
Considering Griffey received the highest voting percentage ever at 99.3, he might know a Hall of Famer when he sees one.
Gallery: 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame class
