Martinez's number retirement is a big honor for the Mariner icon

I’m going to go off my usual combat sports path in this week’s column and focus on a recent development in baseball, specifically with the Seattle Mariners.

Like any year, the Mariners’ 2017 season comes with a lot of expectations and questions. What new faces will don a Mariner’s jersey and cap? How will the team’s bullpen play?

But one of the guaranteed bright spots for fans and the team will come in August when the Mariners officially retire franchise mainstay Edgar Martinez’s No. 11 jersey. The uniform will be in good company and hang alongside Ken Griffey Jr.’s No. 24, which Seattle retired last year after he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and Jackie Robinson’s No. 42, which is retired across the Major Leagues.

The news of the Mariners retiring Martinez’s number came shortly after the 2017 National Baseball Hall of Fame class was announced. Martinez fell short of the 75 percent required vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America — receiving only 58.6 percent of “yes” votes — to get into the hall. That resulted in a bitter taste for Mariner fans who hoped to see him travel to Cooperstown, especially since he will no longer be eligible on the ballot.

Although having a team retire your jersey may not be seen as great of an accomplishment as getting enshrined in the hall of fame, it’s still a big honor and Martinez, who has been a part of the Mariners in some fashion for almost 30 years, and is more than deserving of it.

After five years in the minor leagues, Martinez made his debut in a Mariners uniform in 1987, beginning as a third baseman. He captured an American League batting title in 1992 before a hamstring tear sidelined him for the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Then Martinez returned as a full-time designated hitter and became one of the best DHs in the league’s history. He is the only designated hitter ever to have won a batting title, that in 1995 with a .356 average.

Then came what many fans like to call “The Double,” which seemingly immortalized Martinez in Mariners history.

Down 5-4 in game five of the American League Division Series, Martinez hit a two-run double off the Yankees’ Jack McDowell, winning the game for Seattle and sending them to the American Legion Championship Series against Cleveland, which they eventually lost.

Many credit “The Double” as not only the defining moment of Martinez’s career, but also the spark that enabled the Washington State Legislature to approve a funding package to build Safeco Field as a partial replacement for the Kingdome — and saving the Mariners from possible relocation.

Martinez’s influence is felt across the Major Leagues. The “Outstanding DH Award,” which is given to the most outstanding designated hitter of the season, was renamed the “Edgar Martinez Award” after his retirement in 2004. Martinez has won the award five times, second behind Boston’s David Ortiz, who is a seven-time winner.

While his jersey will hang in Safeco Field, Martinez’s name is already in the stadium or close proximity to it. In March 2005, then-Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels renamed the stretch of Atlantic Street running along the south side of the stadium “Edgar Martinez Drive.”

There’s Edgar’s Cantina, Edgar’s Home Run Porch and Edgar’s Tacos in the stadium. Perhaps one of the restaurants could name a cocktail called “The Double” in his honor.

Although he’s no longer a player, Martinez will continue to wear No. 11 as the team’s hitting coach. I find that admirable because he could have gone to another major or minor league team in a coaching capacity and make good money — though I’m sure Seattle is paying him well — but he decided to stay with the franchise that gave him his start.

I’ll sign off as I usually do when I’m paying homage to athletes in this column and tip my hat and raise a glass for Martinez.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.