Pedro Martinez is now a Hall of Famer
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| AP Photo/ Stephan Savoia |
Contributing Writer
Pedro Martinez can now add being a Hall of Famer to his resume, alongside breaking an 86 year old curse and many other things. A first-ballot Hall of Famer, no less. He got in with 91.1% of the vote this year, alongside Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson (who had the highest percentage of votes at 97%), John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio.
Randy Johnson gets in at 97.1 percent. Pedro Martinez at 91.1 percent. John Smoltz at 82.9 percent and Craig Biggio at 82.7 percent.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 6, 2015
Pedro spent 7 years in Boston, and was a force on the mound. He tallied 1,683 strikeouts while here, slightly more than half of his career strikeout total. One of his single most dominant years was 1999, when he struck 313 batters, including a 17 strikeout performance against the hated Yankees, when he only gave up one hit as well. '99 was also the year Pedro pitched in the All-Star Game at Fenway and struck out 5 of the 6 batters he faced. And, of course, who could forget the 6 innings of no-hit ball he threw against the Cleveland Indians that year in Game 5 of the ALDS?
Fast forward a few years to 2004 and his Game 3 start in the World Series. Something Red Sox Nation won't forget. He shut down the St. Louis Cardinals, holding what was a very good offensive team that year to 3 hits in 7 innings. It's probably fair to say his best days were behind him at this point, but that performance was vintage Pedro in his only start in the World Series. That performance helped the Sox go up 3-0 on the Cards en route to a sweep and the end of the 86-year-old "Curse of the Bambino."
On a more personal note - as a kid, my uncle would take me to Fenway and always plan it around when Pedro was pitching, so I got to see a fair numbers of Pedro's games when he was in his prime. I was in awe of him whenever I saw him pitch and I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to watch him all these years.
We here at Red Sox Life thank you, Pedro, for 7 great years and helping put the misery that was "The Curse" behind us. I'm sure the rest of Red Sox Nation salutes you as well. A well-earned honor.
