Ah, Señor Doblé - Edgar Martinez, the original "Papi," "El Papa."I've lived in Seattle my entire life, becoming a Major League Baseball fan sitting in left field at Sicks Stadium in 1969 as a small child, worshipping Tommy Davis. I've been an Edgar Martinez fan since I first saw him play looong ago, thinking he had a chance to be as good a hitter as Tommy Davis was. Like most people have done throughout his career - and still do - I seriously underestimated Edgar.
I began to realize Edgar was something special when he won his first batting title in 1992, but like almost everyone, it was 1995 that really sealed the deal. Edgar carried the Mariners that year, particularly after Junior broke his wrist running into the Kingdome's centerfield wall while making a spectacular catch on Memorial Day weekend. Junior would return in August and spark the team to a memorable and historic run to chase down the Angels, but without Edgar's consistent excellence that year (winning his second batting title, hitting a spectacular .356/.479/.628, a 185 adjusted OPS+, with 52 doubles, 29 home runs, 121 runs scored, and 113 RBI in a strike-shortened season), the Mariners would never have been in a position to make that run. I wasn't there for "The Double" - the '95 ALDS Game 5, 11th inning scorcher down the left field line off of Yankees ace Jack McDowell that scored Joey Cora from third and Junior all the way from first base to notch the tying and winning runs and steal the series away from the Yankees - but I was there for the best game Edgar Martinez ever had, the night before. Edgar pretty much single-handedly staved off elimination in that game, digging the Mariners out of a 5-0 hole by hitting a three-run home run in the 3rd, and then hitting a game-winning Grand Slam off of Yankees' closer John Wetteland in the 8th to force that famous Game 5. The Yanks only managed to get Edgar out once in that game, and the buzz his performance created that night has really never subsided in Seattle. I'll never forget walking down the massive concrete ramps in the old Kingdome after that game, hearing the chant "Edddd-gaaar" for the first time, and then over and over and over, never ending for almost another decade.
Only a truly great hitter can do what Edgar did in that season, and that postseason. I knew then that Edgar would always be in my personal Hall of Fame. But, while watching the next nine years of consistent excellence, it became clear to me that he didn't belong just in my Hall of Fame, he belongs in the Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown.
That's what this blog is about. I hope I can convince you of what became obvious to me, and get you to think of Edgar's accomplishments a little differently than maybe you have, and to give them their proper historical context. Because, you know, Edgar esta caliente.
