SPORTS-(PIRATES)
Archive
May 5- In this era of the ESPN2 Bottomline, wireless web cellphone updates and
the JOA newspaper agreeement in Denver, stories slip by quite often. Such a story
appeared yesterday, May 3: "Ramon Martinez retires".
While four starts with the Pirates certainly won't endear him to even
the most loyal Bucs fan, the Martinez announcement was still a depressing
occurence. Now regulated to simply being "Pedro's big brother", Martinez
flirted with baseball stardom early in his career. In fact, many speculated
that the Dodgers were developing Pedro simply as a gesture of good faith to
his big brother. Pedro first appeared on baseball cards and magazines
around 1991/1992, with the by-line of "Younger Brother of Dodgers' All Star Pitcher, Ramon". Back then,
every baseball fan knew who Ramon was... Pedro was a curiosity, much like
Keith Mitchell (Kevin Mitchell's brother) or the other Griffey Not Named
Sr or Jr.
I was about 17 at the time, and spent many hours contributing to my
wasted youth, by messing around with baseball cards. I'd spend weekends
at crappy malls, moving Ramon Martinez rookie cards for somewhere in the
1-2 dollar range. Eventually, I had to stop because I only had
about 3 left! Like many misguided teens, I believed I should stash
away a few of those last 3 Ramon Martinez rookie cards...surely they'd
pay for the latest addition to my estate in 15 years.
I may be on off on the exact details, but I believe it was in 1990 that
Ramon set an NL mark with 18 K's in a game against the Braves. He appeared in the
1990 All Star game at Wrigely Field. A rain-delayed game, where he worked an inning
with his Dodgers' battery mate, Mike Scioscia. He finished that year with
a sparkling 20-6 record and finished second to Doug Drabek
in Cy Young balloting. The sky seemed to be the limit for this young Dominican
hurler.
He returned for the 1991 All Star game in Toronto, but was unable to play, due to injuries. That was
basically the begnning of the end for Ramon, as he never fulled reached the potential
he showed in 1990. Sure, he remained with the Dodgers, winning as many as 17 games, as late
as 1995. However, he never truly broke into that realm of dominating pitchers, with Greg Maddux,
Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens.
Meanwhile, Pedro was dealt to Montreal and almost tossed a no-hitter in
1994. Ramon was still viewed as the bigger star, while Pedro was eating innings
up North. Soon, Pedro began to complete his game and began to rise while his
brother was simultaneously declining. Little bro broke through in
1997, winning the first of his three Cy Young awards. In 1990, any baseball fan would
easily say "By 2000, I expect Martinez to win a Cy Young or two", but
everybody expected it to be Ramon and not Pedro. Irony can be so ironic, sometimes.
Give credit to Martinez, though. After struggling to find the strike zone the past month,
he voluntarily went into retirement. Looking around the league and watching rotation/
salary fillers like Omar Olvares, Steve Trachsel and Mike Morgan (currently on the DL),
it adds impact to Martinez's announcement. He's not going to fool us, anymore... his
glory days are gone, and he seems satisfied with it. Why hang around
and look like a scrub?
Flash back to 1992. The Pirates had acquired a savvy veteran to help them out.
This was another former Dodger who was in the twilight of his career, but was still
able to perform and possibly contribute to a Pirates team on the cusp on
winning. (back then, the Pirates were looking at winning a World Series, not just
GAMES...sigh) Things just never seemed to fit for this former Dodger, either.
He was released and retired on May 5... almost nine years to the day, before Ramon
Martinez. He spent the rest of 1992 in retirement. He returned to the big leagues
in 1993 and contributed three more seasons. For some odd reason, the Pittsburgh
stint just didn't work out. You may have heard of this guy...Kirk Gibson.
That's not saying Ramon will return next year. He already did the
"joyful reunion with his brother" gig, in Boston the past two years.
Despite the similarities to the Gibson signing, it appears
Ramon Martinez has truly faded away.
I'll bet I still have those 3 rookie cards, sitting in my parents' basement...
Seeing Eye Singles
The Chuck Knoblauch incident in Minnesota was great.
Not saying I condone throwing beer bottles at a guy, but episodes
like this add CHARACTER and FLAVOR to the game. Even a little
intrigue. Much like the Roger Clemens-Mike Piazza incidents from last year. Gotta admit
that the public address announcer reminded MANY people of Sam Wyche's
famous PA tirade from 1989- "You don't live in Cleveland!"...
||...
MLB has followed the lead of the NBA, by creating a "Rookie of the Month" award.
A clever way to make the insignificant seem significant.
...||...
Remember a few weeks back, how I was bitching about MLB's site? Turns out
CBSsportsline.com has content and layout identical to the old MLB site.
...||...
MLB just started the All-Star voting process. I'd post a link to save you the hassle,
but we all know how unreliable that site is :)
Comment about this article. Hit the Message Board, or
Contact My Ass!
Back to baseball index
