GROWING UP PEDRO: How The Martinez Brothers Made it From The Dominican Republic All The Way to The Major Leagues
by Matt Tavares, 2015
Pedro Martínez was born in 1971 in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic. He grew up with five brothers and sisters in a one-room home on the outskirts of Santo Domingo. He and his brother dreamed of playing baseball in the big leagues, and their talent soon attracted pro scouts.
Pedro followed his brother to Los Angeles to sign with the Dodgers, and he played for the team until he was traded to the Expos in 1993. Over the next two seasons Martinez perfected his 97-mph fastball, unpredictable change-up and pinpoint control, becoming nearly unhittable. Martínez was named to his first All-Star Game in 1996. In 1997, Martínez went 17-8 with a National League-best 1.90 earned-run average and 13 complete games, striking out 305 batters.
After the 1998 season Martinez was traded to the Red Sox, setting in motion a virtually unprecedented string of success for the team and the pitcher.
Pedro’s Red Sox career 1998-2004 included Cy Young awards, impressive ERA and WHIP titles and helped the Red Sox end 86 years of frustration when they captured the World Series title for the first time since 1918.
Martínez signed a free agent contract with the Mets following the 2004 World Series, going 15-8 with a 2.82 ERA in 2005 while giving his new team – which lost 91 games in 2004 – instant credibility.
After two more injury-filled seasons – including the 2007 campaign that featured his 3,000th career strikeout – Martínez sat out the first part of the 2009 season before signing with the Phillies to help their postseason push. He went 5-1 in nine regular-season starts – becoming the 10th pitcher to win at least 100 games in both leagues – then threw seven shutout innings against his old Dodgers club in the NLCS.
He explored pitching again in 2010 and 2011, but never returned to the majors and announced his retirement on Dec. 4, 2011.
The eight-time All-Star finished his career with a record of 219-100, good for a winning percentage of .687. He won five ERA titles en route to a career mark of 2.93, captured six WHIP titles and averaged 10.04 strikeouts per nine innings.
When he retired, he was one of only four pitchers with at least 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks.
Martínez was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015.