BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…January 23, 2019, five years ago today:
Mariano Rivera becomes the first player ever to voted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rivera is the major leagues’ all-time leader in saves with 652 in 19 seasons with the New York Yankees. He was also part of five World Series titles, recording 11 saves in those. Also elected that day were Edgar Martinez, the Seattle Mariners icon, along with Mike Mussina, Lee Smith, Harold Baines and the late Roy Halladay.
Rivera, a Panamanian nicknamed the “Sandman,” debuted with the Yankees in 1995 as a starter—then was converted to the team’s closer in 1997, and the rest is history. He finished in the top three in American League Cy Young Award voting four different times, in spite of that honor being largely reserved for starters. You wonder how many more years he could have gone. Rivera declared before the 2013 season that it would be his last, but he finished it with a 2.11 ERA and 44 saves in 51 opportunities, earning him the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Rivera’s “cut” fastball was legendary. In fact, during that final season as he visited various major league ballparks, the Cleveland Indians’ gift was a rocking chair made of broken bats they said were caused by Rivera’s cutter. They called it the “Chair of Broken Dreams.” Rivera was the last player in the big leagues to don No. 42. Players already wearing it had been grandfathered in after the majors retired Jackie Robinson’s number throughout pro baseball in 1997, and Rivera lasted 17 more seasons.
Martinez was on the writers’ ballot for the 10th and final time. Passionate Northwest baseball fans almost willed Edgar into the Hall, because it was a tough road. His designated hitter tag was a stigma. As it is, Martinez is one of only three Hall of Famers who played the majority of his career as a DH, having switched to that position full-time in 1995 (his ninth season in the majors). At the age of 32, he led the American League that year with a .356 batting average and was tops in the majors with 52 doubles.
Some would say Martinez was downplayed by Hall of Fame voters because he played out of the way in Seattle and was all about humility, hard work and dedication as opposed to splashy headlines and bravado. Edgar finished his 18-year career in 2004 with a .312 lifetime batting average, 2,247 hits and 514 doubles. Against the four pitchers who were voted into the Hall with him, Martinez hit .374 with 10 doubles and eight home runs. He was 11-for-19 with three doubles and two homers against Rivera. Martinez captured five Outstanding Designated Hitter Awards between 1995-2001. That honor is now known as the Edgar Martinez Award.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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