Fan favorite announces retirement at end of 22nd year
By Jim Street / MLB.com
Edgar Martinez will retire with virtually every offensive franchise record. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SEATTLE -- The urge to keep playing never abandoned Edgar Martinez, but his 41-year-old body told him enough is enough.
So, with his pregnant wife, Holli, and their two kids looking on in the interview room at Safeco Field Monday afternoon, the Mariners' designated hitter announced that he would be retiring at the end of the regular season, ending a 22-year playing career with the organization.
"I have been thinking about this for a few weeks, but the decision just came recently," he said. "Obviously, it was a very tough decision. As a player, I feel that my mind and heart wants to keep playing, but my body is saying something different."
Martinez took center stage among a group of club executives that included CEO Howard Lincoln, president Chuck Armstrong, general manager Bill Bavasi, assistant GM Lee Pelekoudas, manager Bob Melvin and Edgar's longtime agent, Willie Sanchez.
At times choking back tears, Martinez spent several minutes explaining the importance of playing his entire career with the same organization, how much his wife has meant to him on and off the field, and thanking the fans and former teammates for their support over the years.
"Sometimes you feel you can keep playing and playing, but your body doesn't allow that to happen," he said. "My legs feel much slower, sluggish, my back is stiff, there's more pain and recovery is slower, so everything has kind of slowed down.
"This is a difficult moment for me, but also an exciting moment," he added. "I am looking forward to a new chapter in my life."
But the current chapter still has almost two months worth of games remaining and Martinez said he never considered hanging up his spikes prior to the regular season finale on Oct. 3 against the Rangers at Safeco Field.
"I signed a contract and I had in my mind to finish, so I didn't think of it," he said.
Lincoln announced during the press conference that Oct. 2 would be designated as "Edgar Martinez Day" at Safeco Field. Ceremonies to "celebrate Edgar's remarkable career" will take place after the game.
Martinez, a .315 career hitter entering this season, is batting .258 with eight home runs and 46 RBIs in 333 at-bats. But he will retire with virtually every offensive club record, ranking first in games (2,013), hits (2,205), extra-base hits (830), at-bats (7,060), doubles (510), RBIs (1,244), walks (1,272), runs (1,203) and total bases (3,660).
The American League batting champion in 1992 (.343) and '95 (.356) ranks as the most productive designated hitter in history. He moved into first place in RBIs on May 12 when he drove in his 979th run as a DH and also moved Harold Baines from the top spot on the home run list on May 26 when he hit his 236th career home run as the DH.
His .316 career batting average as a DH also ranks as the best and five points higher than Paul Molitor, the Mariners' batting coach and recent inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
"He's a first-ballot Hall of Famer for me and it's coming from the outside," said Bavasi, in his first season as the Mariners' GM. "I spent a lot of years not in Seattle and spent a lot of years being victim of Edgar Martinez baseball. This has got to be the greatest right-handed hitter of his era."
Martinez figures to end his career as the DH Triple Crown champion. Along with his .316 average, he has 239 home runs and 986 RBIs as a designated hitter. And he still has several games remaining to pad his totals.
But the number that draws even more attention is 22 -- the number of years he has spent in an organization that signed him as a non-drafted free agent in December 1982 out of Dorado, Puerto Rico.
One player with one team is astounding.
"It's very rare to see this kind of relationship in modern baseball," Armstrong said. "It has been a privilege to watch a player become synonymous with his team. Edgar is to Seattle what Cal Ripken is to the Baltimore Orioles, Tony Gwynn to the San Diego Padres and Ted Williams to the Boston Red Sox, just to name a few who played their entire career for one team.
"It is impossible to picture Edgar in anything but a Mariners uniform and we're pleased and proud that he chose to wear a Mariners uniform throughout his career."
Martinez has watched several of the organization's most talented players leave -- Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. But he stayed.
"I enjoyed playing here, I always felt at home here and Holli is from here. There were many factors that were in place and I felt that it was the perfect fit for me."
He has spent more years with the organization than anyone. There have been 508 players in franchise history and 355 of them have shared clubhouse space with Martinez.
"Edgar's history is Mariners history," Armstrong said. "If you visualize any significant Mariners event in the last two decades, Edgar is there."
He was instrumental in the Mariners' first winning season in 1992, had the most memorable hit in franchise history -- the two-run double that beat the Yankees in the fifth and deciding game of the 1995 Division Series -- and helped the Mariners get into three more playoffs.
Edgar Martinez / DH
Born: 01/02/63
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 205 lbs
Bats: R / Throws: R
"We have had the opportunity to watch Edgar as a young hitter, we saw him blossom into his prime with two American League batting championships, seven All-Star game appearances, five DH of the year awards, and most recently lead his team as an elder statesman," Armstrong said. "Mariners fans can best appreciate the milestones he has reached because everyone came as a Seattle Mariner."
But the final chapter of his playing career will end without a fifth playoff appearance.
The Mariners are mired in last place in the AL West.
"It's been hard," Edgar said. "'We had a lot of expectations coming out of Spring Training, the team looked great and it was very exciting. Everything has gone in a different direction and it's been hard for me and for everyone in that clubhouse.
"We had some great runs and I never thought this would happen. I didn't see it coming."
With the Mariners being out of the playoff picture, Martinez has been sharing the DH duties with 28-year-old Bucky Jacobsen since the All-Star break. After sitting out just five games prior to the break, Martinez has missed seven starts and been used a pinch hitter six times.
Asked what the final months of his last season would be like, he said: "I have to see what kind of feelings I'm going to have. I'm looking forward to it and I'm going to enjoy more. Enjoy the teammates, coaches, enjoy them all more now that I know for sure that this is going to be the last year."
Jim Street is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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Edgar Martinez / DH
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