Martinez became just the second Dominican to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, joining former Giants great Juan Marichal.
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Earning the honors of the 1999 All-Star Game’s Most Valuable Player, Martinez continued to dominate opposing hitters as he would go on to earn 219 wins, a 2.93 career ERA, 3,154 strikeouts and a. 687 winning percentage. “I hope all Dominicans remember this”.
Randy Johnson also pitched for the Expos from 1988 to 1989.
But as all of them agreed upon looking out at the sights and sounds of the huge throng of some 40,000 fans that stretched all the way to the tree line at the back of the pasture, they were merely the warm-up acts for what was obviously going to be Pedro Martinez’s personal Dominican Republic holiday celebration.
Craig Biggio used his speech as an opportunity to thank a large portion of his teammates.
John Smoltz was also silly, talking about how his parents wanted him to play the accordian over baseball. Biggio said Galante was responsible for his switch to second base and that he would not have been a Hall of Fame player without his guidance. He won three Cy Young awards over his career, all of which came in a four-year span from 1997-2000.
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Now it was time for the main event and as Martinez stepped to the podium, the meringue band started up again and the Dominican flag waving crowd chanted. That seems fitting when you think about his career. Aside from Montreal and Boston, Martinez also pitched for the Dodgers, the New York Mets and Philadelphia.
