TODAY’S SPORTSTAT: The Hall of Fame case for Edgar Martinez

By JERRY TAPP

I have to admit that Seattle Mariners third baseman/DH Edgar Martinez was not really on my radar when I thought about players who might be elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 2018.

But after seeing him receive over 70% of the vote (still falling short of the required 75%), and looking closer at his numbers, I have certainly taken notice. In fact, it looks like 2019 will be his year.

Following is a two-part series in the case for Edgar Martinez for Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Here are several stats you may not know about Edgar Martinez’s career.

• Martinez is one of only 62 players in baseball history to have four or more seasons with 100 runs scored and 100 RBIs in the same season. Lou Gehrig tops this list with 13 such seasons.
• Although he had 2,247 career hits (ranking 172^nd on the all-time hit list), Edgar never had 200 hits. He did, however, have 140 or more hits in 11 of his 18 seasons in the majors. He is one of 122 players to have 11 seasons with 140 or more hits.
• Martinez had five 40-doubles seasons, making his one of only 28 MLB players to reach that stat. Tris Speaker tops this stat with 10 40-doubles seasons.
• Martinez had 309 career HRs and 1261 career RBI. He is one of 102 players to reach 300-1200 in a career; 48 of those 102 are already in the Hall.
• Edgar had 1,283 career walks and 1,202 career strikeouts. His walk total ranks 47^th in MLB history. Of all players with 1,200 or more career walks, Martinez is one of only 34 to have more walks than strikeouts in his career.
• Martinez had 10 .300 seasons (minimum of 100 games played in those seasons). That makes him one of only 54 players to have 10 .300 seasons. Of the 54 players on this list, 41 are already in the Hall of Fame.
• A seven-time All-Star, Edgar played in 2,055 games, all with Seattle. He is one of 226 players with 2,000 or more career games played, but he is one of only 34 players to have played all of their 2,000+ games with one team.
• He is one of 63 players who had eight or more post-season home runs.
• His 1,607 hits as a DH ranks third all-time.
• Martinez had a career .312 batting average, a career .418 one-base percentage, and a career .515 career slugging percentage. He is one of only 22 players in baseball history to have a career batting average over .300, a career on-base percentage over .400, and a career slugging percentage over .500. Of those 22 players, 14 are already in the Hall of Fame. Of the eight that are not, Joey Votto and Mike Trout are still active … Martinez, Todd Helton, Manny Ramirez and Larry Walker are currently on the Hall of Fame ballot … and a pair of old-timers, Lefty O’Doul and Shoeless Joe Jackson, complete the list of eight.