Pedro Martinez has announced his retirement. If you were lucky enough to see him pitch in person at Fenway, you know the greatness. A "Pedro Start" was appointment baseball—you had to watch—either in person or on TV. Not only was it an almost certain win for the Red Sox (a .760 career winning percentage with Boston), you had a chance to see—arguably—the greatest right-handed pitcher ever.His 1999 and 2000 seasons are so amazingly dominant, it's hard to believe they actually happened. But we know they did—we were there as Red Sox fans. In '99, he won 85% of his starts (23 wins), with a 2.07 ERA. This was almost three runs per-game lower than the league average. He also struck out 313 batters and walked only 37. He won his second Cy Young. Then, in 2000, he grabbed his third Cy with an another astonishing year—18 wins, 1.74 ERA, 284 strikeouts, and a minuscule 0.74 WHIP. And remember, this was during the peak of the offensive (in more than one way) Steroid Era. Seasons don't get more dominant than this.
Of course, we all remember the individual performances as well—the demolition of National League All-Stars at Fenway in 1999; the miraculous no-hit relief appearance in the 1999 ALDS against Cleveland; the 17 strikeouts against the Yankees; his seven shutout innings in the 2004 World Series. Nobody was his Daddy. He was the best we ever saw.