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At the 2009 MLB trade deadline, the Red Sox acquired C/DH/1B
Victor Martinez from the Indians for
Nick Hagadone,
Justin Masterson and
Bryan Price. Martinez played a season-and-a-half for Boston—delivering an impressive .313 average, with 28 HRs and 120 RBIs in just 183 games in 2009 and 2010.
VMart was and
is a hitting and on-base machine with a sweet swing from
both sides of the plate. Whenever he came up for
The Carmine Hose you had a good feeling that he'd
somehow get a hit. Now, the 39-year-old has announced that
this will be his final season. So far, over his 16-year MLB career, Martinez has hit .296 with 243 HRs and 1,166 RBIs (and he's still going). Perhaps his best season was at age 35 for Detroit—when he finished second in the AL MVP voting, while hitting 32 HRs and knocking in 103. He led the AL that year (2014) in OBP, OPS
and intentional walks. He never did get a World Series championship, but said the following about that,
"At the end of the day, this is not a one-man or two-man sport. I did what I could to get that ring; I really did. But you know what, I am going to go home happy." We wish Victor well for the balance of the 2018 season and in his retirement from MLB.
