Bronx, NY: On January 22, 2019 the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) will announce the voting results of the 2019 inductees to the prestigious Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
Many Puerto Ricans and general baseball fans are excited at the prospect that, Edgar Martínez (AKA the Hitting Machine and Yankee Killer) of the Seattle Mariners will finally have his moment of glory.
This is Edgar’s 10th and final year of eligibility in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America election process. Last year he was named on 70.3 percent of the ballots, falling just a bit of the needed 75 percent.
According to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame tracker Martínez has been named on all 32 ballots made public (out of 400 voters), including six voters who did not include him last year.
The trend looks positive for Martínez who many believed that he was looked over because of him being a designated hitter the majority of his career. Martínez played 1,403 of his 2,055 career games at DH. Many voters have held this against him, but he had far superior numbers to Harold Baines who was recently inducted by the Veteran’s Committee (this is another way for players and executives to enter the baseball shrine). Edgar had a career .312/.418/.515 line with a 68.4 bWAR and seven All-Star appearances.
Baines career numbers are: .289/.356/.465 line with six All-Star selections and a 38.7 bWAR, with 1,643 of his career 2,830 games coming at designated hitter.
So it looks very positive for Edgar Martínez, his fans and for the people of his homeland, Puerto Rico who can use as many reasons to celebrate as they slowly rebuild from the economic and disastrous results of hurricane Maria.
Follow Latino Sports if you are interested in attending the HOF as we will be organizing an all day bus excursion on July 21st, 2019
