Part 4 of our Hall of Fame ballot series: a very small ballot

Edgar Martinez

Edgar Martinez is also another guy that stuck with one team in his entire career. Martinez is going on his 9th year on the ballot. Why exactly? This guy is a 7-time All-Star, 5-time Silver Slugger, and won the batting title 2 times. I mean where to start, just reading his accolades tells you what he’s accomplished at the plate.

Over his 18 seasons with the Seattle Mariners he had 309 home runs, a batting average of .312, an on-base percentage of .418, a slugging percentage of .515, and an OPS+ of 147. He also had seven seasons of 98+ RBI, including a league leading 145 RBI in 2000. In his prime years, from 1995-2001, he averaged 146 games played with 100 runs, 171 hits, 42 doubles, 28 home runs, 110 RBI, 107 walks (compared to only 91 strikeouts), an astounding .329/.446/.574 slashline, and an outstanding 164 OPS+.

After he retired, the American League designated hitter award was named after him so that shows how dominant he was as a designated hitter. The main reason that he hasn’t been voted in yet is because Martinez played 68 percent of his games as a designated hitter. However, with the numbers that he put up in his career and having an award for a specific position named for you, you are probably Hall of Fame worthy.

I’m still confused on why Edgar Martinez hasn’t been inducted. Hopefully, this will be his year.