Mariners to retire Edgar Martinez’s No. 11 on Aug. 12
Jan 24, 2017, 2:37 PM | Updated: Jan 25, 2017, 10:08 am
The Mariners announced Tuesday that the franchise will retire Edgar Martinez's number. (AP)
(AP)
Edgar Martinez, the career-long Seattle Mariner who won two American League batting titles and delivered the biggest hit in team history, will receive the highest honor the franchise can bestow.
The No. 11 that Martinez wore with the Mariners will be retired on Saturday, Aug. 12 as part of a larger celebration as his career, the team announced on Tuesday in a press conference at Safeco Field.
Martinez will become the second Mariners player to have his number retired by the franchise, coming after Ken Griffey Jr.’s No. 24 was retired last year. Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 has been retired by all teams in the MLB since 1997.
Video: M’s highlight Martinez’s career in announcement of number retirement
“Edgar Martinez is the string that binds together our franchise history,” Mariners president Kevin Mather said in a press release. “As we embark on our 40th anniversary season in 2017, Edgar has been in a Mariners Major League uniform for 20 of those seasons, all proudly wearing No. 11, and has been a part of our organization for 36 years. He has worn a Seattle uniform in parts of four decades, and today’s announcement will assure that his number will be proudly displayed in Safeco Field forever.”
Over an 18-year playing career, Martinez was named to seven All-Star teams and finished with a career .312 batting average, .418 on-base percentage and .515 slugging percentage. He led the American League with a .356 batting average to win his second hitting crown in 1995, the same year he delivered a two-run double that clinched a walk-off victory in Game 5 of the American League Division Series, giving Seattle the series victory over the Yankees and sending it to the American League Championship Series.
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Some of the Mariners franchise records Martinez holds include career RBIs, runs scored, doubles, extra-base hits, total bases and on-base percentage. His name has also been on the MLB’s annual award given to the most outstanding designated hitter in baseball – which Martinez won five times – since 2004.
The Mariners have been leading a push in recent years to get Martinez inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received 58.6 percent of the Hall of Fame vote last week for the 2017 class, still short of the 75 percent required for induction. Martinez’s name will be on the ballot for just two more years.
Martinez has been Seattle’s hitting coach since taking over midway through the 2015 season, and he will continue to wear a No. 11 Mariners uniform. But no one else will ever will be assigned that number by the team.
