Edgar Martinez moved by support from Ken Griffey Jr, Mariners fans during Hall of Fame ceremony

PITTSBURGH – After two days off to see his friend and former teammate Ken Griffey Jr. inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Mariners hitting coach Edgar Martinez was back at work Tuesday observing early batting practice from behind the cage at PNC Park. The memories of the weekend in Cooperstown, however, are something that will stay with him forever.

“It was incredible to be there for the festivities and the induction day,” Martinez said. “You just think about all of those days we played together. It was just very, very, special.”

Martinez arrived in Cooperstown early Saturday afternoon with a small group from the Mariners that traveled from their series in Toronto. Although it was a quick trip, he was able to take a private tour of the museum, which he had only visited briefly once before when the Mariners played a game there in the late 1990s. This time, he got the white glove tour.

“We went to an area that they have that is locked down, temperature-controlled.  They have a lot of artifacts from the beginning of the game to today,” he said. “It was very special to see some of those things. I had the gloves on. The one I remember the most was Lou Gehrig’s glove. It was amazing to see those things.”

The Mariners put Edgar up in a house in Cooperstown along with Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer and Dave Valle. Time spent with with his former teammates in such a unique setting made the trip even more memorable for Martinez.

“It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and just talk about the game and the teams that we played and a lot about Junior and what he was going through at the time,” said Martinez, who noted that the schedule the Hall of Fame had the inductees on was quite busy.

On Sunday, he was awestruck by what he saw behind him at the ceremony: 50,000 fans on hand to celebrate the inductees.

“It’s incredible. That ceremony is amazing. I don’t think there is anything like it,” he said. “You could just see people as far as you can. It’s incredible how many people go to Cooperstown.”

The highlight, of course, was Griffey’s speech. Edgar and the rest of his group were not surprised, but certainly moved by the emotion they saw from him.

“It means a lot,” he said. “I don’t think that he was giving it too much thought through the years of being a Hall of Famer. Those of us who know Junior, we know how much he loves the game and was just happy playing the game. You could tell when his emotion got to him, you could tell he cares about it and it means a lot to him.”

Junior wasn’t the only one crying.

“Oh yeah,” Edgar answered with a laugh when asked if he cried. “I think there were a lot of people crying there. I couldn’t see Jay to my left, there were people between us, but I’m sure he did too. It was a very emotional time.”

Martinez was touched that Griffey mentioned that he should also be in the Hall of Fame. As for the “Ed-gar” chants that started at the end of the ceremony when the dates for next year’s induction weekend were announced, he heard them.

“I was very appreciative of what they did,” he said of the Mariners fans. “That was cool.”

It was Junior’s day, though, and Edgar was happy he got to witness it along with the other Mariners Hall of Famers.

“We all know that he was the guy,” he said. “He was the main guy for our team. We were just ecstatic for him.”