Base­ball isn’t nor­mal­ly some­thing we cov­er here on the Cas­ca­dia Advo­cate, but we’d be remiss not to con­grat­u­late Mariners leg­end Edgar Mar­tinez on being elect­ed to the Nation­al Base­ball Hall of Fame after ten years of patient­ly wait­ing for the call.

Edgar is unques­tion­ably the great­est play­er ever to wear the Mariners uni­form. One of the most elite hit­ters in the his­to­ry of base­ball, he holds many club records.

Edgar received 85.4% of the vote (three hun­dred and six­ty three votes total) in his final year of bal­lot eli­gi­bil­i­ty, after nar­row­ly miss­ing out last year. Inductees into the Hall of Fame are cho­sen by the Base­ball Writ­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion of America.

“Martínez, for whom the Des­ig­nat­ed Hit­ter Award has been named since 2004, won bat­ting titles in 1992 and 1995 with the Seat­tle Mariners, his only club over 18 sea­sons,” not­ed the Nation­al Base­ball Hall of Fame in its announce­ment.

“He com­piled a career .312 bat­ting aver­age with 2,247 hits, includ­ing 309 home runs. Martínez, 56, who was elect­ed in his 10th and final year on the BBWAA bal­lot, is one of only nine play­ers in his­to­ry with 300 home runs, 500 dou­bles, a career bat­ting aver­age high­er than .300, a career on-base per­cent­age high­er than .400 and a career slug­ging per­cent­age high­er than .500.”

“He ranks as the Mariners’ all-time leader in runs (1,219), runs bat­ted in (1,261), dou­bles (514), walks (1,283), extra-base hits (838) and total bases (3,718).”

Martínez’s num­bers against his fel­low 2019 Hall of Famers are impressive.

Against Mar­i­ano Rivera, he was 11-for-19, with 3 2B, 2 HR (.579/.652/1.057). Against Roy Hal­la­day, he was 8‑for-18, with2 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI (.444/.474/.722). Against Mike Mussi­na, he went 23-for-75, with 5 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR (.307/.337/.627).

Edgar stayed in the Seat­tle orga­ni­za­tion for his entire career and brought great hap­pi­ness and joy to base­ball fans all over the Pacif­ic North­west. His clutch base hit­ting in the 1995 ALDS against the New York Yan­kees pro­duced what has become known as “The Dou­ble”, and he has been cred­it­ed with sav­ing base­ball in Seattle.

Elect­ed offi­cials offered their congratulations.

“Con­grat­u­la­tions to Edgar Martínez for claim­ing your well-deserved place in the base­ball Hall of Fame,” tweet­ed Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee.

“Con­grats, Edgar Mar­tinez!!! A well-deserved hon­or for a Mariners leg­end,” agreed Seat­tle May­or Jen­ny Durkan.

“I salute Edgar Martínez on his elec­tion to the Nation­al Base­ball Hall of Fame,” said King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Con­stan­tine in a statement.

“Hav­ing watched his entire career in Seat­tle, I thank Hall of Fame vot­ers for this much-deserved recog­ni­tion for one of the great­est hit­ters of all time.”

“Edgar is King County’s guy, hav­ing spent all eigh­teen of his play­ing sea­sons, plus three more as hit­ting coach, dressed in Mariners blue. A two-time Amer­i­can League bat­ting cham­pi­on and sev­en-time All Star, Edgar was equal­ly adept at hit­ting for aver­age, con­nect­ing for extra bases, or wait­ing out pitch­ers and forc­ing walks. As a base­ball fan, I remem­ber the thrill of watch­ing him step to the plate in pres­sure sit­u­a­tions, know­ing that he gave the Mariners the best chance of pulling out a win.”

“Edgar and his wife, Hol­li, have been great com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers over the years as well: estab­lish­ing the Mar­tinez Foun­da­tion, and sup­port­ing Seat­tle Children’s Hos­pi­tal and the Edgar Martínez Endow­ment for Mus­cu­lar Dys­tro­phy Research, which the Mariners estab­lished in his honor.”

“It took all ten of his allowed appear­ances on the bal­lot, but Hall of Fame vot­ers final­ly got it right: Edgar will deserved­ly be enshrined with the greats of the game.”

The Pacif­ic North­west is right­ly proud of Edgar Martínez.

In addi­tion to being an ath­lete of the high­est cal­iber, Martínez has been involved in many wor­thy char­i­ta­ble caus­es. He is an exem­plary Cas­ca­di­an. We can’t think of any­one who would make a bet­ter ambas­sador for our beloved region than Edgar.

Con­grat­u­la­tions to Edgar, Hol­li, and their fam­i­ly on this great hon­or, and thanks to every­one who sup­port­ed Edgar in his quest to be rec­og­nized as a Hall of Famer.