Why Tino Martinez deserves Monument Park

Last weekend, Tino Martinez was given a plaque in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park. Besides retiring a player’s number, it is probably the highest honor the Yankees can give to a former player. Since the plaque dedication the Yankees have faced much scrutiny about giving Martinez a plaque. Many Yankees fans and other teams’ fans feel Martinez simply wasn’t good enough to earn this honor and that adding a player like Martinez waters down the greatness of the players in Monument Park. Those fans are all wrong and here’s why.

Let me get this out there, Martinez is my all-time favorite baseball player and my opinion is probably somewhat biased. But my bias doesn’t make what Martinez did as a Yankee any better or worse. His play in pinstripes justifies why the Yankees organization believes he belongs in in Monument Park.

Martinez played 7 seasons (1996-2001, 2005) with the Yankees and in that time he helped the team win four World Series titles and compiled 192 homeruns and 739 RBI, good for 17^th and 21^st all-time for the Yankees, respectively. Those are good numbers and definitely put him on the list of the top 25 or 50 greatest Yankees ever, but they don’t really get him into Monument Park on their own.

If those numbers don’t put him in then let’s compare Martinez to his contemporaries at first base. I’ve taken arguably the top-10 first baseman from 1996-2001 (Thanks to some help from an SB Nation article), which was Martinez’s longest tenure as a Yankee. I need to thank baseball-reference.com for the ease of their website in helping to make this list:

		G	R	H	HR	RBI	BA
Thome, J	1996-2001	881	623	868	227	641	0.288
Delgado, C	1996-2001	909	571	935	217	671	0.287
Vaughn, Mo	1996-2000	756	472	892	188	579	0.307
Olerud, J	1996-2001	919	522	967	116	550	0.302
McGriff, F	1996-2001	910	455	976	159	597	0.291
Clark, T	1996-2001	745	418	759	153	503	0.278
Grace, M	1996-2001	900	515	1010	81	493	0.308
Karros, E	1996-2001	884	429	900	168	583	0.269
Young, K	1996-2001	741	400	698	113	464	0.27
Martinez, T	1996-2001	923	523	966	175	690	0.279

Martinez leads all these first baseman in, arguably, the most important category, RBI. He was also the most durable first baseman during the time racking up 923 games played. He was third in runs, fourth in hits and fourth in homeruns. The biggest detractor would be his finishing seventh in batting average. The fact that he played in 95% of his games and was considered an RBI machine, driving in 100+ RBI every year except for one (2000) proves that he was one of the best first baseman during his time with the Yankees.

Now we’ll discuss the other things Martinez did for the Yankees. It’s true that Martinez mostly struggled in the playoffs with the Yankees. But when the Yankees needed him most, Martinez often turned up his game, providing some of the most dramatic Yankee postseason memories we’ve ever seen. In game one of the 1998 World Series, after going five for 30 in the first two rounds of the playoffs that year, Tino launched a go-ahead Grand Slam into the right field upper deck at Yankee Stadium. Several members of the organization mentioned this as being the big moment of the series which gave the Yankees all the momentum they would need in the sweep of the Padres, it also helped cap off the greatest season in baseball history. The Yankees finished the 1998 season with a 125-50 record.

Martinez would provide more drama in the 2001 World Series. The Yankees were trailing the Diamondbacks three to one with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. They were also trailing the series two games to one. The Diamondbacks were one out from taking a commanding three game to one lead when Tino smashed a two-run homerun over the right-center field wall tying the game. The Yankees would go on to win the game although they would falter in game seven of the series, a game in which Tino had a game tying RBI single in the seventh inning.

Lastly, there is one major category that goes into play that makes his numbers, his comparison to other players and his heroics irrelevant. This category can’t be quantitated by numbers or “clutch” moments or World Series victories, it’s what he meant to the organization, his teammates and the fans. Tino came to New York and had to replace a Yankee legend and former captain in Don Mattingly. Not only did he do it, he did it exceedingly well with grace and class. Before anything else, Tino was a winner. He played every game with everything he had. That’s what endeared him to the fans, his teammates and the organization.

Martinez’s plaque in Monument Park isn’t solely based on numbers, if it were, the plaque wouldn’t be there. His passion for the game, his attitude in striving to win every day and his hard work combined with his numbers is why he’s in Monument Park. The Yankees loved having Tino and he loved being a Yankee and now he’ll always be one.