Everyone remembers what happened next.
Manny started charging the mound. The dugouts cleared. Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer headed right for Pedro Martinez, and Martinez grabbed the then-72-year-old Zimmer by the head and threw him to the ground.
Being back in the Bronx for the postseason is bringing back some memories for the former Red Sox ace.
"It was an ugly scene," Martinez said during Wednesday's pregame news conference. "Zim charged me and I think he's going to say something, but his reaction was totally the opposite, [he] was trying to punch my mouth and told me a couple of bad words about my mom. I just had to react and defend myself. It was something that we have to let go, kind of, and forget about it, because it was a disgrace for baseball. Even though it wasn't my fault, I was involved in it, and it's one of the moments that I don't like to see. I don't like to see it because I'm not a violent man."
As a result, Martinez was painted as a villain in New York — a villain who bullied elderly baseball veterans instead of revering them — and Martinez is tired of the media-perpetuated drama.
"You guys have used me and abused me," he said. "I remember quotes in the paper, 'Here comes the man that New York loves to hate.' Man? None of you have probably ever eaten steak with me or rice and beans with me to understand what the man is about. You might say the player, the competitor, but the man? You guys have abused my name. You guys have said so many things, have written so many things."
Some things will never change. Among them, Martinez's reputation in New York, and his quotability.
