When Pedro Martinez is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame — and its’ a matter of when, not if — he wants to do so with a Boston Red Sox hat atop his head.
Martinez will be eligible to enter the Hall next year, and many feel he’ll be a first-ballot inductee. While it’s not his choice which hat he’ll wear on his plaque, the three-time Cy Young winner insists he wants that “B” going with him.
“Without a doubt,” Martinez answered when asked in a GQ interview whether he’d want to doff the Red Sox cap for his induction.
The Red Sox seem to be the logical choice. Martinez made 203 of his 476 career starts with the Red Sox over seven seasons. He had arguably his two best seasons in Boston — 1999 and 2000 — winning back-to-back Cy Young awards. Martinez also helped Boston capture its first World Series in almost a century as a part of the 2004 team that erased the title drought.
Martinez also touched on his infamous Babe Ruth comments from 2001 where he told reporters to “Wake up the damn Bambino … and maybe I’ll drill him in the ass” when talking about the supposed Curse of the Bambino.
“You know, what I said about Babe Ruth was more to get the media off me about the curse (of the Bambino), and it’s too bad nobody ever gets the other part,” Martinez explained to GQ. “I said that I didn’t believe in curses, that the Bambino was a good man and I don’t believe he left curses for anybody, that he did a lot of good things for the community. I just knew this way I could get the media away from me and not have to talk about the curse any more.
“I said that about him, but I have all the respect in the world. He’s the symbol of baseball, and I don’t want to disrespect the Bambino, ever.”
