Pedro Martinez isn’t about to slap on a badge and become the Hall of Fame police. Oh no. He’s actually quite receptive to the idea of performance-enhancing drug users earning induction into Cooperstown.
Why, you ask?
Well, it could have something to do with Pedro completely dominating hitters regardless of what they pumped into their bodies. Or, it could be because Martinez is choosing to look at the Hall of Fame through a wider lens, acknowledging the Steroid Era actually happened despite various attempts by some to sweep it under the rug and out of plain view, especially as it pertains to Cooperstown.
“There’s nothing I can do with the way voters handle who did what,” Martinez told reporters Saturday in Cooperstown, N.Y., on the eve of being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. “Certainly the numbers are there. But as you know from previous cases: ‘Why not Roger Clemens? Why not Barry Bonds?’ It’s for the same reason. So I’m not going to go into that and make a big deal out of this. I hope they all make it, to be honest.”
Clemens and Bonds represent the most extreme cases as far as suspected PED users gaining enshrinement into the Hall of Fame. Few players in the history of Major League Baseball boast their credentials, yet both players have fallen way short of the 75 percent vote required to earn induction into Cooperstown. Clemens received 37.5 percent of the vote on the 2015 ballot. Bonds received 36.8 percent.
Martinez, meanwhile, was a shoo-in, garnering 91.1 percent of the vote in his first crack at the Hall. It speaks volumes about how impressive his career was at a time of inflated offensive production. And it speaks to how he approached the game every time he took the mound, no matter the circumstances.
“When I pitched, it was the middle of that era where they say it was a ‘Juice Era,’ ” Martinez said. “Well, guess what? I wanted the best out there. I wanted to face the best. I wanted to beat the best. I was able to do that.
“So if you ask me again if I want to face that kind of competition, yes, I do. If I’m going to be given the 99 (mph fastball) and the changeup and the curveball, bring it on again. I don’t care.”
Martinez is speaking metaphorically, I think, though one can never be too sure once the former Boston Red Sox ace’s competitive fire starts kindling. His opinion is just one of many, obviously, and it’ll ultimately be up to the voters to determine who joins Martinez in Cooperstown. The three-time Cy Young award winner just hopes each Hall candidate receives a fair shake.
“There’s no crying in baseball, right? I want to repeat that,” Martinez said. “So I just hope whoever gets a chance to make it here, makes it. It doesn’t matter.
“I’m not condoning people cheating the game or doing the wrong things because I never did it,” Martinez added. “But hey, enough of the whining. Let’s just play ball and face it. Once again, I’m going to repeat: I’m not condoning bad things in the game. But at the same time, let’s go and compete. Let it be.”
Basically, at a time when so many aspire to play the role of judge, jury and executioner as it relates to the Hall of Fame, Martinez is willing to let nature take its course. It’s fitting, really.
Pedro always was that much better despite the transgressions of some of his peers.
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Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
