http://www.tampabayraysfan.com/1064/the-delorean-takes-us-back-to-2004-tino-mart\
inez/

Tino Martinez was never what most baseball fans would consider a household name,
but thru the mid to late 90's and early into the new millennium, Martinez was
someone that opposing pitchers knew to look for.

Playing for the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees, Martinez finished as high
as 2nd in the AL MVP voting, averaged 33 home runs a year, and was a consistent
threat drive in 100 runs each season. He made 2 All-Star games, helped the
Yankees win the world series.

Martinez spent two years in the NL, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, before
making a trip back to the AL…with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

At that time, the Devil Rays were known for spending money on veteran stars who
were a bit passed there prime, in hopes to drive fans into the seats, runs
across the plate, and "w's" into the win column.

All things considered, Martinez did not have a horrible season in the one year
he spent with the Rays.

Batting .262 with 23 home runs and 76 RBI's, Martinez stood as a man amongst
men, in a land filled with players like Midre Cummings, John Halama & Randall
Simon.

While Martinez did transform the team into a playoff contender, his one year
with the team adds to the tradition of having solid, if not Hall of Fame talent
at the first base position.

Prior to Martinez taking hacks as a first baseman for the team, Fred McGriff
manned first base, followed by Steve Cox and Travis Lee, neither of whom played
to there potential with the team. After Martinez spent a year in that spot, Lee
spent two more disappointing seasons at first, and then we began to see the
emergence of Carlos Pena a year or two later.

McGriff is thought by some to have had a Hall of Fame career, and Pena is well
on his way to being the Rays All Time home run leader, and has come at this
point in his career, after almost finding himself out of baseball completely
three years ago.

Martinez only spent one year in Tampa, but his winning tradition followed him.
Kind of. Until last years epic World Series run, 2004 was the best season in
Tampa Bay franchise history. The team went 70-91, which was a great increase
over the 2002 franchise worst 55-106.


Janet

~LONG LIVE TINO MARTINEZ~