Throughout history, there have been instances where a hero to many was born in the heart of enemy territory. 2Pac, the face of California during the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry, was born in East Harlem. Benedict Arnold was born in Connecticut before eventually switching sides during the American Revolution to lead British troops against his old comrades. Arnold’s second wife, Peggy Shippen, no less of a traitor to the United States, was born in Philadelphia, the heart of enemy territory for Mets fans.
However, one of the greatest heroes in Mets history was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. Mike Piazza was born in Norristown, a suburb which sits about 20 miles northwest of the city, and he grew up a Phillies fan, idolizing Mike Schmidt. Another, albeit far less admired, Mets hero was born in Philadelphia before eventually joining forces with the orange and blue.
Ramón E. Martínez was born in the City of Brotherly Love on October 10, 1972. He did not spend his entire childhood there, eventually graduating from Escuela Superior Catolica High School in Bayamon, Puerto Rico before attending Vernon Regional Junior College in Texas. Martínez made the most of his time in junior college, earning team Freshman of the Year honors and being named a Texas & New Mexico Junior College Baseball All-Star as a shortstop in 1990. His next season saw him earn the team award for outstanding defense and co-MVP honors. He graduated in 1992, and shortly thereafter signed as an undrafted free agent with the Kansas City Royals.
He eventually made his major league debut on June 20, 1998 with the San Francisco Giants, going 3-for-3, and played 12 unremarkable seasons in the big leagues. Only three times did Martínez play over 100 games in a season, and he collected just 512 hits. Throughout his career, Martínez was frequently referred to as “the Ramón Martínez that isn’t Pedro’s older brother.” That was Ramón J. Martínez, who pitched from 1988-2001. His final start in the big leagues came on May 1, 2001 as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He gave up four runs in just 2.2 innings against the Giants. In the seventh inning of that same game, Ramón E. Martínez came in as a defensive replacement. This is the only game that saw both Ramón Martínez’s make an appearance.
Ramón E. Martínez played for eight more seasons after Ramón J. Martínez retired, serving primarily as a backup infielder for the Giants, Cubs, Tigers, his hometown Phillies, Dodgers and, eventually, the Mets, where he spent the final two years of his career, the first being 2008. He began that year playing for the Las Vegas 51s, then the Dodgers Triple-A affiliate, after resigning with Los Angeles in the offseason. He was released on July 24, despite batting .287 with a .351 on-base percentage. One week later, he inked a minor league deal with the Mets and reported to Triple-A New Orleans.
Martínez had his fair share of battles against the Mets up to this point. Early in his career as a member of the Giants on May 2, 1999 Martínez came up as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning with a runner on second in a scoreless game. He struck out against Dennis Cook and in the bottom half of the inning made a costly error that allowed Matt Franco to score the first run of the game as the Mets went on to win, 2-0. It was a sign of thing to come for Martínez whenever he faced the Mets.
The following season he and the rest of the Giants faced the Mets in the 2000 NLDS. Martínez started only one game in the series, the second game which saw him go 0-for-3. He was set to come up as the tying run in the bottom of the ninth with the Giants down 4-1, but J.T. Snow pinch hit for him and launched a game-tying three-run home run before the Mets eventually won the game in the 10th inning. Martínez would get two hits against the Mets in Game 3 despite not coming into the game until the eighth inning. He led off the ninth inning of a tied game with a single but was stranded at first. Martínez struck out against Armando Benitez to lead off the 11th inning before smacking another single with one out and the bases empty in the 13th. A single by Bill Mueller moved Martínez to second base as the go-ahead run, but Barry Bonds popped up to end the threat and Benny Agbayani blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom half of the inning to put the Mets one win away from the NLCS. Martínez could only watch from the bench as Bobby Jones tossed a one-hit shutout the following day to eliminate the Giants.
He would face the Mets in the NLDS again six years later, this time as a member of the Dodgers. Martínez did not start any games in this series, but he did get one at-bat in each game. In Game 1 he came up as a pinch hitter with two out in the ninth inning, a runner on third and the Dodgers trailing 6-4. After taking the first two pitches for balls, Martínez lofted a double to right field off Billy Wagner that made it a one-run game and put himself in scoring position as the tying run. Nomar Garciaparra was up next and did not fare as well against Wagner, striking out to end the game. Martínez struck out against Pedro Feliciano in his lone at-bat in Game 2 and in Game 3 once again faced Wagner in the ninth inning with two outs. By this point, the Dodgers were down four runs and were one out away from elimination. Martínez couldn’t replicate his Game 1 success, as he flew out to Shawn Green in right field to end the series and, for the second time in his career, watched the Mets celebrate a trip to the NLCS. It was the final postseason at-bat of Martínez’s career.
Martínez finally exacted some revenge against the Mets in his final game as an opponent of New York. On August 26, 2007 he entered the game in the fourth inning as a pinch runner for Jeff Kent who had to leave the game following a hit by pitch. The Dodgers trailed the Mets 2-1 entering the fifth inning, but 250 lb., 44-year-old pitcher David Wells led off the inning with a bunt single and Rafael Furcal followed with a single of his own. Matt Kemp drove home the plodding Wells with a single to tie the game, which brought Martínez to the plate with runners on first and third. He lined a double to center field off John Maine to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. It proved to be the game-winning hit, as the Dodgers went on to win the game, 6-2.
Martínez was called up to the Mets in September 2008 as the team was in the thick of the playoff race and desperately trying to avoid a second-straight late season collapse. Martínez made his first appearance as a Met on September 7 against his hometown Phillies, who trailed the Mets by just two games for the NL East lead. Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez, Ramón J. Martínez’s younger brother, started the game for the Mets. He struggled, allowing six runs in four innings of work in a game the Phillies won, 6-2. Ramón lined out as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, his only at-bat of the game. He would only have 57 more at-bats in just 18 more games with the Mets, but some of the most heroic moments of his career were still ahead of him.
Due to a disappointing season from Luis Castillo and an injured Damion Easley, Martínez appeared in the team’s final five games of 2008 and started the final four at second base. The first of those five games came on September 24 against the Chicago Cubs, who had already clinched the best record in the National League and led the league in runs, OPS and would finish third in team ERA. Martínez’s cousin, Geovany Soto, was the Cubs catcher and would go on to win Rookie of the Year honors for the season.
When Martínez came into the game in the seventh inning as part of a double switch the Mets were 1.5 games behind the Phillies for the NL East lead and were just one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the wild card. He led off the seventh inning with the Mets trailing 6-5 and doubled off of Kevin Hart. Although he advanced to third on a bunt, Martínez was stranded at third and the Mets finished the inning still behind. He came up again in the eighth inning with the Mets still trailing 6-5, but this time the bases were loaded with two outs. Martínez faced rookie reliever Jeff Samardzija, who finished the season with a 202 ERA+, and managed to draw a walk, one of only three during his Mets tenure, to bring in the game-tying run. Despite a lead off triple by Daniel Murphy in the ninth inning, the Mets eventually lost the game, 9-6, in 10 innings. That same night the Brewers beat the Pirates, 4-2, putting New York and Milwaukee in a tie for the wild card.
The Mets faced the Cubs again the following night, with Ramón J. Martínez’s younger brother starting the game for New York in what would be his final game in orange and blue. Although Pedro was having one of the worst seasons of his career and gave up two runs in the first inning, he settled down and received a standing ovation in the pouring rain when he left the game in the seventh inning with the score tied, 3-3. The Mets bullpen had been its Achilles’ heel all season, and it reared its ugly head once again. Ricardo Rincon relieved Pedro, and the first pitch he threw was sent over the fence in right field by Micah Hoffpauir to put the Cubs ahead, 6-3.
The Mets scratched out a run in the bottom of the seventh and managed to keep the game at 6-4 heading into the eighth inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Martínez stepped up to the plate. After Carlos Beltran stole third base, Martínez drove him home with a single to make it a one-run game. Robinson Cancel, another lesser known Mets hero, followed with an RBI single of his own to tie the game. The Mets would win the game on a walk-off single from Beltran to enter the final weekend of the season still alive in the playoff race, thanks in part to the unsung heroics of Martínez.
In the final three games of Shea Stadium’s existence, the Mets would face the Florida Marlins, the same team who, despite finishing in last place, eliminated the Mets from playoff contention on the last day of the season the prior year. The Marlins won the first game of the series, 6-1, and a 5-1 win by the Brewers put the Mets out of a playoff spot.
With the Mets desperately needing a win on the second-to-last day of the season, the team was fortunate enough to have its ace, Johan Santana, on the mound. The Mets scored early on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Delgado and were looking for some insurance runs when Martínez came to the plate in the fourth inning with a runner on first. He smoked a double to center field to score the runner and double the Mets lead. Although it ultimately mattered little as Santana tossed a three-hit shutout, Martínez once again came up with a huge hit when the Mets needed it most, despite not having played in Queens for three weeks. Unfortunately, his heroics would be in vain, as the Mets once again lost to the Marlins on the final day of the season to end its hopes for a playoff berth.
Martínez spent most of the offseason waiting for someone to call and offer him a job. That call eventually came, and Martínez resigned with the Mets on a minor league deal on February 13, 2009. He played only nine games at Triple-A Buffalo, batting .290 with a .371 on-base percentage, before being called up to an injury riddled Mets squad.
It was only May 18 when Martínez appeared in his first game with the Mets in 2009, and yet New York was already relying on its third-string shortstop after both Jose Reyes and Alex Cora were sidelined with injuries. The Mets were in Los Angeles to face the team Martínez played for prior to joining New York. He tallied an RBI groundout in his first at-bat, but the Mets eventually lost the game in the 11th inning on a wild throw home by Jeremy Reed, who was playing first base for just the fourth time in his major league career. It was one of 92 losses the Mets would have in that disappointing season, which concluded with every Mets fan’s worst nightmare: A World Series featuring the Yankees and Martínez’s hometown team, the Phillies.
But Martínez came up at a time when there was still hope for the Mets as they tried to tread water until some of their injured stars returned. New York trailed first-place Philadelphia by just one and a half games when it shipped up to Boston for a three-game series against the Red Sox beginning on May 22. During that weekend, Martínez duplicated some of his 2008 magic.
Martínez had just one hit in the first game, but it was a big one. The game was tied 1-1 entering the fourth inning before RBI singles by David Wright and Omir Santos, who had his own heroics in the series, gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Martínez stepped up to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second against Daisuke Matsuzaka, hoping to extend the lead. After working the count full he did just that, hitting a single to center field to give the Mets a 4-1 advantage. The Red Sox scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning on an error by Martínez, but nonetheless New York went on to win the game, 5-3, with Martínez earning the game-winning hit.
Martínez notched another hit the following night against Josh Beckett and followed it up with a stolen base. But the offensive hero of the game was Santos; the Mets had one runner on but were down by one run and down to its last out when Santos blasted a two-run shot off of the first pitch he saw from Jonathan Papelbon that just made it over the home run marker on the Green Monster. It had to be reviewed by the umpires, but New York went into the bottom of the ninth inning with a one-run lead.
Kevin Youkilis led off the inning with a walk before an excellent play by Wright and Luis Castillo forced him out at second base. After a J.D. Drew line out to right, the Mets were one out away from winning a game that seemed destined to be a loss. Mike Lowell came up as the potential winning run and hit a hard grounder towards Martínez. He avenged his defensive miscue from the night before with a diving stop and throw from the outfield grass to get Lowell at first base and clinch the victory for the Mets.
Just 10 days later, Martínez would play his last game as a Met on June 2 against the Pirates. He lined a single to left in his final at-bat which came in the fifth inning against Zach Duke. Martínez eventually came around to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Castillo, but he slid awkwardly into home plate and had to leave the game. X-rays later showed that Martínez dislocated his left pinkie finger and it proved to be the end of his major league career. Martínez spent the winter of 2009-10 playing with the Leones de Ponce of the Puerto Rican Winter League before officially hanging up his spikes. His final stats as a Met were just 11 hits in 19 games to go along with a batting average 10 points under the Mendoza Line, good for a -0.8 bWAR. But Martínez defied the stat sheet, getting hits when it mattered most and contributing all he could during his short stint in Queens.
Martínez was replaced at shortstop before the bottom half of the inning by Wilson Valdez, who would join the archrival Phillies the following season. Valdez played two seasons in Philadelphia, being a thorn in the Mets side during 2011 when he batted .324 against New York in 12 games. A traitor who would soon join enemy forces replaced the hero who hailed from enemy territory.
While neither’s actions are on the same scale as more notorious examples, Valdez is no Benedict Arnold and Martínez is no Mike Piazza, they each had their moments to play their respective roles as traitor and hero for the Mets. The traitors, no matter how infamous, should not be lost in history. Nor should the heroes, no matter how small their actions may have been.
