Randy Johnson has been a Baseball Hall of Fame inductee for one day, but he is already pledging his support for his former Seattle Mariner teammate, Edgar Martinez.
In a recent interview with ESPN, “The Big Unit” had the following to say about Martinez when asked who he would vote for.
"The first person that comes to my mind was a teammate of mine for 9½ years and the greatest hitter I ever played with. I've faced a lot of Hall of Fame hitters, and my gosh, Edgar is the best hitter that I ever saw.
I support him because he was my teammate, and I loved him, and he did so much for Seattle and made me look good during my career there. The first person on my ballot who would get my vote is Edgar. Yes, I'm campaigning for him. But isn't that always going to happen with these kinds of things?
He was just a great hitter. You know how you love something and you carry it around with you? When I got to Seattle, Edgar was walking around with a bat all the time. The guy's locker was right across the carpet from mine, and I'd look at the top of his locker and he would have his bats lined up and his own scale to weigh the bats. Who does that? I learned all kinds of little tidbits and secrets from him.
I know you don't get into the Hall of Fame by being a nice guy. You get in for merit -- and Edgar's merit stands by itself with all he's done. But he's also one of the nicest and most humble guys I've ever met."
Martinez has had a rough time generating support for the Baseball Hall of Fame, as in his sixth season on the ballot, he remains under the 30% mark, despite having been over 35% in previous years.
The drop can mostly be attributed to the clogged Hall of Fame ballot that existed, and just inducted four players, though the sub 40% threshold has also been attributed by many due to Martinez being associated with the Designated Hitter position, a position of which many have called Edgar as being the best of all time.
We are curious to see if this endorsement by Randy Johnson will affect voters next year, though we know that with Ken Griffey Jr. entering the Hall of Fame ballot next year, that Johnson will have a former Mariners teammate join in him Cooperstown.
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