Martinez broke in with the Baltimore Orioles in 1976, and he became the first player from Nicaragua to make the Majors. The righthander did well, earning a place in the starting rotation and had five 14-win seasons for the O's, including a league-leading 14 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Martinez finished fifth in Cy Young voting that year, but he had an awful 1983, with an ERA well over five. He was left off of the postseason roster, and the Orioles won the World Series. Martinez continued to struggle, and it was learned that he was a heavy drinker, and alcoholism threatened to end his career early.
The Nicaraguan got clean, but he didn't time to focus on both pitching and sobriety, and a change of scenery in the form of a 1986 trade to Montreal was just the tonic he needed. With the Expos, Martinez went to three All-Star Games, won the ERA Title in 1991 (2.39), and had five top-ten finished in bWAR for Pitchers.
At age 40, Martinez signed with the Cleveland Indians to have another All-Star year amongst the three he played in Ohio. He carved out two more years, one with Seattle and one with Atlanta, and Martinez retired with 245 Wins, which at the time placed him first among all Hispanic Pitchers.
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