Edgar Martinez is a Hall of Famer and th from John Short's blog

What was supposed to be a short interview with Edgar Martinez about his career and the Hall of Fame turned into an hour-long conversation.

But, then, Edgar Martinezs career is well worth 60 minutes of discu sion.

We started from the beginning. I asked Edgar how he got started in baseball. The conversation immediately shifted entirely to Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente.

When I was about 10, he said, my aunt was watching Roberto Clemente during the World Series, screaming in the living room. She was so excited, so I started watching with her. From that day on, I was in love with the game. I learned how to hit by hitting rocks and following Robertos career. Everyone wanted to be him, including me.

Martinez, now on his ninth and second-to-last Hall ballot, is a legend in his own right, but has been stifled by the stigma of being a designated hitter. I asked him what he thinks about BBWAA writers who will not vote for him simply because he played about 70 percent of his career games as a DH.

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Truly, I respect anyones opinion if they dont think designated hitters belong in the Hall of Fame, he said. But to me, it is part of the game, and it is not the part-time job that some seem to think it is a full-time job and your full-time job is to contribute to the offense.

And contribute to the offense Martinez did,in a way that stands out historically compared to other Hall of Famers.

Hall of FamersEdgar MartinezJohnny Mize: .312 BA.312 BAStan Musial: .417 OBP.418 OBPWillie McCovey: .515 SLG.515 SLGFrank Robinson: .926 OPS.933 OPSMike Schmidt: 147 OPS+147 OPS+Ernie Banks: 67.5 bWAR68.4 bWARTony Gwynn: 65.0 fWAR65.5 fWARWillie Stargell: 145 wRC+147 wRC+Henry Aaron: .403 wOBA.405 wOBA

So why hasnt one of the greatest hitters of all time received more support?

There are a few reasons. First and foremost, the stigma that the DH carries.

The designated hitter has been a part of the American League since 1973, and it cannot and should not be ignored just as Hall voters dont ignore closers (Bruce Sutter, Rich Go sage, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley.)

The double-standard is confounding. Voters are comfortable with enshrining specialists, just not of the hitting variety, even though designated hitters typically have an exponentially greater impact on the game. So, do you think Martinez has a bone to pick with closers?

No way, he said without hesitation, Mariano Rivera, first ballot Hall of Famer. He was so dominant.

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Rivera and Martinez actually share something in common outside of both being specialists and arguably the greatest at their specialized craft awards named after them. The annual American League Closer Award is named in Alvin Kamara Jerseys honor of Rivera and the annual American League Designated Hitter Award is a tribute to Martinez.

Speaking of Rivera, Martinez faired exceptionally well against, batting .579/.652/1.053 in 23 plate appearances. I asked how he viewed him as so dominant even though he had Mos number.

Mariano pitched to his strength the cutter it was the best pitch in baseball. It beat everyone, he said. But my strength was hitting middle-to-opposite field. His cutter broke away from me, and Id get one that went middle-to-middle away and just go with it. Never tried to do too much with it. You cant try to do too much against a pitcher that talented. That is how he beats you easily.

Rivera remembered his meetings with Edgar a little le s fondly:He had more than my number. He had my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He got everything from me, he .

In all, a comparison of the two specialists, Martinez edges Rivera not just head to head, but acro s the board.

Mariano Rivera:

56.3bWAR | 39.7 fWAR

5,103 batters faced

1,283 2/3innings pitched

Edgar Martinez:

68.3 rWAR | 65.5 fWAR

8,674 plate appearances

4,829 1/3 fielding innings

Lets back things up. Many might be wondering, What about David Ortiz? when I called Martinez the greatest of all time at DH. In truth, while Ortizs career may read like a fairytale, Martinezs tells a more complete story.

Head to head, heres how they match up:

David Ortiz:

.286/.380/.552

55.3bWAR | 50.7 fWAR

141 OPS+

140 wRC+

.392 wOBA

Edgar Martinez:

.312/.418/.515

68.4bWAR | 65.5 fWAR

147 OPS+

147 wRC+

.405 wOBA

Of course, we cannot discount that Ortiz hit 541 home runs, nor that he was one of the greatest postseason hitters of all time.

I love David. His career was amazing and Hall of Fame-worthy, Martinez said.

Then, laughing: In the end, it probably helps me that he will definitely get in.

Ortiz has the kind of numbers that are hard to ignore, while Martinez has the kind that many, for some reason, refuse to see.

Big Papis 541 home runs are impre sive on a baseball card, but the slugger would have to return to baseball and reach base safely in 665 straight plate appearances to pa s Martinez in career on-base percentage. In terms of career WAR, one full season 162 games by Martinez is worth 234 games played by Ortiz.

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Moreover, Martinez bested Ortiz in career bWAR by 13.1, despite 353 Taysom Hill Jerseys fewer games played. And (oh, by the way) Ortiz had just one season (2007) in which he equaled each leg of Martinezs career .312/.418/.515.

I asked Martinez whether he thinks playing for the Mariners on the West Coast hurt his Hall of Fame chances, just as playing on the Red Sox on the East Coast put Ortiz in the spotlight.

He wouldnt go that far, remembering his career in Seattle fondly, instead offering, I do think there are guys who never really saw me play, given that I played on the West Coast; on the East Coast, our games come on after bedtime for many. Most of the East Coast was asleep during Mariners games.

This is not an argument for Martinez over Ortiz. Its a call for inclusion of both. There are already two designated hitters in the Hall of Fame, in Frank Thomas and Paul Molitor. Thomas played the majority of his career games as a designated hitter and Molitor was just shy of half. So why them and not Martinez?

Its simple: Thomas and Molitor reached the arbitrary benchmarks of 500 home runs and 3,000 hits, respectively. Molitor and Thomas both edge Martinez in career WARMolitor at 75.4, Thomas at 73.7, and Martinez at 68.3. But Martinez edges both in WAR per 162 games played: 5.38, to Thomas 5.14 and Molitors 4.55.

Overall, perhaps Id be willing to concede that Thomas was the best batsman of the group, but The Big Hurt was a better hitter than all but maybe a dozen or so players in history, and Martinez far out-produced Molitor.

Taking a look at some other key numbers, we can note how much closer Martinez was to Thomas and Molitor:

Frank Thomas: .301/.419/.555 (156 OPS+), 154 wRC+, .416 wOBA

Paul Molitor: .306/.369/.448 (122 OPS+), 122 wRC+, .361 wOBA

Edgar Martinez: .312/.418/.515 (147 OPS+), 147 wRC+, .405 wOBA

Aside from the argument of who did and did not take the field defensively is the obvious, though le s entertained, ponderance of which Hall of Fame players actually hurt their teams by donning a glove. Willie Stargell, Harmon Killebrew and Ted Williams come to mind. All defensive liabilities. Future 2020 inductee Derek Jeter was probably the most egregious of them all.

Martinez, on the other hand, helped his team by not fielding his position. Not that he didnt want to play the field or even that he was a poor defensive player, but it was because it ensured that he would stay healthy and his potent bat would stay in the lineup.

Martinez insisted all those ballplayers belong in the Hall of Fame, saying he was just looking to make the best contribution to the team.

I think I could have ended up playing some first base, maybe left field, but I would have definitely kept playing even without the designated hitter, he said. I ended up DHing in the first place because I was coming back from an injury, relapsed, returned again, and at the time we had a great defensive third baseman in Mike Blowers, who was also solid offensively. The team was better with Mike at third base and me as the designated hitter.

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Of course, conversely, there are players in the Hall strictly for their defensive contributions Ozzie Smith, Luis Aparicio, Bill Mazeroski, Phil Rizzuto, among others but who often hurt the team on offense.

Martinez, naturally, defended them too, saying, I think there is a place in the Hall of Fame for great defensive players. Guys like Omar Vizquel save runs on the field. Whether you earn runs at bat or save them in the field, it helps your team win, even if you dont contribute much on the other side.

PlayerBatting runsFielding runsOzzie Smith-116.8238.7Luis Aparicio-197.3148.6Bill Maeroski-161.5147.2Phil Rizzuto-29.9115.5Omar Vizquel-244.3127.6Edgar Martinez+531.517.2

The last thing Martinez and I talked about was, really, the last thing he wanted to talk about his own numbers.

My style wasnt to accumulate stats. I wanted to be a winner, whatever helped the team win, he said, echoing similar thoughts from Hall of Famers Tim Raines and Wade Boggs.

As an example, Edgar cited his high career walk total (while unsure of the exact number).

I was never a free swinger. If I was, maybe Id have gotten more hits or even a few more home runs, but then Id probably be le s effective, he said. I had two goals: Get on base and make the opposing pitcher throw six, seven, eight pitches. If you make him work, you and your team have the advantage, and your teammates get to see more pitches.

I never thought about numbers, I never realized I put up some of the numbers that youve mentioned to me up until you did. That was never my Bob Pollard Jerseys goal.

So, naturally, I had to throw just a few more numbers his way.

I told Martinez that the last player with at least 7,000 plate appearances to equal each leg of his career .312/.418/.515 slash-line was Ted Williams. In in fact, there are only five others: Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Rogers Hornsby, Babe Ruth and Dan Brouthersall Hall of Famers.

Martinez was shocked.

Ted Williams? Wow, that just amazes me. It is hard to believe. I really was never looking at the numbers, never tracking them, but I like them now, he said.

Tony Gwynn is considered by many as the greatest hitter of his generation. Martinez agreed, but I told him that I consider him to be the better batsman of the two. Before he had the chance to interrupt me and credit Mr. Padre, I told him that he would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-660 without reaching base safely in order to fall behind Tony Gwynn in career on-base percentage. Again, he was in disbelief.

I was actually a very big fan of Tony; I never mi sed an at-bat of his if I could help it. I specifically remember watching him hit, working on his skills in spring training. He was amazing, this is so very hard to believe.

To talk to Martinez is to experience the Hall of Fame man behind the Hall of Fame numbers. He is humble regarding his career, often shifting the attention from himself to other players whom he thought were special and worthy of consideration. Food for thought if youre high on the Halls character clause.

The pieces all fit. It just takes a little bit of work. In the case of Edgar Martinez, its worth it, and hes worthy. With that said, Ill leave you with just a few more statistics on a man whom I am prepared to call a future Hall of Famer for the very last time.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-278 for his career batting average to dip below .300.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-386 without reaching base safely for his career on-base percentage to dip below .400.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-1,522 without reaching base safely for his career on-base percentage to dip below Ichiros lifetime .355 on-base percentage.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-1,133 without reaching base safely for his career on-base percentage to dip below Ken Griffey Jr.'s lifetime .370 on-base percentage.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-766 without reaching base safely for his career on-base percentage to dip below Willie Mays's lifetime .384 on-base percentage.

Martinez reached base safely 203 more times than Hall of Famer Ernie Banks did during his career. Edgar had 1,720 fewer plate appearances.

Martinez would have to return to baseball and go 0-for-224 for his career slugging percentage to dip below .500.

Martinez batted .356/.479/.659 with 73 doubles, two triples and 33 home runs over the span of 162 games from June 23, 1995, to June 20, 1996. He reached base safely 349 times during that span.

Ken Griffey Jr. had a .385 on-base percentage from 1995 to 1997. Martinez, his teammate, had a .386 on-base percentage during that same stretch when batting with two strikes against him.

Players with at least a .415 OBP & 830 XBH:Frank Thomas*Barry Bonds Edgar MartinezMickey Mantle*Stan Musial*Ted Williams*Jimmie Foxx*Lou Gehrig*Rogers Hornsby*Babe Ruth*Ty Cobb*Tris Speaker**Hall of Famer

Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder)

Career on-base percentage leaders among players with at least 7,000 plate appearances:1. HOF2. HOF3. HOF4. HOF5. Barry Bonds6. HOF7. HOF8. HOF9. HOF10. HOF11. HOF12. HOF13. HOF14. Edgar Martinez15. HOF16. HOF17. HOF

Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder)

Some final tibdits ...

Players with at least six straight seasons batting .320/.420/.550 or better:

Edgar Martinez: 1995-00

Ted Williams: 1939-49

Lou Gehrig: 1930-37

New Orleans Saints Hats Babe Ruth: 1926-32

Rogers Hornsby: 1920-25

Seasons with at least 25 HR, 50 doubles and 100 walks in baseball history:

Edgar Martinez: 2

Every Hall of Famer combined: 2 (Gehrig 1927, Musial 1953)

Edgar Martinez during his 30s:

2,369 times safely on base

.4360 OBP

Ty Cobb during his 30s:

2,341 times safely on base

.4357 OBP

Ten players have at least 300 home runs and a .415 on-base percentage. Eight are in the Hall of Fame, one is Barry Bonds, and the other is Edgar Martinez.

Special thanks to my co-author, Kevin Reavy (@76pack), for his help in putting this together.