John Updike wrote, "Gods do not answer letters." However, with the publication of Pedro, we now know they sometimes write memoirs.
The story of Pedro Martinez's journey from sitting under a mango tree in the Dominican Republic to baseball's Hall of Fame is long overdue. Pedro, written by Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald, comes more than five years after Martinez's retirement (stats). Pedro will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 26 and his #45 will be retired by the Red Sox on July 28.
Although JoS readers will be most interested in Martinez's insights and memories from his seven years with the Red Sox, the early chapters - of Pedro growing up in Manoguayabo, a small village eight miles west of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, of his signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers and his minor league travails, and his emergence as one of baseball's best pitchers during his short stay in Montreal - are equally fascinating because they give us the chance to see the young, maturing Pedro, and learn who and what influenced and shaped him as both a pitcher and a man.