Edgar Martinez returned to Seattle for the first time as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. He walked into the ballpark just off the Interstate-5 exit with “E Martinez Dr.” blazoned on the bright green freeway sign.
Just a week earlier his “11” jersey number waved from a flag atop the Space Needle. Six months from now he’ll have a bronze bust of his face wearing a Seattle Mariners hat in Cooperstown, New York, next to the game’s legends.
Ask him if he ever envisioned he’d one day have all of this in his honor when he was 20 years old playing semi-pro ball in Puerto Rico.