Ramón Jaime Martínez (born March 22, 1968) is a former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

. He won 135 games over a 13-year career, mostly with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

. He is the older brother of

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

pitcher

Pedro Martínez Pedro Jaime Martínez (born October 25, 1971) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , for five teams—most notably the Boston Red Sox from to . At the time o ...

, and is currently a senior advisor in Latin America for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Baseball career

Los Angeles Dodgers

Martínez was signed by the

as an amateur free agent on September 1, 1984, and was the youngest player in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

when he made his major league debut on August 13, 1988, against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yo ...

. He allowed only one run on four hits in innings in a game the Dodgers eventually won in 11 innings. He got his first career win on August 29 against the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in ...

. That season, he won his first and only World Series ring with the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers. He had a breakout season in 1990, when he won 20 games, struck out 18 batters in a game (on June 4), was selected an All-Star, led the major leagues with 12 complete games, and finished second in

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is den ...

s as well as in the

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Ha ...

balloting. He remained a solid pitcher for several years, winning 17 games in 1991 and 1995. On July 14 of the latter year, Martínez no-hit the

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

7-0 at

Dodger Stadium Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...

. In his no-hitter, the only thing that kept him from a perfect game was a walk to Tommy Gregg with two outs in the 8th inning. Early in the 1998 season, Martínez suffered a torn

rotator cuff The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles are the supraspi ...

and torn

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck ...

, which was surgically repaired on June 30. The Dodgers did not pick up a $5.6 million option after 1998 and he signed with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. In 11 seasons with the Dodgers, he was 123-77 with a 3.45 ERA and 1,314 strikeouts and was the team's opening day starter five times.

Later career

Ramón started the 1999 season in the minor leagues for rehabilitation. He was called up by the Red Sox in August, to pitch again alongside brother Pedro, making four starts for a 3-1 record with an ERA of 3.05. Martinez was less successful in 2000, with a record of 10-8 and a 6.03 ERA, and his option for 2001 was not picked up by the Red Sox. After his two years with the Red Sox, he signed again with the Dodgers, but they released him at the end of

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

. He played briefly with the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in 2001 before retiring.

Family

Ramón has three brothers, Pedro, Nelson and Jesus. While he was a starter for the Dodgers, Ramón repeatedly asserted that Pedro was an even better pitcher than he was. Nevertheless, Dodgers management thought Pedro was too small to be successful and traded him away. Pedro went on to win three

s with the Expos and Red Sox, and was a first-ballot inductee to the Hall of Fame in 2015. Ramón and Pedro were eventually reunited as teammates during Ramón's two years with the Red Sox. His youngest brother, Jesus, also played professional baseball in the Dodgers farm system. He was briefly called up to the Majors in September 1996 but never got into a game.Jesus Martinez stats at baseball reference
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References

External links