Tino Martinez
Tino Martinez was born in Tampa, Florida, United States on December 7th, 1967 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 56, Tino Martinez biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 56 years old, Tino Martinez physical status not available right now. We will update Tino Martinez's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
The Seattle Mariners drafted Martinez in 1988. Martinez's first Major League manager was Lou Piniella, who had also grown up in the West Tampa neighborhood, and who knew Martinez's uncle and mother. Martinez had several mediocre seasons, but broke out in 1995 when he drove in 111 runs, hit 31 home runs and batted .293. The Mariners clinched the AL West and went on to play in the first season of divisional post season play against the New York Yankees.
Following that season, the New York Yankees acquired Martinez, along with Jeff Nelson and Jim Mecir, for Sterling Hitchcock and Russ Davis. Before the trade was finalized, Martinez and the Yankees agreed to a five-year, $20.25 million contract extension. Martinez succeeded Don Mattingly as the Yankees' starting first baseman.
Martinez was with the New York Yankees as they won four World Series championships in five seasons: 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. He also won the Home Run Derby in 1997. Martinez hit two memorable home runs as a Yankee in the World Series. The first came off Mark Langston in Game 1 of the 1998 Series. The Yankees had tied the game earlier in the inning with a Chuck Knoblauch three-run home run. The following three batters got on base, and Martinez came to the plate. After taking a very close pitch with a 2-2 count, which appeared to be strike three but was not ruled as such by umpire Richie Garcia, Martinez hit the next pitch into the upper deck for a grand slam, giving the Yankees a four-run lead. Martinez's second memorable World Series home run came three years later, on October 31, 2001. The Yankees were down to their last out trailing by two runs, two outs in the 9th inning, when Martinez came to the plate with a runner on. He hit a game-tying home run to right center off Arizona Diamondbacks closer Byung-hyun Kim, and the Yankees went on to win the game. The feat was repeated the following night by Scott Brosius. However, the Yankees would lose Games 6 and 7 and thus the Series.
His best season statistically came in 1997, when he was second in the American League in home runs and RBI (with 44 and 141 respectively), and finished second in AL Most Valuable Player voting. On May 19, 1998, he was hit by a pitch in the upper back by Baltimore Orioles pitcher Armando Benítez, which resulted in an unusually intense brawl between the two teams.
In the 2001 World Series, Martinez's Yankees faced off against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The series went to Game 7, which Arizona won when Luis Gonzalez, Martinez's best friend, hit a game-winning single off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 9th inning. Gonzalez later recalled that when he went back home to check his answering machine, the first message of congratulations was from Martinez.
During most of his time with the Yankees, Martinez resided in Tenafly, New Jersey.
After the 2001 season the Yankees elected to sign Jason Giambi for 2002 and beyond. Martinez went on to play for the St. Louis Cardinals for two seasons, once again replacing an aging, legendary first baseman, Mark McGwire.
One of his most memorable moments during his tenure with the Cardinals came when he returned to Yankee Stadium during a series in 2003. An emotional Martinez was driven to tears when he went to bat, as he was given a standing ovation by the Yankee fans who appreciated the integral part he played during the team's last dynastic run. In the second game of the three game series, Martinez hit two home runs off former teammate Andy Pettitte, to a thunderous ovation from the crowd both times. The Yankee fans cheered him for a curtain call, a rare occurrence in honor of a visiting team's player.
After the 2003 season, the Cardinals decided to have Albert Pujols switch from left field to first base. They traded Martinez to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, where he was reunited with his manager in Seattle, Lou Piniella, who was now managing the Devil Rays. Martinez hit 23 home runs, while serving as a mentor for the team's many young players, and was popular with Devil Rays' fans. His family lived just minutes from the Tropicana Field.
Prior to the 2004 Summer Olympics, the host nation, Greece, trying to build up their chances of winning a medal, decided to put together a team of North American baseball players of Greek heritage. Martinez, having some Greek ancestry, was approached by the Greek Olympic team manager, Rob Derksen, and asked to play for the host nation. Martinez, along with fellow MLB players Eric Karros and Aaron Miles, declined the offer because the games were in the midst of the Major League Baseball season.
Martinez returned for a second tour of duty with the Yankees for the 2005 season. From May 7–11, 2005, Martinez hit five home runs in five straight games, which is one more than his previous best, set from June 27–July 31, 2001. Held homer-less on May 12, 2005, Martinez hit two homers on May 15 to give him eight home runs in eight games.
On November 8, 2005, the Yankees declined their $3 million option on Martinez, making him a free agent.
On Wednesday February 15, 2006, he officially decided to end his playing career. Martinez confirmed the decision in the St. Petersburg Times, telling the paper that he would begin his broadcasting career at ESPN. Martinez said that the offer from ESPN made his decision to retire a lot easier, as he would work on Baseball Tonight, do some radio work, and broadcast a few games.
In his 16-year Major League career, Martinez hit .271 with 339 home runs and 1,271 RBI. During his seven years with the Yankees, he hit 192 home runs and drove in 739 runs.
Martinez, along with other future Major Leaguers Jim Abbott and Robin Ventura, won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, the seventh time that baseball was part of the Olympic Games and its last year as a demonstration sport. In the final game, Martinez belted two homers and drove in four runs, and Abbott pitched a complete game, as they led the USA to a 5–3 win.