Taking A Trip Down Memory Lane With The Greatest Pitcher Of All-Time -- Section 10 Podcast Ep. 83 (feat. Pedro Martinez)
I don’t care if this sounds lame, but that was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done professionally or otherwise. As you get older, meeting or talking to guys who play for your favorite sports team is whatever, but when you get the chance to talk to your childhood idol, which growing up in Boston in the 90’s, Pedro Martinez was obviously mine — that was pretty friggin’ awesome and something I’ll never forget.
In our interview with Pedro Martinez, I lead things off by asking him, “Who is Karim Garcia?” Always wanted to do that. But our actual discussion starts off with when he got traded to Boston, he signed a six-year extension with the Red Sox before he ever threw a pitch in this city. I’ve always wanted to know why. What about this team and this city made him want to commit the next six years of his career to being here that soon? We then got into the legendary 1999 All Star Game performance, and I asked him if he thought that was the defining moment of his career, and if it wasn’t, then what was?
We also talked about how he dominated during the Steroid Era and how he feels about pitching in that era while also pitching in the best division in baseball at its peak, whether or not he believes Roger Clemens and A-Rod should be in the Hall of Fame, if he would’ve stayed in Boston if the Red Sox had lost to the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, his 17 strikeout game against the Yankees, the role that he played in bringing David Ortiz to Boston, whether or not he agrees with Ortiz’s decision to retire, and which one hitter in history that he wishes he could’ve faced but never got the chance to.
At the end, we asked him about the legitimacy of one of my favorite Pedro stories ever, his biggest memory from his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the big charity event that he has coming up next month at Fenway Park.
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