Marty Martinez, who played seven seasons in the majors as a utility infielder and served as manager of the Seattle Mariners for one game in 1986, passed away last week.
Larry Stone of the Seattle Timeswrote a remembrance of Martinez and his long career in baseball. As a scout, Martinez signed Edgar Martinez and Omar Vizquel among others.
In the linked story, Stone gets the date wrong of Martinez's lone game as a manager. It was actually on May 8, 1986.
Being born and raised in Los Angeles and accustomed to hearing Spanish pronunciations (even in the 1960s), I remember being surprised to hear Curt Gowdy pronounce that last name MAR-tin-ehz on a Game of the Week.
One degree of Dodger separation - Martinez was once traded from Houston to St. Louis for Bob Stinson, whom the Cards acquired one year earlier from L.A. in the Dick Allen deal.
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