2015 is off to a pretty good start for Pedro Martinez.
Soon after the announcement that Martinez’s Baseball Hall of Fame plaque will feature a Red Sox logo, the former Boston pitcher was honored with the Judge Emil Fuchs Award at Thursday night’s Boston Baseball Writers Dinner. The award is presented at the event each year to a player who demonstrated a “long and meritorious service to baseball.” Past winners include Terry Francona, Bud Selig, and Hank Aaron.
Martinez unsurprisingly received a standing ovation upon accepting his award in Boston University’s Agganis Arena. His remarks to the crowd proved he is enjoying his time in the spotlight: he mentioned his own name almost as many times as Manny Ramirez does every time he speaks.
“Thank you so much,” Martinez said. “A parade for Pedro. Every time Pedro comes to Boston, there seems to be another one.” He then expressed gratitude “To the Red Sox organization for allowing me to represent the Boston hat in the Hall of Fame, jheri curls and all. That’s part of Pedro.”
“I’d like to thank all the writers for electing me to the Hall of Fame, especially on the first ballot,” he continued. “That’s a sign of respect, and I didn’t have to knock you down.” It seems odd for Martinez to bring the late Don Zimmer (also a former recipient of this award, it’s worth noting) into this because the after this incident in 2003, I doubt Zimmer would have elected Martinez to the Hall of Fame were he still alive or a baseball writer with a ballot. So the reference really has nothing to do with anything in this situation.
But this whole “part of Pedro” show is still much more tolerable than most of the Manny Being Manny moments. Hopefully he’ll have better jokes that make more sense at his next parade.