At long last, Edgar Martinez is bound for Cooperstown. It took 10 years on the ballot, but it was all worth it when his phone rang Tuesday and Jack O’Connell, the longtime secretary of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, was on the other end.
In his final year of eligibility, Martinez received 363 votes — 85.4 percent of the 425 ballots cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, easily eclipsing the 75 percent needed for induction.
Martinez joined Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, Blue Jays and Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay and Orioles and Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina as the players chosen from the 2019 ballot of 35 eligible players. Rivera received 100 percent of the vote, a first for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Halladay, who died in an airplane crash in November 2017, received the same mark as Martinez at 85.4 percent, and Mussina received 76.7 percent.
The Seattle Times’ Larry Stone was in the room when Martinez got the call from O’Connell.