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No. 16 Tino Martinez
By BILL CHASTAIN of The Tampa Tribune
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Tino Martinez hits one for Jefferson High on the way to the
state finals and a career in baseball.
Tribune file photo (1985)
Tino Martinez: Jefferson '85
Highlights: Led the 1988 United States baseball team to the
gold medal in the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
Was named MVP of the World Amateur Championship in
Parma, Italy, hitting .413 with four home runs and 18 RBIs. ...
After being a three-time Division II All-American as well as an
Academic All-American at the University of Tampa, he was a
finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the
country's best amateur baseball player. He still holds UT's
career records in batting average (.398), home runs (54) and
RBIs (222). ... Helped lead Tampa Catholic to a state
championship in 1982 as a ninth grader, then led Jefferston to
the state finals in 1985. ... He is a two-time American League
All-Star, making the team once each with the Mariners and
Yankees, and has been the starting first baseman for the
Yankees the past four years, in which the Yankees have won
three World Series. ... In 1997, he hit .298 with 44 home runs
and 141 RBIs.
Today: Martinez, 32, is in the prime of his major-league career.
He lives in Tampa with his wife, Marie, and their three
children: Olivia (7), T.J. (6) and Victoria (4).
Having young kids and being a celebrity has been a funny
experience for Tino Martinez.
"Right now they just think it's funny,'' Martinez said. "They
know their dad plays for the Yankees. And the kids at school
know that, but they don't really care. They don't know if I'm a
good ballplayer, or whether every dad plays baseball, or does
whatever they want. The good thing is I have two girls. They
don't have to live up to it.''
But there is a son, 6-year-old T.J.
"My little boy, I've puposely called him T.J. because I don't
want him to be Tino Martinez when he's growing up and feel
like he's got to be a good baseball player,'' Martinez said. "I
just want him to have fun and do whatever he wants to do
and, like my parents told me, do good in school first. Have fun,
get your degree, then do whatever you want.''
Having said that, what's the scouting report on T.J.? Martinez
laughed at the question.
"He's all right, he's a pretty good little ball player,'' Martinez
said. "The thing is he likes to play. They play T-Ball. He wants
to play. He wants me to throw him balls. Wants to learn how to
catch. He notices every little thing watching the game on TV. In
New York when we're away, all the games are televised. He
sees all the games. And every little detail he sees, like 'Dad,
how come you were mad with the umpire?' And I'm like,
'what did I do?' He sees how Derek Jeter bats. He sees how
so and so throws.
"He loves Derek Jeter. The way he hits. He can show you how
everybody hits. The way they stand. Chad Curtis has this thing
where he throws it in from the outfield, comes running in,
throws the ball and flips over. Where he picked it up one day. I
guess TV. 'I'm going to show you how Chad Curtis throws the
ball.' He throws it and does a flip on the floor. He sees every
little thing.''
Like the time during the 1998 season when then Orioles
reliever Armando Benitez hit Martinez in the back.
"He asked me why the guy from the Orioles hit me,'' Martinez
said. "Why was I mad? I tried to tell him, it's no big deal, it's a
guy just being stupid. I tell him it doesn't hurt. Now he'll get hit
with a ball every now and then and he's like 'it doesn't hurt.' ''
Like his son, talent showed early for Tino Martinez.
As a ninth grader at Tampa Catholic, Crusaders coach Frank
Permuy had two pro prospects on the team in Richard
Monteleone and Lance McCullers. Both had major-league
futures, which Permuy did not want to interfere with, so he
did not play either in the field on the days they weren't
pitching. Instead they played designated hitter, leaving
Martinez to play first.
"I was a back-up right-fielder,'' Martinez remembers.
"[Permuy] didn't want them playing first, where they might
get spiked or turn an ankle. So I got the chance to play first
and I had a great year.
"That year helped me a lot because all the pro scouts were
coming out to see Richard and Lance and they'd see me, too.
They'd tell me I was a good player and to keep working at it.
That really got me going.''
Tampa Catholic won the state championship that season.
Martinez then transferred to Jefferson as a junior. As a
senior, Martinez led the Dragons to the state finals in 1985.
After the season, the Boston Red Sox selected him in the third
round of the June draft, but he opted to take a baseball
scholarship to the University of Tampa.
"That was tough [not signing a contract],'' Martinez said. "My
parents convinced me, though. They wanted me to go to
college. If I was a good enough player I'd make it. If not it
wasn't meant to me and I'd have my degree.''
Martinez lacks a semester's worth of credits from getting his
business management degree.
"My mom is still on me to get it,'' Martinez said.
By the time the Mariners selected him in the first round of the
1988 draft (14th player overall), Martinez had rewritten the
Spartans' record book while earning Division II All-American
honors for three seasons.
Martinez is now the toast of New York as part of a powerful
New York Yankees team that has won three World Series in
the last four years.
"It was weird, because he was one of us, but he was special,''
said Lelo Prado, the University of Louisville's baseball coach,
who grew up with Martinez and now is his brother-in-law
after Martinez married his sister Marie. "We all knew this guy
was going to make it. Sometimes when [baseball] practice
was over, Tino would still be out there practicing. When I
played, I knew I wasn't going to make it. So if I went 0-for-2, I'd
go home. Tino would still be out there working and he'd gone
3-for-3. It was like he knew.'' |