(NOTE: This is the third in a series of reviews of the candidacies of selected players listed on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot, leading up to the early-January announcement and July enshrinement of the inductees.)
Edgar Martinez provides the Hall of Fame discussion with something of a landmark test case. He’s the first truly viable Hall candidate who made his baseball living and spent a vast majority of his career — about 70 percent of it — as a designated hitter.
Let me say right up front that I’ve accepted, even embraced, the DH rule since the American League put it into effect at the start of the 1973 season. Detractors, and there are many of them, argue that the rule has bastardized the game, made it a less strategic endeavor and allowed one-dimensional and over-the-hill sluggers to artificially extend their careers. I’ll argue that baseball’s rules have been in constant flux since the 19th century, that the DH rule doesn’t remove strategy, it simply presents different strategic approaches, and that those one-dimensional sluggers add a positive element to the game.
But arguing the merits of the DH is a topic for another day. Today, the question is this: Is Edgar Martinez, who was so good at the role that they renamed the annual award for the AL’s best DH the Edgar Martinez Award, worthy of the Hall of Fame?
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