When the story broke that first-year Miami Marlins hitting coach Tino Martinez was “abusing” players, you can’t help but rush to judgement. Yet, there are two sides to every story.
The 45-year old, Tino Martinez spent 15 years in the majors. Originally drafted by the Red Sox out of high school, Martinez declined at the urge of his father to get a college education. The Seattle Mariners drafted him in 88′. Tino played for five different teams, but, is remembered most for his stint with the New York Yankees. Four World Series rings and even a Gold Medal in the 88′ Olympics, Martinez retired from the game in 2005.
Aside from the occasional outburst in arguing a call, Martinez was never known to be a trouble-maker. He appeared humble, never one to showboat and had plenty of friends in the league.
I remember one moment during Tino’s last year (during his first stint) in pinstripes. It was 2001, fresh off the worst terror attack in American History, Tino was part of the Yankees team that gave hope to a city in despair. It was game 4 of the 2001 World Series, the Yankees were down 2-0 to the Diamondbacks in the bottom of the 9th. One on, 2 outs, Martinez hit a bomb into the stands to tie the game. He cinched his place in Yankee history that night. The Yankees would go on to lose to the Diamondbacks in game 7, but, that World Series gave a little life back to the city, at the very least a distraction from the pain.
Immediately after retiring, Martinez signed a contract with ESPN to do radio work and broadcast games. After a brief stint as an instructor for the New York Yankees, he became a color commentator for the YES Network.
Like many ex-ballplayers Martinez was called back to the game. Before the 2013 season, Martinez signed a contract with the Miami Marlins to be their hitting coach.
On July 28th, Martinez resigned as hitting coach after various reports surfaced about alleged physical and verbal abuse dished out by Martinez to players.
Report: Marlins hitting coach Tino Martinez resigns months after./http://tracking.si.com/2013/07/28/marlins-tino-martinez-abuse/
Now a story like this I would expect from Paul O’Neil. Pauly was notorious for having a bad temper in his playing days. I saw that temper first hand last year at spring training when I witnessed him snap at a young boy asking for an autograph.
It didn’t take long for Tino to speak out about the allegations and tell his side of the story. Martinez spoke to Ken Rosenthal by phone on Monday night and had this to say:
“Do you realize I’m out of baseball basically because a couple of players didn’t pick up balls in the cage when I asked them to? As a coach, when I asked them to pick up the balls, why didn’t they just say, ‘Absolutely, no problem, I’ll do it right now.’
“I started thinking about it, thinking I’ve got to say something, not just let it go away. I’ve had a great reputation in this game for years. I walked away from the game with integrity. But now, to have a couple of kids try to ruin my name, I felt I had to say something and fight back.”
He then went on to describe an interaction with rookie Dietrich, infielder Chris Valaika, and outfielder Justin Ruggiano.
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/tino-martinez-resign-hitting-coach-miami
He described the incidents as isolated. Then he went on to say he resigned because he felt a lack of trust.
“I apologized. I honestly didn’t know why I was apologizing. I did it because I felt the public was going to read that, and it made it sound like I yelled at those guys every single day. But if you ask those players how many times after that I yelled at them or said something to them, they would probably tell you zero, not one day after that.
“I resigned because I felt the manager and general manager had lost trust in me somewhat. They kept asking me, ‘Did you grab (Dietrich) by the throat?’ And I kept saying no. I felt like I was being isolated by some of the coaches, the manager and the general manager. I felt that they didn’t want me around at that point.”
People will form there opinions. To me it speaks to the generation that we live in.
Discipline
Respect
Traits that many players no longer have. Lack of character, Lack of respect for coaching staff, and a sense of entitlement appears to be more common.
Dodgers Yasiel Puig showed his ignorance recently, reportedly snubbing veteran Luis Gonzalez when Gonzalez approached him making friendly conversation.
Manny Ramirez was notorious for acting out and disrespecting the game of baseball. His behavior was just chalked up to “Manny being Manny”. Unkempt, sloppy uniform, going to the bathroom during a pitching change, showing up late. It was allowed, even encouraged.
Pedro Martinez was known for a lot of things. As a player, he was talented, a hard throwing head-hunter. He is small in stature but, the 3-time CY young award winner could dominate with the best of them. Unfortunately, he is also known for throwing a 72-year old Don Zimmer to the ground. Ignorant people laughed, those same people wouldn’t have been laughing if it was their grandfather Pedro assaulted.
What ever happened to having respect for the game and your teammates?
In Pedro’s case, respect for your elders?
So many athletes sign a big contract and expect the world to be handed to them. Is it the money, fame, or just ignorance? They get away with being disrespectful because they can. Coaches let them, Owners let them…..Fans give them a free pass…..Media gives them the publicity they yearn for.
Picking up balls in the batting cage. Was that too much to ask?
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