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Malcontent labels still baffle ex-Card Martinez
Rick Hummel
02/28/2004
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The words "malcontent" and "cancer" - the words used by some in the media and then subsequently the fan base - still make first baseman Tino Martinez wince. Now with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after being shipped there by the Cardinals, who are paying $7 million of the $8.5 million due him, Martinez said that he had no idea where he had picked up the labels.
"I don't know what happened in the media. I don't really feel I have to defend myself," he said. "Those are bad words. Malcontent or cancer or causing dissension amongst the team. Come on. You can write that I was playing poorly and not doing my job. But to go further than that . . . that's terrible.
"I really don't know how it happened. I don't. I didn't make excuses. I didn't come up with fake injuries and not play for a week."
In the second year of a three-year, $21 million contract, Martinez, 36, drove in just 26 runs after the All-Star break to finish with a modest 69 to go with 15 home runs.
"I was kind of disappointed in the way I played," Martinez said. "I played hard and did the best I could, but I didn't put up the numbers I wanted to put up, for whatever reason. I have no idea why but I could have played at a better level."
Martinez said he had no complaints with manager Tony La Russa other than he was disappointed at not playing against lefthanded pitchers sometimes and at being double-switched out of a game.
"I'd be out of the game a lot of times in the sixth inning. I got double-switched a lot," said Martinez, who played only in the American League, where there are no double switches, until he got to St. Louis.
"You miss the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. I wanted to play more, of course. I didn't like coming out of games. But that's his job. I understand all that. I was frustrated but I didn't make a big fuss about it."
Martinez hit a combined 36 home runs in his two seasons with the Cardinals, giving him 299 for his career.
"When (Mark) McGwire left, obviously I don't think the fans expected me to hit 70 home runs, but I still came in to perform and I didn't do it," Martinez said. "The more I put pressure on myself, the worse I got.
"You do doubt yourself when you're struggling and you're a little older, but I know I have bat speed and I can play well."
Before the Cardinals and Tampa Bay made the trade, Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella called La Russa. "He wanted to know if Tino really wanted to play in Tampa Bay," La Russa said.
The Cards' manager not only assured Piniella that Martinez wanted to play in his hometown, but that he could still be productive.
La Russa has been a staunch defender of Martinez the person. "I wish people could know the real Tino Martinez," he said the other day. "He was one of our better leaders."
This is exactly what pitcher Matt Morris said in a letter he composed to the Post-Dispatch, defending Martinez after he was traded away.
Martinez was stunned. "Things have happened to guys in the past where players have got a bad rap and I never took the time to write a letter," he said. "When I look back on it, I really could have helped somebody by doing that. For Matt to do that was one of the greatest things a teammate has ever done for me. For him to take the time to do that was awesome. I got calls from other guys in baseball who had heard about it. I couldn't believe he did that."
Morris smiled when told that Martinez had praised him for sending the letter to the newspaper. "The best part of it was the 10-minute message he left on my machine, thanking me for it," Morris said.
Eduardo Perez, a teammate of Martinez's then and now, said, "He's a very intense guy and he's not going to take to losing very well. And he shouldn't. We're not here to lose.
"But think about it. If I thought he was a cancer, I wouldn't be here."
Rick Hummel
02/28/2004
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The words "malcontent" and "cancer" - the words used by some in the media and then subsequently the fan base - still make first baseman Tino Martinez wince. Now with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays after being shipped there by the Cardinals, who are paying $7 million of the $8.5 million due him, Martinez said that he had no idea where he had picked up the labels.
"I don't know what happened in the media. I don't really feel I have to defend myself," he said. "Those are bad words. Malcontent or cancer or causing dissension amongst the team. Come on. You can write that I was playing poorly and not doing my job. But to go further than that . . . that's terrible.
"I really don't know how it happened. I don't. I didn't make excuses. I didn't come up with fake injuries and not play for a week."
In the second year of a three-year, $21 million contract, Martinez, 36, drove in just 26 runs after the All-Star break to finish with a modest 69 to go with 15 home runs.
"I was kind of disappointed in the way I played," Martinez said. "I played hard and did the best I could, but I didn't put up the numbers I wanted to put up, for whatever reason. I have no idea why but I could have played at a better level."
Martinez said he had no complaints with manager Tony La Russa other than he was disappointed at not playing against lefthanded pitchers sometimes and at being double-switched out of a game.
"I'd be out of the game a lot of times in the sixth inning. I got double-switched a lot," said Martinez, who played only in the American League, where there are no double switches, until he got to St. Louis.
"You miss the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. I wanted to play more, of course. I didn't like coming out of games. But that's his job. I understand all that. I was frustrated but I didn't make a big fuss about it."
Martinez hit a combined 36 home runs in his two seasons with the Cardinals, giving him 299 for his career.
"When (Mark) McGwire left, obviously I don't think the fans expected me to hit 70 home runs, but I still came in to perform and I didn't do it," Martinez said. "The more I put pressure on myself, the worse I got.
"You do doubt yourself when you're struggling and you're a little older, but I know I have bat speed and I can play well."
Before the Cardinals and Tampa Bay made the trade, Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella called La Russa. "He wanted to know if Tino really wanted to play in Tampa Bay," La Russa said.
The Cards' manager not only assured Piniella that Martinez wanted to play in his hometown, but that he could still be productive.
La Russa has been a staunch defender of Martinez the person. "I wish people could know the real Tino Martinez," he said the other day. "He was one of our better leaders."
This is exactly what pitcher Matt Morris said in a letter he composed to the Post-Dispatch, defending Martinez after he was traded away.
Martinez was stunned. "Things have happened to guys in the past where players have got a bad rap and I never took the time to write a letter," he said. "When I look back on it, I really could have helped somebody by doing that. For Matt to do that was one of the greatest things a teammate has ever done for me. For him to take the time to do that was awesome. I got calls from other guys in baseball who had heard about it. I couldn't believe he did that."
Morris smiled when told that Martinez had praised him for sending the letter to the newspaper. "The best part of it was the 10-minute message he left on my machine, thanking me for it," Morris said.
Eduardo Perez, a teammate of Martinez's then and now, said, "He's a very intense guy and he's not going to take to losing very well. And he shouldn't. We're not here to lose.
"But think about it. If I thought he was a cancer, I wouldn't be here."
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