SEATTLE — A statue for Baseball Hall of Famer and Seattle Mariners legend Edgar Martinez was unveiled outside T-Mobile Park Wednesday.
Martinez was joined at the unveiling ceremony by former teammates Dan Wilson and Ken Griffey Jr., whose own statue is along the same sidewalk.
"I wanted to be like Roberto Clemente. That dream of mine in some has become reality. But in that dream, I never thought about having a statue with my name on it, so thank you," he said.
Martinez, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019, has become one of baseball’s most respected hitters.
Born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico, Martinez signed with the Mariners while in college in 1982 for $4,000.
After seven seasons in the minor leagues, he took his permanent place as a Mariners' third baseman in 1990.
Batting over .300 his first three seasons, Martinez became a full-time designated hitter for the Mariners by the 1995 season, during which he helped lead the Mariners to the team’s first division title.
Martinez went on to play his entire 18-year career in the Major League with Seattle, retiring in 2004.
In 2019, hundreds of fans from the Pacific Northwest traveled to Cooperstown, New York, for his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where Martinez praised Seattle and the team for supporting his career.
Over the course of his career, Martinez tallied 1,219 runs, 1,261 RBIs and an overall .312 batting average. He made seven All-Star appearances and is Seattle’s all-time leader in doubles with 514.
Each year, the American League awards its top designated hitter the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award.
A number of iconic art pieces around Seattle were also seen wearing Martinez’s jersey with his number 11 Wednesday, including the Jimi Hendrix statue on Capitol Hill, a figure in the “Waiting For The Interurban” sculpture in Fremont and the “Hammering Man” outside the Seattle Art Museum.