February 9, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

When Russell Martin was growing up in Montreal, his father used to take him to a handful of Expos games at Olympic Stadium each year.

The price for a hot dog at the Big O was a little steep, so his dad, who made a living as a busker playing his saxophone in Montreal subway stations, often packed sandwiches.

“My dad was a great storyteller, and he would make up these stories like, ‘Here comes Russell Martin at the plate. There’s a shot deep to right field.’ He would make up stories about me hitting homers in the games,” recalled Martin. “He kind of helped me create this visual that I could get there someday.”

From the stands, a young Martin would dream of playing alongside his Expos heroes.

“It was easy to be a fan of the game of baseball. I loved it as a kid,” said Martin. “Guys like Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Delino DeShields, Dennis Martinez and that’s just to name a few, I could probably rattle off 30 or 40 more other [Expos] players. I was just a big fan of the game of baseball growing up and the Expos were definitely a big part of that.”

Martin’s dream to play for the Expos never came to fruition, but the newly elected Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer, who grew up to play 14 major league seasons, did have the opportunity to play an exhibition game at the Big O with the Toronto Blue Jays on April 3, 2015. And making it even more special was that his father, Russell Sr., played the national anthem on his saxophone.

“I definitely had to hold the tears in there,” recalled Martin. “Just seeing my dad in front of the stadium [crowd] and getting to share that moment . . . My dream as a kid was to play some professional games in Olympic Stadium and to get to do that in a major league uniform and then to have my dad out there to share that with him, that’s going to be in my memory bank for the rest of my days.”

That game was clearly one of the highlights of Martin’s stellar big-league career that saw him selected to four All-Star games and earned him election to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Marys, Ont., on Tuesday.

Martin and former Blue Jays ace left-hander Jimmy Key will be inducted alongside Women’s national team star and trailblazing coach Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, Ont.), national team pitching legend Rod Heisler (Moose Jaw, Sask.), onetime Blue Jays president and CEO Paul Godfrey and longtime Toronto Leaside baseball executive Howard Birnie in a ceremony at the Hall of Fame grounds in St. Marys, Ont., on June 15.

Born in East York, Ont., in 1983, Martin moved to Montreal when he was two and honed his skills in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) minor ball ranks in the city’s West end.

“It definitely starts with my dad and growing up in NDG,” said Martin of his baseball roots, “and going to the ballpark almost every day of every summer in my childhood. My dad coached me until I was about 14 or 15. I’m just forever indebted [to him]. I don’t think I get to where I go to without him.”

And though it’s rarely mentioned, Martin was, in fact, drafted by his hometown Expos, in the 35th round in 2000, but he was never offered a contract.

“It was more like a draft and follow in 2000 out of high school,” explained Martin. “And I ended up going to a junior college called Chipola. And in my first year there, I didn’t really play that well. I didn’t really deserve to get drafted in my first year at Chipola. I was kind of a super utility guy who would play just about anywhere on the field, but didn’t really do anything too exciting . . . I didn’t really make enough noise for anyone [the Expos] to really come down and offer me anything.”

Martin fared much better in his sophomore season at Chipola. He saw more time behind the plate and impressed the Los Angeles Dodgers who selected him in the 17th round of the 2002 MLB draft.

The determined Canadian would cement himself as the Dodgers’ top catching prospect when he batted .311 and posted a .430 on-base percentage (OBP) in 129 games for the Double-A Jacksonville Suns in 2005.

On May 5, 2006, Martin made his big-league debut with the Dodgers. He proceeded to bat .282 with 10 home runs in 121 games that season and be named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team.

He also caught Hall of Famer Greg Maddux’s first start with the Dodgers after the four-time Cy Young Award winner had been acquired from the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline.

“I remember going to him and asking him, ‘What do you want me to do? What can I do for you behind the plate?’” recalled Martin of catching Maddux’s Dodgers debut on August 3, 2006, against the Cincinnati Reds. “And I remember him telling me, ‘I want you to go back there, and I want you to set up the same way every single time. I want you to look like a painting behind the plate.’ And when he said that it just made me realize how different he saw the game of baseball. He kept it really, really simple. He relied on his command.”

Martin helped Maddux pitch six no-hit innings before the Dodgers took the Cooperstown-bound righty out after a rain delay.

Martin was even better in his sophomore season, hitting .293 with 19 home runs and a career-best 87 RBIs and was selected to his first All-Star Game. He was also honoured with a Silver Slugger Award, a Gold Glove Award and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award.

He followed that up with another All-Star campaign in 2008 in which he batted .280 with 13 home runs in 155 contests.

After two more seasons with the Dodgers, he signed with the New York Yankees and belted 18 and 21 home runs in the 2011 and 2012 seasons respectively.

On November 30, 2012, he signed a two-year deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In his first season with the Pirates, he excelled behind the plate, earning Wilson Defensive Player of the Year honours. He followed that up with one of his finest offensive seasons in 2014, batting .290 and posting a career-best .402 OBP, while also earning his second consecutive Wilson Defensive Player of the Year honour.

Following the 2014 campaign, Martin signed a five-year contract with the Blue Jays. In his first season with Toronto, he belted a career-best 23 homers to earn his fourth All-Star selection and help the club to their first postseason appearance in 22 years.

“Incredible, incredible season,” Martin said of being with the Blue Jays in 2015. “We had a great run. I thought it was a fun team to root for in Toronto. There were all kinds of different personalities on the team. We had some offensive pop on the team as well, a lot of home runs were hit. There were a lot of big innings and some crazy moments happened in the playoffs, too. But it was just about as much fun as I’ve had in a season with that crew in 2015.”

Martin clubbed 20 more homers in 2016 to propel the Blue Jays to the playoffs for a second consecutive year. In total, in parts of four seasons with the Blue Jays, he hit 66 home runs in 447 games.

He played his final major league season with the Dodgers in 2019. That year, he reached the postseason for the 10th time in 14 major league campaigns.

Martin ranks in the top 10 among Canadians in most major league statistical categories, including first in dWAR (16.5), third in WAR (38.8), fourth in games (1,693), fifth in runs (803), sixth in hits (1,416), doubles (255) and total bases (2,262) and seventh in home runs (191). He also holds Canadian major league postseason records in games (58), hits (38) and runs (24).

On the international stage, Martin suited up for the Junior National Team in 2000 and for Canada at the World Baseball Classic in 2009. He also coached for Canada at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics.

With three young daughters at home, he has no current plans to expand his coaching duties.

“But later when the kids get older and they don’t have time for dad, that will be something I get into,” said Martin.

In the meantime, Martin, still an Expos fan at heart, can bask in being one of the newest members of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I’m definitely honoured. It’s a life’s work achievement, so I’m definitely grateful to be in company with the other greats in baseball in Canada,” said Martin on Tuesday. “I’m just honoured. I’m going to have to light a cigar and really honour this day.”