Phillies: Great players you forgot played in Philadelphia

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NEW YORK – OCTOBER 29: Starting pitcher Pedro Martinez #45 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the New York Yankees in Game Two of the 2009 MLB World Series against at Yankee Stadium on October 29, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) /

Pedro Martinez (2009)

Coming off a World Series championship in 2008 the Phillies felt like they had the pitching to get through another championship run. When Cole Hamels struggled, Chan Ho Park didn’t produce, and other guys fell onto the disabled list, the team called upon Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez to get the job done.

Before we got there, let’s remember what Pedro had done in his illustrious career.

Born in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic Pedro Martinez made his major league debut with the Dodgers only a couple of days before his 21st birthday. He was fantastic in his first two years with LA with a 2.58 ERA in 67 games and 10 wins as a reliever in 1993.

After the ’93 season Pedro was traded to Montreal for Delino DeShields Sr., and after three decent seasons with the Expos, Pedro became Pedro.

In 1997 Martinez won the Cy Young with a league-best 1.90 ERA and 13 complete games in 31 starts. After that season he’d be traded to Boston for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas in arguably the greatest trade in Red Sox history.

Martinez would win three Cy Youngs in four years between Montreal and Boston and during his seven year reign in Boston Martinez finished in the top-four for the Cy Young six times.

In 2004 he helped break the Red Sox curse and won a World Series with 16 wins and 227 strikeouts.

For the next four years the Phillies saw a lot of Pedro when he signed with the Mets. His 2005 season was excellent, but after that it was clear he wasn’t the same guy.

Now, back to where Pedro became a Phillie.

Pedro hadn’t signed with a team in the offseason leading up to 2009. After pitching in the World Baseball Classic, the Phillies signed him to a one-year deal to help get them back to a World Series.

In nine regular season starts Pedro went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA and 37 strikeouts. He sealed career win number 219 as a member of the Phillies with eight shutout innings against his old team.

In the NLCS against Los Angeles Pedro threw seven two-hit shutout innings in a 2-1 loss. He took two losses to the Yankees in the World Series, allowing seven runs in 10 innings with 13 strikeouts.

In 2015 Pedro was elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot with over 91 percent of the vote.

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