“From the need that I went through, the desire to help others arose”: Pedro Martínez confesses his motivation to serve as a mentor to young baseball players [Video]

The legendary Dominican former pitcher and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Pedro Martínez, showed his most human and expressive side in an exclusive interview with El Diario and the journalist Ricardo López Juárez, in which he commented on various topics of his life and career, both past and present.

Martínez confessed about his well-known role as a mentor for some young players who are already considered Major League stars, such as his godson Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and other even smaller ones, who have the desire to reach the top of baseball. a desire that he is willing to support because he knows what it is to have needs.

“This comes from the needs that I experienced, which were many, but I thank God because my brother Ramón came to the Major Leagues first and was able to help me in the first steps of the needs that a baseball player may have,” said the former pitcher. the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, among others.

“We as baseball players who have lived through these experiences, have a responsibility that goes beyond playing the games, we must serve others as an example. I always wanted to maintain my integrity to the letter in order to be able to speak with authority and be able to serve others, what makes it easier is that I have made myself accessible to the boys and they understand that they can approach me and get to know me ”, he added he.

“Keeping me interested in wanting to serve as a guide or give them part of my experiences has been a pleasure for the boys. I can tell you that 98.5% need that guidance that we can give them, ”he said, referring to other great former baseball players.

“From the need that I went through, the need to help others arose, because when I was 12 years old I was selected to represent my country but due to economic needs I was never able to do so. That was marked on me as a child and I don’t want children to be marked by lack of opportunity, ”Martínez recalled his precarious childhood.

“I am the product of an opportunity and every player who has gotten there (Las Mayores) has had an opportunity, every player who shows up there has had an opportunity and that is what we try to do, give the opportunity to others to become important”.

The pitcher who got into the Hall of Fame wanting to be a doctor

Among the pleasant conversation between the legendary Pedro Martínez and the Mexican journalist Ricardo López Juárez, the right-hander, considered by many to be the best Latino pitcher of all time, confessed that he wanted to be a doctor and it was even one of his goals in his student days. , but that “the turns of life” took him elsewhere and he has also ended up helping other people.

“My passion as a student was actually medicine, but the world goes around so many times and I ended up being a baseball player, I became a pitcher and the least I imagined was that now I would be working in front of a camera and it turns out that through this platform I have managed to captivate many people and make myself known as a human being, apart from what is the uniform, fame and salaries, “he confessed.

Pedro Martínez and contribution to baseball history: Helping Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz

On the other hand, the Dominican revealed that he helped many of the great stars of his time, including two other members of the Baseball Hall of Fame such as Vladimir Guerrero, whom he received as his younger brother, and David Ortiz, to who saw rock bottom and then make history in this sport.

“I have been very blessed to have the opportunity to be with Vladimir Guerrero (father) when I was about 18 years old, taking him to live in my apartment and making him my little brother, buying him his first suit and tying his first tie. It’s like being a proud parent,” he commented.

“I also had the opportunity to get to know David Ortiz from another point of view, jobless, released by the Minnesota Twins and also be the main participant in David getting a job with us, the Boston Red Sox, and the rest is history” .

“I was able to participate in the negotiations that brought Manny Ramírez to the Boston Red Sox. He had confessed to me that he wanted to play with me in Boston. Manny never saw himself playing for the Yankees even though he had lived in New York as a young man. And we needed Manny, ”he pointed out.

“I have achieved influence in many baseball players of which I am going to reserve the name, but I tell you that I maintain a close relationship is with Vladimir Guerrero, my compadre and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., my godson. I would like to share more with others like Albert Pujols and Adrián Beltré but we don’t go to the same places”, he underlined.

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