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Orlando Martinez
Houston Astros
Infield
Born: August 23, 1941, La Habana, Cuba
Signed: Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent before 1960 season
Major League Teams: Minnesota Twins 1962; Atlanta Braves 1967-68; Houston Astros 1969-71; St. Louis Cardinals 1972; Oakland Athletics 1972; Texas Rangers 1972
As a Manager: Seattle Mariners 1986
Died: March 8, 2007, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (age 65)
Super utility player Marty Martinez played for two decades professionally prior to a second career as a long-time coach and scout. Martinez appeared in 37 games for the Twins in 1962 before heading back down to the minor leagues for four full seasons. He'd return to the majors with the Braves in 1967 and in 1968 he played in a career-high 113 games. Martinez would enjoy the best years of his big league career with the Astros between 1969 and 1971, batting .268 over 185 total games, and playing every position for the club other than first base and center field. He'd settle into a pinch-hitting role over the final few seasons of his major league playing career, last appearing with the Rangers in 1972.
Died: March 8, 2007, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (age 65)
Super utility player Marty Martinez played for two decades professionally prior to a second career as a long-time coach and scout. Martinez appeared in 37 games for the Twins in 1962 before heading back down to the minor leagues for four full seasons. He'd return to the majors with the Braves in 1967 and in 1968 he played in a career-high 113 games. Martinez would enjoy the best years of his big league career with the Astros between 1969 and 1971, batting .268 over 185 total games, and playing every position for the club other than first base and center field. He'd settle into a pinch-hitting role over the final few seasons of his major league playing career, last appearing with the Rangers in 1972.
In 436 games, Martinez batted .243 in 945 at-bats with 19 doubles, 57 RBIs and not one single home run. He would remain with the Rangers organization throughout the 1970s, serving as a player-manager for several minor league teams. Joining the Mariners in the early 1980s, Martinez scouted and signed future stars Edgar Martinez and Omar Vizquel and he coached at the big league level for the Mariners between 1984 and 1986, and again in 1992. He took over the club as an interim manager in 1986, losing his lone game at the helm while briefly stepping in between the tenures of Mariners' managers Chuck Cottier (#252) and Dick Williams (#349).
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
Doug and I returned to The Philly Show in early December, once again held inside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. eBay has taken over sponsorship of the show, with the quaint, bubble-lettered Philly Show logo that had been in place since the 1980s replaced with a more modern logo, keeping with the times. I wrote about the show in a post over at The Phillies Room.
Similar to my strategy from March, I wanted to focus on accumulating commons and having found success with Uncle Dick's Cards before, I didn't mess around and headed right for the neon green binders. I pulled 145 cards from the binder containing cards 301 to the end of the set, stopping when I reached 500. This card was the 28th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost me a little less than $1.
Martinez is hatless and wearing a Braves jersey on this card. The back of the card sums up how he came to Houston and highlights his "slick fielding" skills.
Accuracy Index: Martinez receives the somewhat standard -8 for the Braves jersey (-5) and for being hatless (-3).
1969 Season
On December 4, 1968, the Braves traded Martinez to the Astros for infielder Bob Aspromonte (#542). Martinez was truly a super sub for Houston, earning starts in left field (21), shortstop (16), third base (8) and catcher (4), while also seeing playing time at second base and relieving in a game! On July 9th against the Giants at Candlestick Park, Martinez entered to pitch in a mop-up role in an eventual 10-3 loss. He allowed a solo home run to Dick Dietz (#293), but retired the other two Giants batters he faced.
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First Mainstream Card: 1967 Topps #504
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (6): 1967-72
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1972 Topps #336
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 42 in the Beckett online database as of 7/1/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
#336 Jim Roland - Minnesota Twins / #338 Del Unser - Washington Senators
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