Yankees honor Tino Martinez with Monument Park plaque

NEW YORK — When he joined the Yankees in 1996, Tino Martinez was a slumping first baseman charged with replacing Don Mattingly. Fans booed him in the Bronx. Nearly 20 years later, Martinez is among the Yankees greats in Monument Park.

During a pregame ceremony on Saturday, the Yankees honored Martinez and unveiled a plaque that will join the other monuments beyond Yankee Stadium's center field wall. Reliever Goose Gossage will be similarly honored before Old-Timers' Day on Sunday.

"I would never have imagined having a plaque in Monument Park when I was playing," Martinez said. "When they called me, I was still overwhelmed by the whole situation, that I'm actually out there with all those great names and all that, and the names that are about to be put out there as well. It's crazy. I'm honored, I'm humbled by it, but as I say all the time, it's really the result of the success of the team I played on."

After a slow start to his Yankees career, Martinez went on to hit 192 home runs and win four World Series with the team. His plaque notes that Martinez hit two of the most famous home runs in Yankees postseason history: a grand slam in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series and a game-tying, ninth-inning home run in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series.

Former teammates Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Paul O'Neill and David Cone were in attendance to honor Martinez along with former manager Joe Torre, but it was trainer Gene Monahan who seemed to best condense Martinez's legacy as a powerful and hard-nosed player.

"He's a lot like Derek (Jeter)," Monahan said. "There's no sense in going out to the ballpark and changing clothes if you're not going to play. And there's no sense in playing if you don't compete. And there's no sense in competing if you don't win. And that was his attitude."

Acquired in a trade with Seattle before the 1996 season, Martinez was an all-star and finished second in MVP voting during his second season with the team. Although he never won a Gold Glove, Martinez's plaque notes that he was "known for his powerful bat and superlative defense at first base."

"Tino was one of those players that I admire," Rivera said. "I was happy to play with him, and I'm happy that I can call him my friend."

Chad Jennings writes for the (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News.