Putting on a Show

Hall-of-Fame manager Tony La Russa’s return this season to the team that gave him his first coaching gig came as a surprise to baseball watchers, and his current performance with the White Sox has not been without its challenges.

La Russa – who made his MLB debut as a player with the Kansas City Athletics on May 10th, 1963 – was a mediocre middle infielder, but he turned himself into an accomplished and recognizable skipper.

In his decades of pulling the strings from the dugout, the three-time World Series champion picked up over 2,850 wins and was named Manager of the Year on four occasions.

The Florida native also made some memorable appearances in Edmonton when he was a part of the major league rosters who came to the provincial capital for exhibition games.

Wild Rose

He may not exactly have been in full bloom when he came to Alberta, but Pete Rose gave us a telling look at the baseball icon, thorns and all.

The three-time World Series champion provided insights into two of his cherished pastimes – gambling and baseball – when he visited the Edmonton area on Oct. 21, 2014.

Day At Renfrew

If there was a Mount Rushmore of Negro League baseball players, Leon Day would like be among the four faces you would see.

Not only was he an excellent pitcher, but he was a great hitter and could play almost every position.

Near the end of his baseball career, Day became a popular addition to the new Edmonton Eskimos of the Western International League.

But he was gone before the season came to an end.

Designated Hall of Famer

Good things come to those who wait.

In the case of former Seattle Mariner and Calgary Cannon Edgar Martinez, he’s become accustomed to waiting.

After going undrafted and signing with the Mariners in 1982, the third baseman spent the majority of the next seven years in the minor leagues, including 276 games with the Triple-A Cannons.

The rest of his career was spent with the Mariners, mostly as a designated hitter (DH), where Martinez waited for a World Series berth that never came before retiring at the end of the 2004 season.

When his career Major League Baseball (MLB) numbers – he hit 309 home runs, batted .312 and posted a .418 on-base percentage – were deemed worthy of National Baseball Hall of Fame consideration, Martinez would once again be forced to exercise patience as the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) deliberated his fate.

But, after his 10th and final year on the ballot, the wait is over and it’s good news for the man who simply became known as “Edgar” to Seattle sports fans.

Full Count

EDGAR IS GOOD.

If you went to a Seattle Mariners home game in 2000, that’s what flashed on the big screen in left field when Edgar Martinez stepped to the plate.

It would often flash again right after his at bat, when he ended up either on base or touching home plate.

But is he Hall of Fame good?

The Long Road to Edgar Martinez Drive

It’s a long road from Crowchild Trail in Calgary to Atlantic Street in Seattle.

And for the man who would eventually have a section of that Emerald City street named after him, it was wrought with twists, detours and roadblocks.

Unlike Ken Griffey Jr., who made everything look so easy, including his journey to the big leagues, Edgar Martinez never took the express lane to stardom.