As Spring Training 2015 winds down, Tigers’ RF J.D. Martinez showed he was ready for the regular season. Yesterday (March 31), Martinez launched three home runs in four at bats as the Tigers downed the Yankees 10-6. Martinez showed power to all fields, homering to left field in the first inning, right field in the fourth and center field in the seventh. The first two round trippers came off the Yankees’ Chad Green, while the final blast came off Conor Mullee. Martinez ended the day three-for-four, with three HR’s, three runs and four RBI. Martinez is coming off a 2015 season when he went .282-38-102 and had a three-HR game (also against the Yankees) in a 12-4 win on June 21 in New York. Martinez’ big day put him at .255-7-15 for the Spring. Last spring, before his big season, Martinez went .313-5-11.
Martinez’ performance reminded BBRT of the day in 1995 when – at least for one game – Henry Rodriguez was the Spring Training Sultan of Swat.
On April 23, 1995 (more on why they were playing Spring Training games that late in April in just a bit), Dodgers’ RF Henry Rodriguez went four-for-four with a Spring Training single-game record four home runs as the Dodgers topped the Mets 8-4. It was the final game of Spring Training and Rodriguez finished the exhibition season with a .405 average and seven homers. Note: Of Rodriguez’ four long balls – two came off Bret Saberhagen and two off Josias Manzanillo. Rodriguez was coming off a 1994 season when he hit .268 with eight homers and 49 RBI in 104 games for the Dodgers. After his big spring game, he got off to a slow start and was traded to the Expos in May. He finished the season hitting just .239 with two home runs in 45 games. The following season, he had a breakout year, in which he was an All Star and reached what would be career highs in home runs (36(, RBI (103), while hitting .276. From 1996 to 2000, Rodriguez hit 139 homers for the Expos and Cubs. (In Montreal, fans often tossed Oh Henry! candy bars onto the field after Rodriguez’ home runs. He finished an 11-season MLB career with a .259 average, 160 home runs and 523 RBI.
Now, as to why Spring Training games were still being played on April 23. It was the result of the 1994-95 MLB strike, which began on August 12, 1994 and was suspended on April 2, 1995 – the longest work stoppage in MLB history. As a result, the 1995 season began on April 25 (allowing a brief Spring Training for striking players) and was shortened to 144 games. It was a tough time for fans. (I still have a t-shirt that reads simply “Victim – 1994-95 Baseball Strike.” ) BBRT Note: Team owners did choose to open Spring Training in February with “replacement players” and some spring games were actually played using replacements. More on the replacement players (and particularly those who eventually made it to the major leagues) in a future post.
Coming soon: MLB Opening Day hitters’ and pitchers’ targets.
For thirty things BBRT would like to see this season, click here.
National League predictions, click here. American League, click here.
You can also find a pair of 99-question trivia quizzes here and here.
I tweet baseball @DavidBBRT
Member: Society for American Baseball Research (SABR); The Baseball Reliquary; Baseball Bloggers Alliance.
