Off the Ice... with Pedro Martinez

This story has been updated from the originally-published version that appeared in Vol. 25.6 of CANADIENS Magazine
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He arrived in Montreal a wild-throwing young righthander and left the city a legend who would go on to become one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball history. The only Expos hurler to ever win a Cy Young Award, Pedro Martinez used his 95-plus mph fastball to terrorize hitters for 18 seasons. Never one to bite his tongue, the 45-year-old Hall-of-Famer sat down with us to dish on the place Montreal still holds in his heart.

What's it like for you whenever you come back to Montreal? PEDRO MARTINEZ:It's home. It's like coming back home. I remember everything about this city and it sometimes feels like I never left.

What do you miss most about the city? PM:How peaceful a place like this can be and how great it is to live in Montreal. It's so easy to get along with everybody you see walking down the street. This is just a special place.
Did you have any favorite Montreal hangouts back in the day? PM:A few restaurants for sure. Montreal has some great ones. I always make sure to get to Le Piment Rouge; their General Tao's Chicken is amazing. Then for steak I go to Moishes and for Italian, I go to La Campagnola. Whenever I'm here, eating is never a problem. (laughs)

Did you become a hockey fan at all during your time in Montreal? PM:I've been a Canadiens fan for a long time and it probably helps that whenever I catch a game here in person, they win!

What player do you remember most from watching games in Montreal? PM: I remember the goalie… Jose Theodore. He was good and used to give them a chance to win every night.
How big a difference would an outdoor downtown stadium have made for the Expos? Could it have saved the team?PM:I think so, I really do. The fans here are so passionate and they know their baseball. Plus, we were all so comfortable here that none of us wanted to leave. In my opinion, it not only could have worked here, it could still work. Actually, if we could have done what the Canadiens did as a franchise with the way they promote hockey and support the team, anything would've been possible. We would have gotten our downtown park and the fans would still have their Expos - or "Nos Amours" as they used to call us.

You made it a point to salute Expos fans when news broke that the team was leaving the city. What did it mean to you personally when Montreal lost the Expos? PM:I was extremely sad when it became official. To be perfectly honest, part of the reason I came back to the National League in 2005 was to get the chance to play at the Big O again. I never got the chance to do it. I was so sad that I almost lost my interest of being back in the NL after that.
You won a World Series with the Red Sox in 2004, but which team was the best you ever played on: those '04 Sox or the 1994 Expos? PM:Those are two pretty strong teams. We were 74-40 before the strike in Montreal - who can ever forget that? What I can tell you without a doubt is that our Expos team had potential to probably win two, three, or even four World Series in a row. We were that good and we knew we could beat anybody.

Do you still keep in touch with any former Expos teammates? PM: I'm tight with a bunch of those guys: Vladdy Guerrero, Oogie (Ugueth) Urbina, Jose Paniagua, Moises Alou and a lot of others. I see Marquis Grissom a lot and Cliff Floyd, too.

Most annoying Olympic Stadium sound: the clacking of empty seats or a braying bullhorn? PM:(laughs) I'd say the seats. The seats were bad, plus it just reminded us that they weren't full!

Was Felipe Alou the best manager you ever played for? PM:Yes, by far. He's a great man and he had the biggest impact on me as a player but especially as a person. He was the best in the business and the game misses Felipe for sure.

So, just how intense is the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry, really? PM: The media makes it all much worse, but we competed at such a high level for those years that it reached a whole new level. It looked like we really hated each other, didn't it? (laughs)

Do the Yankees in fact remain your "daddy"? PM:You tell me! All I know is I was the only guy to ever strikeout 17 Yankees at the old Yankee Stadium. They should have put the word "daddy" somewhere in that stadium before they tore it down in my honor.

What did it feel like to grasp Don Zimmer's bald head in your bare hands during the 2004 ALCS?PM:I can laugh about it now, but it was a mistake. A mistake for him to come at me the way he did and then I was just defending myself. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have just run around the field and made him chase me - now that would have been really funny.

How much did you actually weigh when you first arrived in Montreal from the Dodgers in 1993? PM:Not much. Just look at the photos! (laughs)

Is there a better mascot in the business than Youppi!? PM:That's a tough one. Youppi! and I are pretty tight, but I have to go with the Philly Phanatic. But I will say he's not as nice as Youppi! and he never will be.
Do you ever miss your Jheri curl hairstyle from your early days with the 'Spos? PM:I don't have to miss it. If want to I can style it that way anytime I want. I still have my 'fro, don't you worry about that. (laughs)