Russell Martin is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.
Martin played 14 seasons in the MLB, five with the Dodgers, two with the Yankees, two with the Pirates, four with our Jays and one last season with the Dodgers again.
He hit .248/.349/.397 in 1693 games, with 191 home runs, 101 steals, 1416 hits and a 38.8 bWAR.
Russell played in four All-Star teams, got MVP votes three times (finishing as high as 13th), had one Gold Glove, one Silver Slugger and finished 9th in Rookie of the Year voting in 2006.
He had two seasons with bWARs above 5, his best being 5.7 in 2014 with the Pirates (we signed him as a free agent the next off-season).
He played on teams that made the playoffs ten times but never made it to the World Series. In 58 playoff games, he hit .191/.306/.327 (and one bat while throwing the ball back to the pitcher).
He played for Canada in the 2009 WB
When the Jays signed him, we were told about his leadership ability:
The dude expects to win, and plays a position where he can really make a difference.
I did mention that ‘expects to win’ is not really a skill. But sure.
We did make the playoffs twice in the four seasons he was with the team.
He was born in East York and grew up in Montreal. When the Jays played spring games in Montreal, the Montreal fans loved him. His dad played the National Anthem on the saxophone.
As much as I like Martin, I don’t see him as a Hall of Famer, but your milage might vary.