Edgar Martínez Marquee Hall of Fame 2019

Seattle kept him in the minor leagues into his late twenties, and he was 27 before he played a full season in the majors. He arrived as a third baseman and played 562 games there before settling into 1,403 as a designated hitter. He hit .312 with 514 doubles, and led the league in doubles in 1992 and 1995.

A torn hamstring cut 1993 to 42 games. The best of it came afterward: 121 runs to lead the league in 1995, then 145 runs batted in to lead it in 2000, the year he turned 37. That 1995 Seattle club won its division, the first time the Mariners had finished first in nineteen seasons.

In the deciding game of the 1995 division series he doubled down the left field line against the Yankees to win it, a hit the city credits with keeping the franchise in Seattle and getting a ballpark built. The writers needed the full ten years of his eligibility, electing him in 2019 with 363 votes of 425.