PORT ST. LUCIE – As a smiling Pedro Martinez finished up a portrait with a Post photographer in the warm Florida sun yesterday, the Mets pitcher lifted himself out of a metal chair and glanced to his side. In his right hand he gripped a baseball. Five fans were gathered near the parking lot gate, about 30 feet away.
Then an Amazin’ thing happened. Perhaps by habit, Martinez, who will not start throwing until March and is not supposed to even touch a baseball until then following October surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, turned and tossed the ball to a fan, a perfect arching throw.
That action told you that Martinez is making remarkable progress. Realizing what he had done, he laughed, looked me straight in the eye and said: “Believe me. I’ll be back.”
The Terminator couldn’t have been any more convincing.
Martinez is not done. Yes, last year, his calves imploded, his hip and toe ached, and finally his right shoulder had had enough. Ligaments tore away from the bone, taking a bit of bone with them, Martinez said. But at the age of 35, he has been put together again by the doctors. He vowed to come back stronger than ever, for a pitcher his age.
This will be a much different Martinez, physically and mentally, when he returns to the mound.
“This experience has taught me a lot,” Martinez said in a quiet voice. “It has made me more humble than I have ever been. One moment, you’re on top of the world. Everybody is telling me, ‘Oh look at Pedro, he’s the best pitcher in the world.’
“Then all of a sudden I went boom,” he said, pointing his thumb downward. “In just two years. The best pitcher ever, and then boom, I’m having the worst season ever.
“All this makes me stronger, and it made me realize that life is a time bomb. And so is baseball. You can have baseball today and it can all be gone tomorrow. You just have to leave it in God’s hands and enjoy it as much as you can because you just never know.”
Martinez made the day for 20-year-old Todd Gray of Port St. Lucie, who caught the baseball.
“This is a good ball to have,” Gray said of Martinez’s unofficial comeback pitch.
There is still much work to be done, but Martinez is ready. He is a solid 193 pounds. There is no exact timetable when he will be able to pitch in a major-league game. It all depends on how well the rehab goes. He won’t rush. It’s up to the doctors.
“I understand what I have to do and I am ready to do it,” Martinez said. “I will do what it takes, but do it once.”
One and done. If Martinez has another major problem with his shoulder, he will move on with his life, but right now everything is looking good.
The Mets expect to go to the World Series this year, and as David Wright said Monday, win it all. Martinez expects to be with them as a pitcher, not a cheerleader.
“Believe me, that’s why I’m working so hard,” Pedro said. “I want to be part of that. I want to be in the middle of that, not watching from the dugout. I want to be in the center of it.”
Mets bullpen coach Guy Conti recently attended Martinez’s surprise birthday party. When Martinez arrived, he surprised Conti.
Martinez squatted to pick up a friend’s baby. Martinez then stood up and lifted the baby high over his head with both arms.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Conti said. “He shouldn’t haven been able to do that with his shoulder. That’s Pedro. He’s working so hard to come back. There’s no one like him.”
No, there isn’t. He’ll be back.