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Pedro Martinez a Yankee?

Pedro Martinez went into the Hall of Fame Tuesday as a member of the Red Sox, but he could have gone in wearing pinstripes. He told the New York Daily News back in December that he was almost traded to the Yankees, more than once.

“I was almost traded to New York more than once. A lot of people don’t know that. I wanted the trade to happen. I wanted out of Montreal. I wanted to go to the best team out there,” Martinez said. “I saw John Wetteland, Marquis Grissom, Larry Walker go to different teams. But the one that ended up winning most of the time was the Yankees.”

Martinez was with the Montreal Expos from 1994-1997 and saw a lot of his teammates leave for better teams, he wanted the same. “I saw Wetteland become a champion right away. I wanted a team like that. I was in trade talks every year. Every year it seemed like the Yankees were in it,” said Martinez. “So I wanted to go to one of those teams that would give me a legit chance to win.”

The trade he wanted finally happened in 1997, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. “When I was traded to Boston, I was shocked. Boston had finished in fourth place in 1997, just like Montreal. I had asked Felipe Alou and Jim Beattie (Montreal’s manager and GM) to at least give me the honor to trade me to a team where I would have a legit chance to win, to contend,” said Martinez. “It was the total opposite.”

Martinez going to Boston obviously worked out for both sides. Despite the rivalry he still had respect for the Yankees, more specifically the Boss. “It was a mutual respect between the two of us,” said Martinez. “Actually, more than anything, admiration, because I knew how George went about his job to try to win for New York, for the fans.”

Pedro, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio are the MLB Hall of Fame class of 2015.