Carmelo Martínez

Carmelo Martínez Salgado (born July 28, 1960 in Dorado, Puerto Rico) is a former professional baseball player. He played all or part of nine seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily as a first baseman and outfielder, from 1983 to 1991. He also played one season in Japan for the Orix BlueWave in 1992. He is the cousin of Edgar Martínez.

On August 22, 1983, Martinez hit a home run in his very first major league at-bat for the Cubs. The homer came off Cincinnati's Frank Pastore in the 5th inning at Wrigley Field.

On December 7, 1983, Martinez was traded by the Cubs along with Craig Lefferts and Fritz Connally to the San Diego Padres for pitcher Scott Sanderson. He appeared in the 1984 World Series as a member of the Padres against the Detroit Tigers.

On July 25, 2008, Martinez was involved in a minor league brawl while serving as interim manager of the Chicago Cubs' Single-A affiliate Peoria Chiefs (Manager and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg was in Cooperstown during the induction festivities) [1]. Carmelo approached Donnie Scott, manager of the Dayton Dragons and engaged in a heated discussion before shoving him, resulting in emptied benches. Pitcher Julio Castillo then attempted to throw a baseball into the opponent's dugout. Instead, he missed and hit a fan in the stands, leading to an arrest and felonious assault charge [2]. Sandberg has insisted that the brawl would not have occurred had he been managing the game [3]. He is currently the Cubs' Latin American field coordinator.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Almanac