Bob Martyn

Robert Gordon Martyn (August 15, 1930 in Weiser, Idaho) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from 1957 to 1959 for the Kansas City Athletics.

College career

Martyn is an alumnus of Linfield College. His father Bernard Martyn, aunt Lillian Turner Millsap and uncle Bill Turner also attended Linfield. Bob’s first year at Linfield was 1948. He attended the college not only because much of his family went there, but also because it was affiliated with the Baptist church he went to. Although he played shortstop at high school in Twin Falls, Idaho, baseball coach Henry Lever immediately changed his position to outfielder. Martyn once said of the change, “That was probably a major break for my future.”

Bob was a Northwest Conference All-Star in 1950, 1951 and 1952, and he helped lead the Linfield Wildcats to conference championship victories in 1950 and 1951.

Academically, Martyn double-majored in mathematics and sociology and he graduated cum laude. While playing professional baseball, he earned his masters degree in education in 1959, studying between seasons.

In 2000, Martyn was elected to the Linfield College Athletics Hall of Fame. His father, Bernard Martyn was elected in 1999. They are one of two father-son combinations in the Linfield College Athletics Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Minor leagues

Originally signed by the New York Yankees in 1952, Martyn, in his first professional baseball game on July 4 of that year, went 5-for-6 while playing for the Boise Yankees.

An impressive minor league player, he was named to three All-Star teams while in the minors. In the 1956 American Association All-Star Game, he hit two home runs, winning the MVP Award for the game.

Major leagues

He was sent to the Athletics in a trade that took place on June 15, 1957. The Yankees sent Martyn, Woodie Held, Billy Martin and Ralph Terry to the Athletics for Ryne Duren, Jim Pisoni and Harry Simpson.

Just three days after the trade, Martyn made his big league debut, on June 18, 1957. Facing the Washington Senators, Martyn – playing in right field – went 1–4 with a walk in his first big league game. Overall in his first big league season, he hit .267 in 58 games. In 131 at-bats, he hit one home run and drove in 12 RBI.

The following year, Martyn appeared in 95 games, hitting .261 in 226 at-bats. That year, he was sixth in the league with seven triples and ninth in the league with five intentional walks.

Despite having two respectable seasons in a row prior to 1959, 1959 would end up being his final year in the majors. He appeared in only one game, getting only one at-bat. In his final big league at-bat, pinch-hitting for Bob Grim, he grounded out.

On April 12, 1959, he was traded back to the Yankees with Mike Baxes for Russ Snyder and Tom Carroll.

His playing career was interrupted by two years in military service.

Overall, Martyn played in 154 big league games. In 358 at-bats, he hit .263 with three home runs and 35 RBI. He hit 12 doubles and 11 triples, scoring 35 runs and stealing two bases (while being caught stealing seven times).

Post-baseball career

After his professional baseball career ended in 1960, Martyn worked for Tektronix for 23 years. He served twice on the Linfield Alumni Board and was president in 1973.

References

• Linfield College Athletics

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference