Catching a Break: Russell Martin Comes Home
It’s a good thing Russell Martin thrives on pressure. “I’m a competitor. It’s not about the winning part. It’s about being in battle,” he says. “And I think that’s why I’ve had success.”
It’s worth talking about that success for a minute. Part of Martin’s appeal, for a team like the Blue Jays right now, is that he knows how to win. Call it luck, call it hard work, call it being in the right place at the right time, but he seems to pack victory with him in his suitcase. He can’t not win.
Martin has been to the playoffs seven times in his nine major league seasons. If you’re counting: that’s three times with the Dodgers, twice with the Yankees and, crucially, twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates who, until Martin came on board two years ago, hadn’t had a winning season in two decades, and looked an awful lot like the 2015 Blue Jays.
That is, both teams were basically losers, made up of no-name players on both sides of the age spectrum with little substance in between, and little understanding of what it takes to make it past September. It’s unfair to say that Martin single-handedly turned things around for Pittsburgh — but that hasn’t stopped many sports writers from trying. Martin’s challenge, warranted or not, is to have yet another career season, and to make history essentially repeat itself.
“In Pittsburgh and now in Toronto, I was thinking, ‘Just watch what happens,’” he says. “I don’t ever speak that way, but I was thinking it in the back of my mind. Please tell me I can’t do something so I can go ahead and show you that I can.”
