With an increasingly rare Pedro Martinez start scheduled for tonight (I say “scheduled” because these days you never know if it will actually happen until you see him out there), it seemed like a good time to share a first-person reminiscence of one of Martinez’s greatest games. It took place at Yankee Stadium on September 10, 1999. Recently, as part of the ongoing work on our next book project, we’ve been interviewing players from the 1980s. As part of that effort, research assistant Ben Lindbergh talked with longtime outfielder/designated hitter Chili Davis. On the way to quizzing Chili on the “Hum Baby” Giants, Roger Craig, Willi Clark, Hackman Jeff Leonard, and the rest of the gang, Ben and Chili got into this little digression that was too good not to share, a small triumph against the greatest pitcher ever at the peak of his powers.
Ben Lindbergh: I wanted to mention that my favorite memory of watching you play was in September of ’99, September 10, when Pedro Martinez pitched in that game—
Chili Davis: [Laughter]
Ben:—Struck out 17 Yankees, and I think Tom Boswell, who writes for The Washington Post, said that it was the greatest game ever pitched at Yankee Stadium, and no one else could touch him, and you homered off him somehow, and that was the only hit of the game.
Davis: Well, I’ll tell you a story about that. You want to hear a story about that? You know, he came here, and you could tell he had a lightning fastball. And, I don’t know who led off, was it Derek Jeter or Chuck Knoblauch, but whoever led off, he pitched him hard inside, hard inside, hard inside. I think he either hit Jeter, or he hit Knoblauch, he might have hit ’em both, I don’t remember.
Ben: Yeah, he did hit Knoblauch leading off that game.
Davis: And then, Paul O’Neill came up, and he came hard in on O’Neill, jammed him, Bernie Williams came up, he came hard in on Bernie, jammed him, got out of the inning. Well, the next inning, he’s warming up, and Tino Martinez and I are standing on the on-deck circle, and I remember walking over to Tino and saying, “Tino, he’s got a good heater today, and he knows it. He knows it, Tino, and he’s coming in.” Everybody that came up, he started them fastball, hard in. I said, “If I was you, Tino, I’d look in, and try to turn on something.” And Tino was in a slump at the time, and he looked at me, and he was like “You know, uh, you know uh, uh, I don’t know,” kind of hesitant to take the game plan up there. So he went up there, and I think Pedro jammed him up inside, broke his bat or something, and he went back to the dugout. And I stand on deck, and I go, “You know what, you [expletive]? You come in here. Yeah, I know I’m 40, or 39, or whatever years old, I know you think you can get it in. But I’m looking in here. You throw that first-pitch heater in here, and I’m gonna turn on it.” And I’d no sooner said it, he threw that heater inside, and I, I was looking for it, and boom! Turned on it, you know, yeah.
Ben: Yeah, I’m glad you did.
Davis: [Laughter]
Ben: In 1999, 2000, he was about as good as any other pitcher has ever been. It must have been something to face him.
Davis: Oh, he was one of the toughest pitchers I had, I had to face. Along with David Cone, and some other guys, Bret Saberhagen.
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