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Former star pitcher Pedro Martinez has accused the owner of the New York Mets Fred Wilpon of forcing him to play injured in a meaningless game. The allegation comes in Martinez’s new book.
Titled simply “Pedro, ” the book was co-written with Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald and will become available for sale tomorrow.
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In it Martinez talks about a game in September 2005, his first season with the Mets. The former Cy Young winning pitcher and future Hall of Famer explains that the game was meaningless as the team was already out of the playoffs. He had an injured toe and, in Martinez’s version of events, Wilpon forced him to pitch anyway.
As the former Met, Philly, Dodger and of course Res Sox player says, Wilpon told him, “While I’m the boss here, you’re going to have to do what I say.”
Martinez maintains that pitching that day aggravated his injury and affected his ability to play the following season.
In response, the Mets released a statement saying, “Pedro was always a great competitor and deserving of being in the Hall of Fame. This particular excerpt in the book is false as those kinds of decisions have always been put in the hands of our baseball people.”
Martinez did tell the New York Times, “When you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to get hurt. I don’t have anybody to blame but probably myself for not listening to my body. I think I was brave to pitch games, but I think I took it to extremes that day.”
