There are 26 names on the baseball Hall of Fame ballots that were mailed last week to voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, including one we’ve been waiting for five years to see.

Edgar Martinez, who retired in 2004 after an 18-year career with the Seattle Mariners, is eligible.

In my mind, Martinez is a Hall of Famer not only for what he produced as one of the great hitters in his era and at his position (yes, DH is a position, and that’s coming from me, a traditionalist who loves the National League without the DH), but also for the integrity he brought to the game. If the voting writers are going to keep Pete Rose and Mark McGwire out for integrity reasons, Edgar deserves an equal dose of extra credit as well.

Martinez won two American League batting titles and finished among the top 10 in batting average seven times, led the league in on-base percentage three times and was in the top 10 in on-base percentage 11 times. And every inning, every at-bat came with the same team, the Mariners.

For the longest time, my argument in support of Edgar was thrown in my face by those who believe he doesn’t measure up in... [More]