Pedro Martinez, HOFer

Pedro Martinez is the best pitcher I've ever had the pleasure to watch in person.  Now that he's officially enshrined in Cooperstown, it seemed like the perfect time to show off a small batch of new Pedro cards I recently received from reader Jeff S.

How's that for a new Pedro?  This is only my second game-used card of Martinez, and my first dual-relic card.  In addition to both a swatch of game-used jersey and a piece of game-used bat, this one is serial numbered to /100 copies.  One of the better Pedro Martinez cards in my entire Red Sox collection for sure!

Jeff didn't stop there though, as I found nine other Martinez cards among the giant stack of cards I received.  This one's from 2002 Upper Deck Authentics, and borrows the design from the original '89 Upper Deck set.

Just my second card period from 2001 Bowman.

Out of this lot, I think my favorite photograph would have to be this 2005 Upper Deck card.  Not your every day, run-of-the-mill shot, which I appreciate.

I'm liking the layout and color scheme of this 2001 Upper Deck Vintage All-Star Tributes insert.  A solid card and the colors go great with the Red Sox uniforms.  Even though this wasn't the intention, it's kind of cool that they're also the same colors as the flag of Pedro's native Dominican Republic.

Here's one from 2000 Fleer Tradition honoring Martinez for winning the 1999 AL Cy Young Award (his second time winning, he'd capture his third in 2000).  Pedro was a no-brainer for the award in '99 as he captured the triple crown of pitching for the AL, with the most wins, most strikeouts and top ERA in the league.

Congratulations to Pedro for a fantastic career, and for his enshrinement into the Hall of Fame this past weekend, and thank you Jeff for these killer cards!