2012 MLB Hall of Fame: Voters Were Wrong to Snub Slugger Edgar Martinez

It wasn't just that former Seattle Mariners star Edgar Martinez didn't make the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. It's that he only received 36.5 percent of the votes, which was actually a slight uptick from last year.

Martinez was linked to performance-enhancing drugs back in 2007 by former teammate Shane Monahan, but he wasn't on the infamous Mitchell Report. There doesn't seem to be enough evidence to keep him out of the Hall of Fame based on Monahan's claims.

The big argument Martinez must deal with is that he was a DH for most of his career. Apparently, a lot of voters feel that not contributing on defense is enough to keep him out of the Hall of Fame.

Said Martinez, via the Seattle Times:

"

With my case, being a DH, there's still a lot of arguments about whether I deserve to be in or not. I don't know what to think because of the DH issue. If I played a lot of third base or first base in my career, I'd say I have a good hope of eventually getting in. But there's so much of an argument about DH I don't know what to think.

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But Martinez should not be condemned for being a DH. Why have a DH altogether if such players are going to be ignored?

Martinez had a .312 career batting average. He was a seven-time All-Star and he won the American League batting title twice, in 1992 and in 1995.

In 1992 and 1995, he batted .343 and .356 respectively. His 1995 season was especially impressive. He hit 29 home runs to go along with 113 RBI and 121 runs.

Beyond all of this, however, was the fact that Martinez was the heart and soul of the Mariners for most of his career. You can argue about the DH not providing enough overall to a team, but shouldn't you also be taking leadership into account?

How much did Martinez boost the Mariners with his leadership alone?

There's also the fact, as Martinez points out, that relievers and starting pitchers make the Hall of Fame, and they don't contribute on a daily basis.

Said Martinez, via the Times:

"

I think the DH contributes to the team in a big way, like relievers contribute to the team. The DH is in the lineup daily; a reliever or pitcher is not in the lineup every day. I understand the argument from some of the writers about the DH, but hopefully, eventually, people will get more comfortable with the idea that the DH is part of the team and deserves to be in. I guess that remains to be seen.'

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Martinez still has 12 years before he's ineligible to be put on the Hall of Fame ballot. But you wonder if his road to Cooperstown will only become more difficult with the list of big names set to be added in the next three years: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Craig Biggio.

That's not to mention Mike Piazza, Curt Schilling, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Gary Sheffield.

Sure, some of these names may be discredited after steroid allegations, but many of them—especially the starting pitchers—will not.

I think it would be a complete travesty for Martinez never to make it to Cooperstown. To me, despite putting up some big home run numbers, he was always more of a pure hitter than a slugger.

To watch this guy swing the bat was a beautiful thing for a baseball purist.

Honestly, the odds are against Martinez at this point, but we need to look at what he did in his career, rather than what he didn't do because he was a DH.

In my opinion, that argument isn't fair to the player Martinez was throughout his 18-year career.