4 Essential Pedro Martinez Cards
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Looking back on recent baseball history, there are dozens of great players, but one in particular sticks out, primarily because he was so much fun to watch - Pedro Martinez. He was without a doubt one of the most dominant players of his generation without question, and has the stats to back it up - 3 Cy Young awards and over 3,000 strike outs and 200 wins over his career. For many fans, there was nothing more exciting than watching Martinez help his Boston team in 2004 to their first World Series win since 1918. Martinez is one of the pitchers that gets a lot of hobby love and many of his cards are still highly sought after and collected.
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BOWMAN 1992 PEDRO MARTINEZ
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While not his true rookie card (that honor belongs to the 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition card), the 1992 Bowman counts as probably his most popular card from early in his career. The Bowman set is still highly valued decades later because of the great rookie class, which included Martinez along with Manny Ramirez and Mike Piazza.
LEAF SIGNATURE AUTOGRAPH BRONZE 1996 PEDRO MARTINEZ
The 1996 Leaf Signature card was Martinez's first official autograph card and captures him during his time with the Montreal Expos. While some cards of other players are rumored to be short-printed, Martinez supposedly signed his entire allotment of 5,000 cards, which are broken up into various parallels. Collectors are always on the look-out for this one despite its plentiful print run.
UPPER DECK SP SIGNATURE AUTOGRAPH 1999 PEDRO MARTINEZ
Upper Deck's 1999 SP Signature autograph set was a big success due to its great design and roster of stars and legends who signed for the set. This was Martinez's first autograph card as a member of the Boston Red Sox and one of his most popular and collected autograph cards.
UPPER DECK FINAL EDITION 1991 PEDRO MARTINEZ
Coming full circle, a visit back to 1991 to where it all began for Pedro Martinez in the hobby - Upper Deck's Final Edition Product. This was Martinez's first licensed card, making it his true rookie. He was featured along with other rookies in the "Diamond Skills" subset. Quite a few of these were printed, so they're easy to find - collectors are drawn to this card mainly because of its true rookie status.
Brian Hough became a fan of the hobby by opening packs of 1986 Donruss and 1987 Topps baseball with his dad and little brother. He has been writing about the collectibles industry for years, initially as a price guide editor for Tuff Stuff Magazine, which was a monthly sports magazine focused on sports cards and collectibles, particularly known for its price guides and checklists, that initially launched in April 1984.