The REBEL In The Steroid Era 

Is Pedro Martinez the GREATEST pitcher of all time?

I was in the Boston Children’s Hospital waiting room during the ‘03 season. I was in and out of it but I realized just by voice alone, I was sitting next to Pedro Martinez! I was really shy but I really looked up to him and asked for a signature. He was really kind and signed the back of my “medical history” paper and told me to “hang in there.” As a 9-year old now 28, I’m still so grateful for such a small act of kindness!

Foolish Baseball’s deep dive on this really shows how strong these numbers are. His ERA+ is absolutely insane.

Funny when he 1st came to the big leagues he wasn’t even the best pitcher in the family..His brother Ramon”The stick man” Martinez was really good for the Dodgers for a while

What Pedro did during the steroid era was phenomenal. He owned the opposing teams. And did so in dominating fashion. His ERA from 97 to 2003. Wow.

1999-2000 Pedro was the best 2 year run of any pitcher ever

I got to meet Pedro at an Astros game. My dad went to school with Bobby Cuellar who was the Expos pitching coach. We went down to the visitors bullpen to talk with Bobby, and Pedro walked up and rattled something off in Spanish to Bobby. Bobby introduced us to Pedro, we shook hands, and Bobby said this guy will be a huge star with his stuff. Boy was he right.

5'10 and 170 pounds no steroids just pure talent.

Pedro had arguably the best season by a pitcher in MLB history in one of the most dominant offensive seasons in MLB history (2000)

He is the exclusive club of pitchers with more strikeouts than innings pitched for a career, Nolan ryan, sandy Koufax, and randy Johnson the others.

Dominican players blow my mind. Interviewer: You grew up hitting orange seeds with a GI Joe arm and the only pro baseball you ever saw was on a tv assembled from 8 other tvs with Coke bottles for a screen. It's quite remarkable. Dominican player: :smiles:: Yes

Wish I was old enough to watch all of those seasons. Cant imagine someone putting up peak Kershaw/Degrom numbers in the middle of the steroid era. Unreal.

He movement on his pitches are insane. His all star game performance was a event. Even for a inning or less.

The 62 home run record was actually broken 6 times. Sosa and Mark during the race, Sosa and mark again the following year, and bonds and Sosa during bonds 73 year. Everyone forgets Sosa broke it 3 times and never led the league in home runs. Insane stat in my opinion

Probably the best circle change up of all time. 15-20 mph slower than his 4 seam, came in hot and just dropped on the batter at the last second with so much movement.

Can we talk about the framing of Jason Varitek? ELITE!!!!!

You didnt mentioned Pedro pitched 10innings without allowing a hit nor a walk, he didnt got the perfect game due to the Expos didnt support Pedro not even scoring in the game

Fantastic presentation! He truly was one of a kind. The bummer in baseball at that time was you couldn't watch games outside of your local broadcast so much. Lots of us couldn't watch his freak of nature, God given Pedro show. One thing I've noticed nowadays because he's on pre/post-game shows is he's such a humble guy and really fun personality. When he pitched he was fiery.

My favorite pitcher of all time, legend vote for pedro

Tbh, I think what makes Pedro most special is where and when he did it. Dude pitched in a teeny AL stadium during the height of the steroid era. Insane!!!’

Those few slurves you saw pitched on this video, made me giggle with how good they were. Miss 90s to early 2000s baseball

Bro, as a Met's fan - the fact that HE and Tommy Glavine were BOTH WELL past their primes - and STILL pitched like a couple of modern day aces - is absolutely crazy. Had we had a bunch of young aces like 2015 - your videos would be speaking about a Mets WS championship in the 2000s.

Thisi s one of the coolest videos I've ever seen on youtube related to sport heroes. I remember when I was a kid I was obsessed with Pedro and I loved watching him play - little did I know he was doing it at the height of the steroid era. Your video made me cry bc I now understand why he was my hero as a kid more than any other baseball player at the time.

Pedro was an artist, Maddux was a professor, and Johnson was a freak (in the best of ways, of course.) What a time to be a fan!

I played baseball with some kids in the Dominican and it's no wonder they're so good. Looked exactly like the B-roll shown too. We used broom sticks and bottle caps in a little park space where these 7yo kids were crushing nearly full speed pitches. I was a decent year round baseball player growing up and still only hit about half as many pitches. They just had crazy good coordination and literally nothing else to do for fun except the games they'd make up. Even just making it to highschool league baseball is a huge accomplishment, it takes far more than just talent.

Easily the GOAT major league pitcher to wear the Jheri curl, Pedro rocked that like a boss!

my first Sox game was September 21, 1999. Pedro got his 300th strikeout and pitched a complete game. He also lost his aunt prior to the game and wrote "Tia Maria" on his hat. Four days before my 21st birthday. It was awesome.

I love to see how much bigger your channel has become! Keep up the quality and your numbers will surely rise!

Pedro was like a magician out there. Definitely one of the best to ever step on a mound.

I think Jerry Remy perfectly summed up how good Pedro is/was. He said Pedro could go up to you, tell you what pitch he was gonna throw, throw it, and you would still miss it. RIP RemDawg.

Pedro, Randy Johnson and Roy Holladay are my favorite pitchers of all time.

ken grefffery was also 3rd that year and had the HR lead until aug that should get more love seeing as Jr didnt cheat like the other two

A great tribute to Pedro! I love just watching him mow down the opposition with all the highlights on screen. It would be great, though, to have a graphic of the many statistics you rattle off verbally either overlaid off to the side of the highlights or just cut to a graphic where we can read the numbers along with your narration so that we don’t have to miss the strikeout action. It’s just very difficult for the average viewer to ingest and comprehend all of these audible numbers rattles off in rapid succession.

One thing regarding his 17 strikeout complete game against the Yankees - he only gave up one hit, a solo home run to Chili Davis, and walked none. He was one bad pitch away from a perfect game.

Wathing Pedro pitch are some of the happiest memories I have

all time rotation: 1. Martinez 2. Gibson 3. Feller 4. Ryan 5. Johnson (either one)

His delivery seemed to be SO flexible, and take so much advantage of a long motion to whip the ball up there. And he could repeat it!

Well deserved recognition for one of the greats

Feeling privileged to have seen Pedro pitch at Shea Stadium back in the day

I think Pedro probably understood that anything gained by steroids would actually have been a detriment to his pitching. He was so effective because of the movement on his pitches, achieved by the whip like action of his arm and wrist. Over-developing those muscles would have probably flattened out his fastball. You want an example of what I'm taking about, watch some of the few clips of Mark Fidrych in his rookie year. That lanky fella had just crazy movement on his pitches, even when they were down in the zone. That's a god given gift that steroids can only hinder, not help.

My favorite player all-time. He was so good and absolutely hilarious.

Wonderful clip. Wonderful narration and analysis. Aces all the way. Thank you.

When Pedro pitched, it was an event. Every fifth day you knew you would see something special.

Great Video! I always love seeing a new video pop up

Baseball is the king of sports in the Dominican Republic. It was an event when Pedro pitched, so much so there was a self-imposed national curfew. We didn't get to see Juan Marichal but we saw Pedro. Boca de chivo, my nickname for him alluring to his goatee mustache. We love him, he can eat for free any house in the DR

Super underrated in baseball history. He was a pitcher in an era known for offense and he was absolutely unbelievable.

Pedro needs to be a pitching coach come on cubs pay that man whatever he wants

Pedro’s trick were his humongous fingers and his heart. He is by far the best pitcher I have ever seen.

I just love your channel. It makes me happy.

1999 guy had an era just above 2 with over 300ks to 37 walks while winning 23 games. Then there's 97 where he torched baseball with a sub 2 era, 14 complete games, over 300ks. But I agree with most, 2000 was special his whip was .74 with a 1.74 era simply was near unhittable

Pedro had that “get the fuck outta here” look after a strikeout

Pedro was much watch tv during that period, just fantastic

Love these vids

Pedro was straight Beast Mode.

Greatest of all time. Won’t hear any other answer

The steroid rebel was Greg Maddux. Dudes fastball used to max out around 92, and most of his changeup strikeouts were around 75 mph. He was anti-strength. Martinez was just not big. He could still rear back and toss a 99 by you. And no, not saying Pedro was on roids, but he had the tools to fight power. Maddux did not. Yet still had insane numbers in that era as well.

amazing video, love Pedro

These are gold more Pedro Martinez and Manny Ramirez videos !

I think Pedro is probably the only dominant pitcher during the steroid era who would've had less success in the '80s facing teams like Cardinals, Dodgers, or the Mets, teams that manufactured runs. Imagine Pedro facing hitters like Mattingly, Gwynn, Boggs, Henderson during the '80s, it would have been a lot of fun.

Grew up in Boston and i got to see pedro in his prime. I even saw him pitch at Fenway a few times. I'll never forget that 99 all star game performance. In my eyes, that was Pedro (to the detriment of his own health) going 150% in an exhibition game just to watch those gigantic , juiced up, 60+ HR hitting goons whiff to a fastball thrown by a 5 foot 8 dude in front of the Fenway crowd. Still one of my favorite sports moments.

Pedro’s Change-Up… my goodness

Saw him in Montreal awesome stuff

Yep. That's a great video. Loaded with facts and arriving at fair conclusions from them. Great job.

In Canada saying so poor it was mangoes for dinner doesn’t have the same impact. That shits expensive.

¡ Qué clase 'e pitcher !

and you know what's funny and incredible at the same time, when they show the video of the area Pedro grew on , that's like 2019 or 2020's videos..... just IMAGINE that same videos but in the 70's and 80's....

No one ever, was like Pedro!

As a Dominican I can tell you that the doll head statement is fact, real baseballs were very rare, unless you were playing organized league.

I love Pedro one of my favorite athletes of all time not too mention he brought Brady to Boston as well as Big Papi!!

When u see a professional miss a fastball that bad u know he's in there head

I thought that little kids sign said “want more money ??? I’ll give you my allowance if you DONT SUCK!!” Which would of been by far the best sign ever

My favorite player ever. Such a little Beast!

I love Pedro!!!!

When you watch him pitch its incredible good luck lol him and Bob Gibson were in my eyes the greatest to play the game

one sign that pedro didnt take peds is that his velocity and endurance fell off quite fast after those two seasons

The goat, yes his career didn’t last as long as others but pedro put up historic numbers. Had all time great seasons arguably some of the best during the steroids era the most offensive hitter friendly era ever. This without a doubt puts him high on that list. He’s my goat

Love the new intro

The goat by far!!

There’s definitely something, I have a friend who played rookie ball for the padres and a lot of those guys he played with came in with their arms juiced from home.

I think he was probably the most dominant pitcher in mlb history in his prime.

And Ramon was a HELL of a pitcher before Pedro.

So, i heard "mom works a lot and dad couldnt even scrounge up a baseball"

It's not ironic that the 61 record was set in '61. It's coincidental.

Pedro is like a king in Boston

I'm a Yankees fan and one of Pedro's daddy's. I love my son. He's the greatest ever

Pedros games were an event, in Boston.

His fastball had vicious movement on it.

Let's talk about that it seems like no one in the AL did it for example Maris hit 61 homeruns in a season back like what was 50s or 60s as of 2 day that record still stands and also the Royals team record of only 35 homer in a season by 1 player was back in the 80s it was only broken like what after 2010s

I love your diligent research and love 💕 that Pedro never juiced. Truly worthy of praise.

3:40 I always question these types of poverty stories. A doll costs MORE than a baseball. It’s like when people say they got so bad and so broke in their drinking that they were drinking hair spray. Again, hair spray costs more than cheap liquor. Cheap wine will get you drunk as fuck and is cheap as all hell. It doesn’t make sense...

I believe Pedro wasn’t on PEDs, but in general an athlete being really skinny doesn’t automatically mean he isn’t on PEDs. Any athlete can for instance take testosterone and if they aren’t into lifting weights, their physical appearance won’t alter much but they will still get performance enhancement in pretty much any physical activity.

Big fan of Pedro . And also please give some credit for Ichiro Suzuki playing in steroid Era. By the way They are good friends.

"It wasnt everything as these guys were already talented major league players." Me watching the McGwire homer vs the Reds: Well the steroids accounted for something

He just showed that if there is a will there is a way. He went against the biggest hitters and sent them to the bench.

All Pedro's records were earned legally

'61 also so two player chasing Ruth's homerun record. Mickey Mantle was in the hunt as well before an injury took him out of contention.

Wow it need to be say and you just did it 🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿🙌🏿

Ol Pedro, the kid that played baseball with sticks and oranges and came from a shack In the Dominican republic got paid around 454,000 dollars a game while at the red Sox. If you ever heard of stupid money, that's stupid money.. imagine coming from that to this

Oh i found a new channel on this stuff i love.. is this better than baseball doesnt exist?

Best modern peak for a pitcher I can think of.