DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Victor Martinez is the newest member of Toronto's player development staff, and the 16-year MLB veteran and five-time All-Star is also the reason Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro had a rough Halloween night in 2009.
The two go back nearly three decades. Shapiro was Cleveland’s director of Minor League operations in the mid-90s and was there in Venezuela the day Martinez signed his first pro contract. As Martinez grew into a star in Cleveland, he and Shapiro grew close while their sons, Victor Jose and Caden, became fast friends, often taking batting practice near the warning track at Progressive Field as they hit “home runs” into the bleachers off Martinez.
Then came 2009.
Cleveland was on its way to a 65-97 season, just two years removed from being one game away from the World Series. Martinez was producing, but at 30, he was approaching free agency on a small-market club that couldn’t spend like the league’s powerhouses. Cleveland had Carlos Santana coming up, too, as baseball’s hottest prospect behind the plate. When a deal hit the table to acquire Justin Masterson -- the young starter Cleveland coveted -- from the Red Sox, Shapiro pulled the trigger and traded Martinez to Boston.
It wasn’t easy, though. Shapiro’s son, Caden, was a V-Mart super fan. Even now, grown up and playing college ball at Princeton, Caden wears Martinez’s No. 41.
“It seemed like a very easy, very good baseball deal, and it was still an extremely painful trade,” Shapiro said recently. “And I did not have the courage to tell my son. Telling Vic was one of the more emotional moments of my career. He was bawling. He was one of those guys who ... it meant something to him to wear that uniform. I was there in Venezuela when we signed him. It meant something to him.”
It was only a matter of time, though, until this trade’s biggest critic found out.
“I never told Caden, and the next morning, of course he sees it on ESPN,” Shapiro remembers. “He comes downstairs and there were crocodile tears. He was 7 years old. I told him at the time, 'This is a great lesson. He will always be our friend. There will be guys that come and go on teams, but Victor Martinez will always be our friend and always be in our lives.'”
That’s rung true.
Martinez and the Shapiros have remained close, and while Martinez wanted to spend time with his family after retiring in 2018, Shapiro was his first call when he wanted back into the game. Martinez is roaming the field at camp now, working with Toronto’s young players, and he will visit Minor League affiliates throughout the season as his role evolves.
Martinez’s name alone commands respect in baseball circles, and through his first week in Blue Jays camp, you’ve seen everyone from bright-eyed prospects to established stars gravitate toward him. V-Mart wanted to be part of a winning organization, like the Blue Jays, but he also wanted to work alongside his old friend.
“He’s a true professional. He treats everybody the right way,” Martinez said. “For me, the least I could do is to do my job. He believed in me and I didn’t want to let him down, so I always worked really hard to do my job. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and the job he did. I just didn’t want to let him down. He’s a guy that’s always believed in me.”
This is why the trade to Boston in ’09 was so emotional for both men. Martinez had been with the organization his entire adult life, stretching 13 years.
Soon after, though, came a series against the Red Sox, Martinez’s new club. V-Mart texted Shapiro, asking him to send his son over to the Boston clubhouse. When Caden got to the Red Sox's side, Martinez gave him his spikes, took pictures of him with David Ortiz and signed a Red Sox jersey for him.
When Halloween rolled around, Caden had an easy costume. He wanted to be Victor Martinez. His mother bought him a Red Sox hat and soon enough, he was in full uniform, a 7-year-old kid swimming in a No. 41 Martinez jersey, but not a Cleveland one.
Shapiro and his son then set out for a night of trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. He breaks into an even wider grin remembering how the story ends.
“I’m walking him around Chagrin Falls, Ohio, in a full Red Sox uni,” Shapiro said. “We go to the first door and he knocks on the door, ‘Trick or treat!’ The woman goes, ‘Oh, that’s cute, who are you?’”
Caden had his opening.
“I’m Victor Martinez,” the young Shapiro said, before turning to point at his father. “And that’s the guy who traded him.”