Albert Lee Martin (born November 24, 1967) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

. He played 12 seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

, mostly for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

. He also played one season in the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

Early life

Martin graduated from John A. Rowland High School in Rowland Heights, California, in 1985.

Professional career

Martin played for four teams in the majors: the Pittsburgh Pirates (1992–99), the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

(2000), the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

(2000–01), and the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one of two major league clubs based i ...

(2003). His best season was in 1996 when he hit .300 with 18

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s and 72

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. That year he also stole 38 bases. He played for the KBO's

LG Twins The LG Twins () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea. They are a member of the KBO League. The Twins play their home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which they share with their rivals, the Doosan Bears. ...

in 2004.

Controversies

Martin claimed to have played football at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. In 2001, he compared a collision with Seattle teammate

Carlos Guillén Carlos Alfonso Guillén (born September 30, 1975) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers. Guillén was signed by the Houston Astros as a non-draft a ...

to the time he tried to tackle

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

running back Leroy Hoard in 1986, when he was playing strong safety at

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. In actuality, USC and Michigan did not meet that year, and Martin was an outfielder in the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

' system at the time. Furthermore, USC has no record that Martin ever attended the university. Martin also apparently falsely claimed to have been selected for the 1994 Major League Baseball All-Star Game but to have been unable to play due to injury, an inaccuracy which was published in the 2003 Tampa Bay Devil Rays media guide. In 2000, Martin was involved in a domestic abuse incident with a woman named Shawn Haggerty. She told police that she was married to Martin, who was already married to another woman. Martin ultimately pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge. After signing with the

, he falsely told the ''

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' that he had been exonerated from the charges.

References

External links

Baseball-Almanac.com
– statistics page
Career statistics and player information
from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Al Major League Baseball left fielders Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Pittsburgh Pirates players Seattle Mariners players San Diego Padres players LG Twins players Gulf Coast Braves players Idaho Falls Braves players Sumter Braves players Burlington Braves players Durham Bulls players Greenville Braves players Richmond Braves players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Carolina Mudcats players KBO League outfielders American expatriate baseball players in South Korea African-American baseball players Baseball players from Los Angeles County, California Baseball players from West Covina, California 1967 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen Naranjeros de Hermosillo players

Early life

Professional career

Controversies

See also

References

External links