Whereas on January 2, 1963, Edgar Martínez was born in New York, New York and raised in Dorado, Puerto Rico; Whereas on December 19, 1982, Edgar Martínez was signed to a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners and began his career with Seattle’s minor league affiliate, the Bellingham Mariners, in Bellingham, Washington; Whereas on September 12, 1987, Edgar Martínez made his major league debut for the Seattle Mariners; Whereas on October 8, 1995, Edgar Martínez made the most memorable play in Seattle Mariners history with The Double ; Whereas on September 9, 2003, Edgar Martínez was inducted into the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame located in San Francisco, California; Whereas on March 5, 2005, the City of Seattle renamed the street along the south side of the Mariners ballpark, to Edgar Martínez Drive South; Whereas on June 2, 2007, Edgar Martínez was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame; Whereas on June 20, 2007, Edgar Martínez was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in Boise, Idaho for countless hours, funds, and efforts toward humanitarian causes, including— (1) the Martínez Fellowship for closing the achievement gap by improving teacher diversity and the retention of teachers of color in Washington State; (2) the Edgar Martínez Endowment for Muscular Dystrophy Research; and (3) the Martínez fundraiser for the New York City relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy; Whereas in 2013 the Seattle Mariners opened a Northwest-Mex restaurant in left field named Edgar’s Cantina in honor of his excellence; Whereas Edgar Martínez is widely considered the greatest designated hitter in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) history, and the American League Outstanding Designated Hitter Award was renamed the Edgar Martínez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award after he received it five times