Martin receives standing 'O' at PNC Park

PITTSBURGH -- Russell Martin had to remind himself which door to enter when he walked into PNC Park on Friday afternoon. It had been nearly five years since his last game in Pittsburgh, and nine years since he last found his locker inside the visitors clubhouse.

The last time Martin took the field at PNC Park, a sold-out crowd of black-clad Pirates fans chanted, “RE-SIGN RUSS!” Martin helped change the culture in Pittsburgh after 20 years of losing, and his home run off Johnny Cueto in the 2013 National League Wild Card Game will forever be a part of franchise history.

The Pirates welcomed Martin back to PNC Park on Saturday night, after a one hour and 48-minute weather delay, by showing a brief video tribute on the scoreboard before his first at-bat against Joe Musgrove. The crowd offered a long ovation as Martin’s highlights played, and Martin tipped his helmet to acknowledge the cheering fans.

“It’s great. I love this city,” Martin said. “Only good memories, you know what I mean?”

Martin only spent two seasons with the Pirates, serving as their starting catcher from 2013-14. But they were full of fond memories, none more treasured than the night of Oct. 1, 2013, when Cueto dropped the ball and Martin blasted a home run.

“The big memories are definitely the big moments toward the end of the year when all the games were meaningful, and ’13 was probably the most special since it had been so long since the organization had a playoff game,” Martin said. “Then obviously hitting two home runs in that game was pretty special. That Cueto moment, I’ll never forget that.

“The second year, people having signs at the end of the year, like, ‘Sign Russ!’ and chanting for me, that was unbelievable, man. I remember being in the clubhouse and getting teared up, having a feeling like it was my last game with the guys that I went to battle with for two years straight. It was pretty tough when we lost that Wild Card game the second year.”

In the end, the Pirates didn’t re-sign Martin. He signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the Blue Jays, giving the Canadian catcher a lucrative opportunity to play close to home. The Pirates acquired Francisco Cervelli to fill the void and won 98 games in 2015, but they were indebted to Martin for his spirit and professionalism – not to mention his production behind the plate.

“He was one of the guys we got who I actually thought gave us some street cred. He had played for a winning organization. He was a fighter. He was a competitor. He had an edge,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “He rolled up his sleeves and got after it. He wanted to win at everything he did from the time he showed up in the clubhouse until the time he went home. Added a lot of value all over the place, and I’ve told him this a couple different times in a couple different uniforms he’s been in since then. I thanked him for his effort and his energy and everything he poured into everybody here.”

It’s worked out well enough since then for Martin. After four years in Toronto, the rebuilding Blue Jays dealt him to the Dodgers – his first team – and gave him another chance to return to the postseason.

“Toronto had a rebuild mentality going into this season, and I’m getting toward the end where all I really want to do is win a World Series. I’ve never won one,” Martin said. “The fact [is] that these guys have been to back-to-back World Series, so the expectations here and the team here is probably closer to a World Series than I could have been with the Blue Jays. …

"Not really often do you get a second chance to go back to an organization. I always felt like I had unfinished business in LA, and here I am now.”