Fan Favorite Returns

NEW YORK — Ever since Tino Martinez returned to New York, the cheers haven’t stopped.

Every move made by the beloved first baseman in his first week in pinstripes after three years away has been greeted with an ovation worthy of October.

From his first steps out of the dugout on opening day to the diving grab as a defensive replacement later that night to his first home run -- a fifth-inning solo shot Wednesday that required a curtain call -- Yankees fans can’t get enough of Martinez, an integral member of four World Series title teams in his six years in New York.

“Tino’s always been one of the fan favorites,” shortstop Derek Jeter said. “One thing about these fans is they don’t forget.”

And boy did he give them plenty of reasons to remember: a grand slam in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series against San Diego, a tying homer off Arizona’s Byung-Hyun Kim with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 4 in 2001, at least 25 home runs and 105 RBIs in five of his six seasons.

The Yankees called the 37-year-old with boyish good looks and an electric smile this offseason because of the uncertainty surrounding Jason Giambi after a 2004 season ruined by injury and a winter marred by the tumult of the steroid scandal.

Martinez relished the opportunity to rejoin his close friends Jeter and Jorge Posada and to finish his career in New York, where he hit 175 homers from 1996-01.

“They are not only friends of mine, Jorge and Jeter, and you can add Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera to that, but the hunger they have to win is intriguing,” he said. “That’s why I wanted to come back -- that hunger to win.”

Martinez said he is back with the Yankees “not to recapture the old days, but to recapture the old attitude.”

He moved into the same neighborhood in Manhattan and was given his old number, 24 -- without asking for it.

But gone is the prime locker a few steps from the players’ lounge; that belongs to Alex Rodriguez now. Martinez was assigned a stall usually reserved for a veteran role player (Tony Clark in 2003), and that suits him just fine.

Also gone is an everyday spot in the lineup, and he’s OK with that, too.

“I’m excited about it. It’ll keep me fresh and help Jason stay fresh,” Martinez said. “That’s exactly the situation I anticipated when I signed.”

The start of his first stint in New York wasn’t so easy. Acquired in a trade with Seattle after the 1995 season, Martinez had the unenviable task of succeeding Yankees captain and nine-time Gold Glove winner Don Mattingly.

“People sat on their hands for the longest time,” said Joe Torre, who took over as manager the same year Martinez arrived.

Slowly, fans began to appreciate Martinez’s solid defense and clutch hitting, and chants of “Tino! Tino!” eventually replaced the singsong serenade of “Donnie Baseball.”

“People liked the way he played the game -- the passion,” Torre added.

That was never more apparent than in June 2003, when as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals Martinez hit two homers in his return to Yankee Stadium and received several memorable ovations.

“It was almost embarrassing to get one as the opposing team,” Martinez said.

New York’s teams of the late 1990s were characterized by the gritty, win-at-all-cost devotion of Paul O’Neill, Scott Brosius, Jeter and Martinez.

But during the 2001 series, it became apparent Martinez was probably not going to be re-signed. Torre even did the seemingly unthinkable and benched him in Game 2.

After six seasons in New York, Martinez signed a three-year deal with the Cardinals to be Mark McGwire’s replacement.

Martinez struggled with St. Louis, hitting just 36 homers and driving in 144 runs -- his RBI total in 1997 -- in two seasons, and was traded to his hometown Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Torre was happy to be reunited with one of the players he relied on to lead in the clubhouse, and he knew that Martinez would make an immediate impact. Jeter, who lives near Martinez in Florida in the offseason, said “it’s almost like he never left.”

The Yankees haven’t won a World Series title since 2000, and often when asked what’s the difference between the championship clubs and those of the past few seasons, Jeter’s diplomatic stock answer is that this isn’t the same team. Having Martinez back makes it a little bit more like those championship teams.

“Tino’s intense,” Jeter said. “Those are the type of players we need.”