Victor Martinez, baseball player

Victor Martinez retired from Major League Baseball on Saturday. Martinez played 16 years in MLB – eight-plus with the Indians, one-plus with the Red Sox and the last seven with the Tigers.

Martinez was an All Star five times. He retired with a .295 lifetime batting average, 246 home runs and 1,178 runs batted in.

His last at bat, in the bottom of the first inning, Martinez hit a slow roller to the second baseman. He ran for all he was worth and beat the throw. An infield hit at 40 years old and his last at bat.

Some players have hit a home run in their last at bat and then trotted around the bases.

Martinez worked for his last hit. He ran it out, never slowing down until he was past first base.

Martinez looks like a baseball player. He wears his uniform socks high, the way a baseball player should. Martinez does not wear his uniform with the trouser cuffs below his ankles or below his shoes.

My daughter would like Martinez’s style of play. She says, “A player who wears his uniform the proper way, he plays baseball right. Those others, I want to tell them. ‘It’s a baseball uniform, not a track warmup suit.’”

She’s right. A player who wears his uniform right, he hustles. You won’t see those players lollygagging on an infield ground ball. Those players run out every ball.

Watch the Astros big three – Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer. Those players wear a proper uniform, and they hustle.

The Yankees big guy, Aaron Judge, wears his uniform properly. And he hustles.

Maybe high-socks players will set an example for the track warmup suit players. Maybe more players will play like Victor Martinez.