Dámaso Marté

Dámaso Marté had good moments during his 11-year major league career, but two shone particularly brightly because they occurred on the big stage of the playoffs and World Series, and also because both were unexpected. The first was with the Chicago White Sox in 2005, as they won their first World Series in 88 years. The second came with the New York Yankees in 2009, when they won their only World Series in the twenty-first century.

Marté had established himself in a relief role with solid seasons for Chicago from 2002 to 2004, and he continued to be effective through much of the 2005 season. In late May, his earned-run average was 1.86.

But by the end of the regular season, his ERA stood at 3.77 and his WHIP at an unsightly 1.72.

In his last 14 appearances, Marté allowed nine hits, walked six, and gave up seven earned runs in 6⅔ innings. For the season, he walked 33 batters in 45⅓ innings, a bloated rate of 6.6 per 9 innings. His employers were not pleased.

Toward the end of the 2005 season, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén said, “Seeing what [stuff] he has and what he can do and seeing how much we lean to him to win, that makes you angry. I don’t like when Marte goes [out] there and doesn’t want to attack people. That’s all that bothers me.”1

Pitching coach Don Cooper added, “The way I’ve seen him approach things [lately] isn’t the way he or any of us would want. Just give us the same [bleeping] fastball and breaking balls you have for the first three years of your career and we’ll go from there. But the way he’s thrown the last two nights, we can’t … anticipate that he’s going to be our late (-game) lefty. He’s got to go out and earn things again.”2

Marté was sent home by Guillén for arriving late for a September game, and he also reported issues with a sore neck and a muscle strain in his upper back, though Guillén said, “[The team doctor] said Marté is fine. He’s 100 percent to go. It makes you wonder if the injury was mental or physical. If the injury was mental, it’s a shame because that kid has better stuff than a lot of people in this game. If Marte’s not ready to help this team, he can have a nice trip [home] to the Dominican Republic by himself.”3

Marté did not inspire confidence in his first playoff appearance, in Game Three of the Division Series against Boston on October 7, allowing all three hitters he faced to reach base. He didn’t pitch again until Game Three of the World Series against Houston on October 25, but he came through then.

In a game that went 14 innings – at the time tied with Game Two of the 1916 Series as the longest by innings in World Series history – Marté entered at the beginning of the 13th inning, the eighth of nine White Sox pitchers that night. Joe Buck, the play-by-play announcer on the Fox Sports telecast of the game, noted that Marté’s ERA in his previous nine games had been 12.27 and his opponents’ batting average was .421.

“Marté, who for a while was in the doghouse with the White Sox … has great stuff, but sometimes they wonder about the effort and the concentration. And here he is … if you can’t concentrate in a game like this …”4

But he pitched a hitless, scoreless 1⅔ innings that night to get credit for the win in the 7-5 White Sox victory. All of which was a departure from his performance in the season’s late stages.

“I’d had a good career with the White Sox, but all athletes have ups and downs,” Marté said in Spanish through a translator long after his career had finished. “At the time, I was very down, but the team needed me, so I kept at it. I gave it my all and had a great outing in Game Three of the Series.”5

Those comments could also have applied in 2009.

The Yankees had acquired Marté and Xavier Nady from Pittsburgh in July 2008 for José Tábata, Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Daniel McCutchen. He did not particularly stand out the rest of that season, though his statistics are somewhat misleading. He had a 5.40 ERA in 25 appearances, but eight of the 11 earned runs he allowed as a Yankee came in just three outings. The Yankees declined his $6 million option for 2009, paid him a $250,000 buyout, and then re-signed him to a three-year, $12 million contract.

The deal did not seem a good one at first, as Marté experienced shoulder inflammation after pitching two shutout innings for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic and began the season by giving up nine earned runs over 5⅓ innings in his first seven outings. Again, those figures were distorted because six of the earned runs came in a single appearance. Nonetheless, he wasn’t sharp, went on the disabled list in early May, and spent rehab time at the rookie league and Triple-A levels before returning to the Yankees in late August. From that point, he gave up five earned runs in eight innings the rest of the way, though four came in one game.

One report speculated that Marté got a spot on the postseason roster because of his success against left-handed hitters – a .120/.214/.280 slash line – and lefties Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel were in the middle of Minnesota’s lineup for the American League Division Series.6 In fact, for his career, he limited left-handed batters to a .195 batting average and .575 OPS over 898 plate appearances.

As in 2005, the playoffs did not begin auspiciously for Marté; he allowed hits to both batters he faced in Game Two of the ALDS against the Twins. But then he hit his stride. In his last seven playoff outings – three against the Los Angeles Angels in the ALCS and four in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies – he did not give up a hit, walk, or run, and was particularly effective against left-handed hitters as the Yankees won the title.

Philadelphia’s Matt Stairs said after Game Six that “[Marté has] surprised us a little bit. He’s pitching us really well. We’ve been able to get to [set-up relievers Phil] Hughes and [Joba] Chamberlain, but Marte has done the job for them.”7

“When we think about the 2009 World Series, we think of Hideki Matsui, who was [voted] the MVP,” then-Yankee manager Joe Girardi said. “But, to me, the MVP in that World Series was Damaso Marté.

“The Phillies [had] really good left-handed hitters [such as Ryan Howard and Chase Utley]. In the top of the eighth inning of Game One, the first two batters get on and I bring in Damaso and he strikes out Utley and I go, ‘Uh, oh!’ Then Game Three in Philly, he strikes out Howard [and] he strikes out Jayson Werth. … I’ve got a super weapon here. Then Game Six. There’s two on in the top of the seventh, [and he strikes out Utley].”

“Damaso Marte was the unsung hero of that World Series, and I’ll never forget it.”8

Marté later said that “it was tough to get used to that city – the fans, the journalists. Every time you pitched badly, you’d hear it from the fans. There was a time leading up to that World Series in which I lost confidence, but, thank God, I was able to come through when the team needed me.”

That was perhaps the highest point of his professional career, the road to which had begun on February 14, 1975, when Dámaso Savinon Marté was born in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic. He said his mother, Ramona Savinon, was 16 at the time, and that he didn’t know his father until later in life. She didn’t say anything to her parents when she discovered she was pregnant, instead leaving the city and not returning until after the birth. He was raised by one of his mother’s nieces, whom he calls his second mom.9

Marté began playing baseball at the age of 12, hanging around Estadio La Normal, the oldest ballpark in the Dominican Republic, where young players try to get noticed.

“My mom – the one who raised me – sold tea in the streets to make ends meet,” he said. “It was very tough growing up. We sometimes had no food and sometimes had to sleep in the streets. There were times I went to the field without shoes.”

Eventually, his efforts paid off. After going to tryouts with several major-league teams – Cleveland, Baltimore, Oakland, the Chicago White Sox – he was finally signed at 17 by Seattle Mariners scout Dintacora de los Santos on October 28, 1992.10 His first contract was for $2,500.11

Marté spent the next two seasons playing with Santo Domingo in the Dominican Summer League, a developmental set-up for very young players. In his second season, he was 7-0 with a 3.86 ERA in 17 games (13 starts). In 1995 he began in the U.S. minor leagues with the Mariners’ Low-A Everett (Washington) affiliate in 1995. There he was 2-2 with a 2.21 earned-run mark in 11 games (five starts) and held opposing batters to a .195 average.

Marté spent the 1996 season at Appleton, Wisconsin, in the Class-A Midwest League, making 26 starts and posting an 8-6 record with a 4.49 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. A year later, he advanced to High A with Lancaster in the California League, where he went 8-8 in 25 starts with a 4.13 ERA and was named pitcher of the week on August 16 after allowing just one earned run in two starts covering 16 innings. He moved to Double-A Orlando in 1998 and was 7-6 with a 5.27 earned-run mark in 22 games, 20 of them starts.

The next season, Marté began at Triple-A Tacoma and began relieving more. After starting 76 of 84 games in his first four minor-league seasons, he started just 11 of 31 in 1999.

“[The Mariners] wanted me to switch to relieving,” Marté said. “I was OK with it. I’d done that some in the minors and felt it was easier for me to be a reliever.”

Marté was called up by the Mariners and made his major-league debut on June 30, 1999, in a 14-5 loss to the Oakland Athletics. He pitched the eighth inning and gave up three runs on two hits. The first batter, John Jaha, greeted Marté with a solo home run. Then, after a walk to Jason Giambi, Ramón Hernández hit a two-run shot.

“I was very nervous, and it was an exciting moment,” Marté said of his debut, “but also a very tough moment because I gave up the runs.”

He made four other relief appearances for Seattle, the last against Arizona on July 20, when he pitched the final four innings and allowed 10 hits and all six runs in a 6-0 defeat. With an 0-1 mark and 9.35 ERA in 8⅔ innings, the Mariners returned Marté to Tacoma.

Marté’s 1999 Triple-A numbers included a 3-3 mark, a 5.13 ERA, and a high 1.62 WHIP. Much of the latter was due to his tendency to walk batters. He averaged 2.5 walks per nine innings at Everett, 4.7 at Wisconsin, 4.0 at Lancaster, 3.5 at Orlando, and 4.9 at Tacoma. In his brief stay with the Mariners, he walked six in 8⅔ innings.

Marté saw only brief action in 2000 because of a left elbow strain that kept him on the disabled list from April 7 until August 22. After returning to action, he got two starts with Seattle’s rookie-league team in Arizona and four relief appearances with Double-A New Haven (Connecticut). Overall, he was 0-0 with an 0.84 earned-run average and a 0.844 WHIP.

Marté was released by Seattle on October 16, 2000, and signed with the Yankees on November 18. “They released me after elbow surgery, and the only team interested was the Yankees. I signed a contract with a clause that [said] I would stay in the big leagues if I could make the team, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t do it and was sent to the minors.”12

Marté began the 2001 season with Norwich in the Double-A Eastern League, making 23 relief appearances and posting a 3-1 mark, a 3.50 ERA, and an excellent 1.00 WHIP before being traded to Pittsburgh on June 13, 2001. for infielder Enrique Wilson. Marté then made four relief appearances for the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Nashville before making his Pittsburgh debut on June 24 when he hurled three innings of one-hit ball against the Montreal Expos.

“This time, I was a little older and less nervous,” he said. “I was more confident about what I could do.”

Marté had 22 more outings that season, finishing with an 0-1 record and a 4.71 ERA. However, he was on the move again the following spring, this time to the White Sox with infielder Ruddy Yan in a trade for minor-league pitcher Matt Guerrier on March 27, 2002. Marté was said to have been fighting for the final bullpen spot on the Pirates roster and was out of minor-league options, so the trade gave him a new lease on his baseball life.13 It also set him up for the most successful period of his MLB career.

“I was happy with the trade,” Marté said. “I was already in the major leagues, but the White Sox really opened a door for me, and I took advantage of it.”

He pitched in 68 games in 2002, finishing with a 1-1 mark, a 2.83 ERA, 10 saves, and the best WHIP of his career, 1.028. His walk rate, 2.7 per 9 innings, was also the lowest of his career and was the only time in his 11 major-league seasons that his walk rate was lower than 3.0/9. He got his first major-league victory and save vs. Cleveland on April 16 and July 6, respectively. He held left-handed hitters to a .149 average, the lowest mark in the American League.

The next season was even better in some ways when Marté set career highs in saves (11), innings pitched 79⅔), and strikeouts (87). He was 4-2 with a 1.58 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. He was again effective in 2004, with a 6-5 won-lost record, a 3.42 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and six saves, although his walk rate climbed to 4.2 per 9 innings and he had a 6.30 ERA over his final 12 games. He had a 2.45 ERA before the All-Star break and a 4.59 mark afterward.

Then came the up-and-down 2005 campaign, the first of a three-year contract. Though it finished on a high note for Marté and the White Sox, he was traded back to Pittsburgh on November 8 for outfielder Rob Mackowiak. In early 2006 he pitched for the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic, making three relief appearances.

Marté’s first season back with the Pirates was spotty. He was limited to one game in spring training while battling left-shoulder irritation and a stiff neck.14 Establishing a career high in appearances (75), he was 1-7 with a 3.70 earned-run mark and held left-handed hitters to a .225 average, but he continued his trend of pairing good strikeout rates (9.7/9) with high walk rates (4.8/9).

Nonetheless, Marté, then 31, got a two-year contract for $4.7 million in November that extended through the 2008 season.

“We think Marte is a valuable guy in our bullpen,” Pirates general manager Dave Littlefield said. “It is another asset to give [Pirates manager] Jim Tracy from the left side a little earlier in the game. He has had some very good years in the past,” Littlefield said. “We think he’ll do a good job for us and continue to give us strong depth in the bullpen.”15

And he did in 2007, posting a 2.38 ERA, a 1.10 WHIP, and improved strikeout and walk rates. He held left-handed batters to a minuscule .094 average. A year later, he was 4-0 with a 3.47 ERA through 47 outings before the July 2008 trade to the Yankees.

“It was hard to give up the players we did. I like those players,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “[But] the players we got back – Marte and Nady – both will hopefully contribute to the 2008 season, and we have them for ’09.”

“I think it’s a very good move for us,” manager Joe Girardi added. “Xavier is having a very good year. … And then we get Marté, who has been very good against left-handed hitters – and right-handers, too.”16

But Marté was inconsistent the rest of that season and then was limited by the shoulder issues during the 2009 regular season. When he went on the disabled list on May 3, his ERA was 15.19 and opponents were batting .360 against him.17 He did not pitch again until August 21, after which he remained inconsistent.

But Marté then had his resurgence in the 2009 World Series, and in the wake of that, his outlook for 2010 was hopeful. With Phil Coke having been traded to Detroit, Marté was envisioned as a set-up reliever and perhaps the Yankees’ designated left-handed-one-out-guy – that, of course, before the current rule requiring that a reliever face at least three batters.

One report predicted that “[n]o matter how the bullpen shapes up, Damaso Marté will be a part of it. Given the team’s other options for the remaining five spots, he also figures to be the only lefty in the pen. … He’s not a guy you bring into a game with three righties due up, but he can certainly handle the righty residing between two lefties.”18

But it didn’t work out as had been hoped. Marté continued to have issues with his shoulder and delivered mixed results. He made 30 appearances, posting a 4.08 ERA. Though he allowed only 10 hits in 17⅔ innings and held opponents to a .161 batting average, he walked 11 batters. His final outing was a clean inning against Oakland on July 7. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 17 with left-shoulder inflammation and then was transferred to the 60-day list on September 1, missing the remainder of the season.

Marté had surgery for a torn labrum on October 22, 2010. The surgery was performed in Cincinnati by the Reds medical director, Dr. Timothy Kremchek. Marté, 35 at the time, said he had been told that he should be able to begin a throwing program after the 2011 All-Star break.19

At the time, Marté said, “I thought maybe I wouldn’t throw anymore. It was a lot of pain. Right now I feel comfortable because my doctor, he gave me a good idea with my arm and he told me it’s getting better.”20

However, he made just one rehab appearance, for the Yankees’ entry in the Gulf Coast League on August 25, and gave up six hits and six earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. On October 19, 2011, the Yankees declined their $4 million option for the 2012 season and paid Marté a $250,000 buyout, making him a free agent, after which he went unsigned. He was 2-6 with no saves and a 6.02 ERA in 76 games as a Yankee.21

Marté said he wanted to keep playing, but his shoulder and back issues prevented it.22 He did not get any offers and retired with a career record of 23-27, a 3.48 earned-run average, a 1.26 WHIP, 36 saves, and strikeout and walk rates of 9.5/9 and 4.1/9, respectively.

After leaving the game, Marté was able to spend more time with his family. He and his wife, Flerida Marilori Marté, have three children, Angelica, Anyelina, and Dámaso Israel. At the time of the July 2024 interview, Dámaso Israel was just 12, but a second baseman with “good potential,” according to his father. He also had two children with his first wife, Rosa Dianelis – Anyelis and Dámaso Jr.23

Dámaso Jr., at age 16 signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in July 2015 for $300,000. A shortstop, he was assigned to the Dodgers team in the Arizona rookie league in June 2016. The Dodgers released him in February 2017.

In addition, the elder Marté also established a foundation called “Fundamas,” the goal of which is to support children in various ways – food, money, school supplies, and more. The foundation also includes a church, of which Marté is the “shepherd,” or minister. “We’ve helped several hundred kids over the years, and it’s been great to be able to do that,” he said.

Of his family, his “second mom” died about a year after he signed his first professional contract, but he said he stayed in contact with his father, Francisco, and biological mother, Ramona.

“My mother and I get along well,” he said. “I didn’t have any contact with my father while I was growing up, but I was always interested in knowing him, so I talked with my mom and she put me in touch. We get along well, and he even comes to our church.”

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com, and a number of other sources.

Francisco Castillo served as translator for the July 2024 telephone interview.

Notes

1 “White Sox Expecting More Fire from Marte,” Chicago Tribune, September 9, 2005: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/09/09/white-sox-expecting-more-fire-from-marte/.

2 “White Sox Expecting More Fire from Marte.”

3 Associated Press, “White Sox Manager Guillen Questions Injury,” ESPN.com, September 14, 2005: https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2162055.

4 For a video of the entire game, see “2005 World Series Game 3 White Sox @ Astros,” on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYwcwtzdkk’.

5 Author interview with Damaso Marté, July 8, 2024. Unless otherwise attributed, all direct quotations from the player come from this interview.

6 Mike [no last name provided], “The Rise of Damaso Marté,” November 2, 2009: http://riveraveblues.com/2009/11/the-rise-of-damaso-marte-19360/.

7 Mira Wassef, “World Series: Marte Is Right Medicine for Sickly Bullpen,” Middletown (New York) Times Herald- Record, November 5, 2009: https://www.recordonline.com/story/sports/mlb/2009/11/05/world-series-marte-is-right/51811212007/.

8 “Joe Girardi Looks Back on His Secret Weapon in the 2009 World Series,” October 6, 2019. https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1184636141536010240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1184636141536010240%7Ctwgr%5E775852e39b5662c0343bd5aa94be1f9818c9728e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fyanksgoyard.com%2F2020%2F04%2F30%2Fnew-york-yankees-ten-unsung-heroes-2000s%2F. Accessed July 10, 2024.

9 Marté telephone interview.

10 https://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/trades.php?p=marteda01.

11 Marté telephone interview.

12 Telephone call with Damaso Marté, September 23, 2024.

13 Paul Sullivan, “Deal Brings Lefty Reliever,” Chicago Tribune, March 28, 2002: https://web.archive.org/web/20140728103354/http:/articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-03-28/sports/0203280271_1_sox-bullpen-jerry-manuel-damaso-marte.

14 https://www.mlb.com/player/damaso-marte-150122.

15 “Reliever Damaso Marte Stays Put with Pirates,” CBC Sports, November 27, 2006: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/reliever-damaso-marte-stays-put-with-pirates-1.629772.

16 Associated Press, “Yankees Add Nady, Marte in Trade with Pirates,” ESPN.com, July 25, 2008: https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=3505686.

17 Anthony McCarron, “Yankees Place Struggling Reliever Damaso Marte on Disabled List,” New York Daily News, May 3, 2009: https://www.nydailynews.com/2009/05/03/yankees-place-struggling-reliever-damaso-marte-on-disabled-list/.

18 Joe Pawlikoski, “Damaso Marte: Setup Man or LOOGY,” riveraveblues.com, February 22, 2010: https://riveraveblues.com/2010/02/damaso-marte-setup-man-or-loogy-24222/.

19 “Yankees Reliever Damaso Marte Has Shoulder Surgery,” foxsports.com, October 24, 2010: https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/yankees-reliever-damaso-marte-has-shoulder-surgery.

20 Connor Orr, “Yankees’ Damaso Marte Expected to Start Throwing after 2011 All-Star Break,” nj.com, October 24, 2010: https://www.nj.com/yankees/2010/10/damaso_marte_expected_to_start.html.

21 “Yankees Decline Damaso Marte’s $4M Option,” cbsnews.com, October 19, 2011: https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/yankees-decline-damaso-martes-4m-option/.

22 Marte telephone interview.

23 Marte telephone interview.