Pedro Martínez, the three-time Cy Young Award winner from the Dominican Republic, is considered by many baseball aficionados and authorities alike to be the greatest Latin American pitcher of all time.

The 43-year-old ex-player was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, and, judging by his recent comments regarding his sense of place in history, he will not be taking his honor lightly. "If you ask how I want to be remembered, don’t remember me by the numbers I posted," Martínez said, as reported in USA Today, "Don’t remember me as being part of an elite class. I want to be remembered as a sign of hope for society, so people understand that they have a way out. All they have to do is go work and dedicate themselves and actually try to find the exit that’s out there.”

"I want to represent that, for people to find a better life. It’s a commitment to Latin America. I’m going to be able to showcase how we are and how our people feel," he said.

Those numbers Martínez would like us to eschew are impressive. Martínez, who played from 1992 to 2009, was an eight-time All-Star with a 219-100 record. The man who in a few days will have his number (45) retired, had 3,154 strikeouts in 2827.1 innings. 

Enrique Rojas, writing for ESPN, feels that Martínez is in little danger of being superseded as the greatest Latino pitcher anytime soon. “In terms of performance and age, right-handed Venezuelan Félix Hernández is the likeliest candidate to dethrone Martinez in the future,” writes Rojas, “But for now, Martínez is the greatest Latin American pitcher of all time."

Recently sports radio host Colin Cowherd was dropped from ESPN for some offensive remarks he made about Dominican baseball players in the major leagues. When asked about what the disgraced radio personality had said, Martínez declined to offer any rebuttal, saying, "He needs to get to my level to answer him. I’m in the Hall of Fame."