BOSTON - You'll never see another player wearing the No. 45 other than Pedro Martinez, and that's how it should be.
But is the No. 45 really that desirable to begin with?
It wasn't for Pedro Martinez. It was just the closest number he could get to his brother Ramon's, he said Tuesday after his number was retired at Fenway Park.
If you know Pedro, you know that his older brother Ramon was his idol growing up. He wanted to be just like him. That was so much the case that he even wanted his number to be as close to Ramon's as possible.
In 1992 with the Dodgers, Pedro's first year in the big leagues, Ramon wore No. 48, also with the Dodgers. Pedro wanted 47, but Tom Goodwin had it. No. 46 was taken by Kevin Gross. And No. 49 was taken by Tom Candiotti.
That left No. 45 as the closest number to his brother's No. 48, and that's how Martinez chose it. Pretty simple reasoning, actually.
Later on, Martinez would realize that Cardinals pitching legend Bob Gibson also wore No. 45 during his Hall of Fame career
"Now I'm extremely honored to carry the same number because if you look at our history, there's something linked between me and Bob Gibson," Martinez said. "Mad man on the mound . . . I was pretty much the same way and we were wearing the same number."