Ned Martin


Edwin "Ned" Martin III was an American sportscaster, known primarily as a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox from 1961 to 1992.

Broadcasting career

Martin, a graduate of Duke University, began his broadcasting career covering the minor league Charleston Senators for WCHS in West Virginia in 1956.

Boston Red Sox

Martin called Boston Red Sox games on both WHDH radio and WHDH-TV from 1961 to 1971, on WHDH radio only from 1972 to 1975, on WMEX/WITS from 1976 to 1978, on WSBK-TV from 1979 to 1987, and on New England Sports Network cable from 1985 to 1992. His broadcast partners over the years included Curt Gowdy, Art Gleeson, Mel Parnell, Ken Coleman, Johnny Pesky, John MacLean, Dave Martin, Jim Woods, Ken Harrelson, Bob Montgomery, and Jerry Remy.
During that time, he called the entire career of Hall-of-Famer Carl Yastrzemski, and was behind the microphone for some of baseball's most memorable moments, including the final win of the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season of 1967, Carlton Fisk's game-winning home run off the foul pole in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, Yastrzemski's 400th home run and 3000th base hit in 1979, and Roger Clemens' first 20-strikeout game on April 29, 1986. Martin was known for his erudition and literary references during broadcasts and for his signature exclamation, "Mercy!", after an exciting play.
Martin may hold the distinction of having seen more Red Sox games in person than any other person, having spent 32 entire seasons with the club's broadcast team calling games on TV and on the radio, which meant he saw more than 5,130 regular and postseason Red Sox games.
;Legacy
Martin was inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2000. On November 1, 2019, Martin was named as a finalist for the Ford C. Frick Award as part of 2020 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting.

Other assignments

Martin also was a football announcer, covering the American Football League's Boston Patriots in 1965, as well as college football games for Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth.
Nationally, Martin helped broadcast the 1975 World Series on NBC television, four American League playoffs on CBS Radio, and the 1977 Sun Bowl on CBS Radio.

Death

Ned Martin attended a memorial service for Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams at Boston's Fenway Park on July 22, 2002, and was returning to his home in Clarksville, Virginia, the following day when he was stricken with a massive coronary on a shuttle bus at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and died there.

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