Player #137: Michael F. "Mike" Martin was called "a born trainer" and worked from a young age learning athletic training. He was born in Sheepshead Bay, New York, on October 9, 1884. Orphaned at a young age, he began to work with bicycle racers, giving rubdowns. Martin ran away from home, at age 12, to live with Mike Murphy and learn athletic training from him. He would later work under Jim Robinson and take classes to improve his skills.
He worked for Columbia and, in 1904, yelled from the stands of a New York Highlander (Yankee) game that he could take care of any injuries the players sustained. Thus began a 43-year career in the major leagues, all under manager (and later owner) Clark Griffith. Martin would stay with Griffith with the Yankees through 1908 and follow him to Cincinnati in 1909 then on to the Washington Senators in 1912.
Martin will innovate many practices used by athletic trainers in baseball, including the use of ice to treat acute injuries. He will stay with the Senators as their athletic trainer until 1947, when he became a scout, a job he had done for the team on many previous occasions.
Martin was one of the first four people to receive a pension from Major League Baseball in March 1952 (Cubs athletic trainer Andy Lotshaw was another). Martin will die in a car accident on June 3, 1952.
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