This year marks the 25th season of Harrisburg Senators’ baseball returning to City Island. To commemorate the anniversary and honor all of the ballplayers that have played here for the last 25 years, I’ll be posting interviews throughout the season with members of each of those past teams.

Today, we continue the series with Chris Martin, a middle infielder for the Senators in 1991, 1992, and 1993. In his best season with Harrisburg (1993), Martin hit .294, scored 68 runs, and stole 16 bases. Martin ended his minor-league career following the 1999 season after playing 10 years and over 1100 games.

What are your fondest memories of playing here in Harrisburg?

Chris Martin: The best memories I have are from the 1993 season when we were Eastern League champs! We had a special group of guys on that club including myself (SS), Rondell White (OF), Reid Cornelius (P), Cliff Floyd (1B-OF), Heath Haynes (P) and many others. Jim Tracy was our manager that year and I believe we had the best record in all of baseball, we ended up something like 100-45.

Your first season playing here (1991) was also the first year the team was affiliated with the Expos. Was there any additional excitement within the organization on the new locale (instead of Jacksonville) or was it just another town in the minor leagues?

CM: There was definite excitement coming out of spring training. I remember how excited the town was; the fans in Harrisburg were great!

While in Harrisburg you played for two managers, Mike Quade and Jim Tracy, who are currently managing in the big leagues. Did they have similar approaches to teaching and coaching?

CM: They actually have different styles of coaching. “Q” (Mike Quade) definitely has a more intense personality and thus was more of hard nose manager. Trace (Jim Tracy) was more relaxed and that resonated through our clubhouse; I think that’s why we were so successful in ’93.

What have you been up to since your playing career ended?

CM: I still live in Los Angeles, CA (where I was born and raised). I am married (Amy) with three incredible children, Derek (15), Nathalie (11), and Will (8).

My wife and I are co-founders of the Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at UCLA. We hold annual fundraisers (this year’s was just on May 7th @ Sony Studios) to raise awareness and funds where all proceeds go directly to the CDMD @ UCLA. Here is a link to last year’s event in Los Angeles.

Thanks to Mr. Martin for taking the time out of his schedule to answer our questions and be a part of the rich tradition of Senators baseball.