Russell Martin (baseball)

It was the first time four home runs had been hit in a row since the 1964 Minnesota Twins.

Russell Nathan Coltrane Jeanson Martin Jr. (born February 15, 1983) is a Canadian former professional baseball catcher.

He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Toronto Blue Jays, and is a four-time MLB All-Star.

Martin was selected in the 35th round of the 2000 Major League Baseball draft by the Montreal Expos, but did not sign.

He then attended Chipola College for two years before being chosen in the 17th round of the 2002 Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Drafted as a third baseman, Martin played his first professional season with the Gulf Coast Dodgers, and hit .286 with 10 RBI in 41 games.

In the offseason, he was converted to a catcher.

Martin played the 2003 minor league season with the Ogden Raptors, and was later promoted to the Class-A South Georgia Waves.

In 77 combined games, he batted .276 with 9 home runs and 50 RBI.

Martin was a Florida State League All-Star catcher while with the Vero Beach Dodgers in 2004, playing 122 games and batting .250 with 15 home runs and 64 RBI.

During the offseason, Martin played with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League.

In 2005, he played in a career-high 129 games for the Double-A Jacksonville Suns and made the All-Star team, hitting .311 with 9 home runs and 61 RBI.

Martin became the everyday catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers immediately upon his MLB debut in 2006, and continued in that role for nearly five years.

Martin began the 2006 season with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, where he hit .297 in 23 games before his promotion.

Martin was promoted to the Dodgers on May 5, 2006, after a wrist injury to starting catcher Dioner Navarro.

He got two hits, including a double, in the game.

His first hit was against Chris Capuano.

On May 7, he hit his first major league home run against Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Dave Bush.

On June 6, 2006, Martin and Éric Gagné made baseball history by becoming the first French Canadian battery in the majors.

Martin's play was good enough that, on June 26, 2006, Navarro was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

On August 13, 2006, Martin hit his first career walk-off home run in a victory that completed a sweep of the rival San Francisco Giants.

On September 18, 2006, Martin hit a solo home run off of Trevor Hoffman, the third of four consecutive home runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the San Diego Padres.

In 2007, Martin won the Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award.

On April 21, 2007, Martin hit a walk-off grand slam against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Shawn Chacón in the bottom of the 10th inning.

This was the first grand slam of his career.

In May 2007, Martin broke the Dodgers' franchise record for single-season steals by a catcher (12) set by John Roseboro in 1962.

On July 1, it was announced that Martin finished in first place in All-Star Game voting, leading Paul Lo Duca by 296,948 votes.

He became the first ever Canadian born catcher to start the All-Star Game.

At the end of the 2007 season, he was awarded with the National League Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger Award.

On May 2, 2008, Martin started his first game at third base since reaching the Majors, allowing veteran backup Gary Bennett to spell Martin behind the plate.

Martin made his second all-star game during the 2008 season.

He caught 10 innings of a 15 inning game in which the American League won 4–3.

Martin's 10 innings caught are tied for fourth place all time among all star catchers in a single game.

His offensive and defensive performance earned wide accolades during his first three years, but they diminished significantly in 2009 and 2010.

On January 20, 2009, Martin signed a one-year, $3.9 million contract to avoid salary arbitration.

Martin spent the last two months of 2010 on the disabled list.

After the Dodgers declined to offer him arbitration in 2011, he signed with the Yankees and succeeded Jorge Posada as the Yankees' everyday catcher.

In November 2012, Martin signed a two-year free agent contract with the Pirates, and took over the team's everyday catcher duties.

Following the 2014 season, he signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the Blue Jays.

In January 2019, he was traded back to the Dodgers.