Pedro's gone? Shock, shrugs
From his perch by the deli counter in La Peraviana market in Roxbury, Wilson Sanchez announced the news report in Spanish to the half-dozen or so patrons milling about in the narrow aisles stocked with plantains, cheeses, and Dominican sodas.
Pedro Martinez, who helped make Dominican flag-waving as common at Fenway Park as hot dogs and sausages, was about to sign a four-year, $56 million deal to pitch for the New York Mets.
The report, which was confirmed last night, set off a range of emotions, illustrating that this could be more than the loss of a great pitcher.
It was the loss of a Latin American hero who helped make many from the region brim with pride and tune in to the hometown team.
All afternoon the news spread quickly from neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend in the barber shops, nail salons, and bodegas of Egleston Square, captivating black, white, and Latino baseball fans from many countries.
''It's a shame," said Miguel Salas, 58, a Roslindale resident who was discussing the report with Maria Martinez over the murmur of a soap opera in Spanish on a television in 4M Market on Washington Street.
Salas, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said he felt the reported signing would be a blow to the Hispanic community, for whom Martinez helped ignite special pride and interest in the Sox.
''He was one of the people who made the Boston Red Sox win the pennant, and that's unbelievable," Salas said. ''I don't feel good that they're letting him go right now after the pennant. It's like they don't care about him."
As for the sum Martinez reportedly accepted, Salas said, ''He's not getting greedy. Any good pitcher is going to do that. Boston doesn't want to pay."
On the street outside, Juan Gonzalez, a 76-year-old Roxbury resident hurrying along the sidewalk, said he felt that these days it is salaries, not team loyalty, that drive most decisions in Major League Baseball.
Gonzalez, a Red Sox cap placed neatly atop his head, smiled at the thought of Pedro as a wealthy Met. ''They're going to pay him millions and millions of dollars," Gonzalez said. ''And he's worth it."
But in La Peraviania market, Sanchez, 42, a Dominican immigrant, said the team could survive without Martinez.
''I'm upset, but you have to accept it as a Boston Red Sox fan," he said. ''I'm not going to stop being a fan of the Boston Red Sox. We have David Wells," the recently signed lefthander.
In Moreno's Unisex Salon -- a big, airy barber shop that converts after hours into Iglesia Jesucristo La Unica Esperanza, a Pentecostal church -- Robert, a Hyde Park resident who asked that his last name not be used, said he would not be not upset if Martinez leaves.
''It's all about the money for these people," he said. ''They play the game, but it's all about the money."
Jamaica Plain resident Hector Colon, 31, said he expected players such as Martinez to leave after helping the Sox win the World Series this year after an 86-year drought.
''After they become famous and win the World Series, you knew they were going to leave and get more money," he said as he chatted on Washington Street with friends.
The team's acquisition of Martinez in 1997 generated waves of excitement among the emerging Latino community in Boston.
The barber at Moreno's, Simon Romero, 65, said that as a Panamanian immigrant he felt some affinity for Martinez, 33, a righthander born in Manoguayabo, Dominican Republic.
''I feel bad, but these are personal decisions for him." Romero said. ''That's a lot of money. But if that's what they're going to give him, that's fine."
Perhaps the only Red Sox fan to celebrate the trade was Antonio Colon, 8, seated comfortably in Romero's chair.
''I feel kind of good," Colon said of Martinez's departure. A David Ortiz fan, Colon said that Martinez, despite his three Cy Young awards, simply ''wasn't that good" anymore.
Others even had harsh words for the ace, who only weeks ago sparked chants of ''Pedro, Pedro, Pedro" in bleachers and living rooms across the region.
''All along, I thought Pedro was kind of in it for himself," said Ursula Vaughn, 36, a North Attleborough resident working in Lawson's Barber Shop on Seaver Street in Roxbury. ''You have some guys who play with their hearts and some guys who are more in it for the money. I think Pedro was in it for the money. I never thought he had a lot to do with Boston." 