J. C. Martin

From The Met Wiki

Joseph Clifton "J. C." Martin was a catcher for the Mets in 1968 and 1969. He played in 144 regular season and 3 post-season games for the team. Martin had 92 hits in his two seasons in New York.

Martin became a Met on November 27, 1967, to complete and earlier trade with the Chicago White Sox. He batted .225 in 78 games in his first year with the team. J. C. had RBIs in six consecutive games played from May 18 to June 1, 1968. In a three-game series at Shea from August 16 to August 18, Martin had five hits (two homers) and drove in all three Met runs in the series as the team was swept by the Astros. On September 3, J. C. hit a two-run homer in the Mets' 4-3 win over the Braves in the first game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium.

J. C. played in 66 games in the Mets' championship season of 1969. He had 4 home runs and 21 RBIs for the year. On July 4, J. C. had a run-scoring single and a homer in the Mets' 9-2 win at Pittsburgh to give them a sweep of a doubleheader. He hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning to give the Mets a 4-3 win over the Reds at Shea on July 25. Martin also had two run-scoring singles in the Mets' 4-1 victory in the first game of a twinbill at Atlanta on August 8.

In Game 1 of the 1969 National League Championship Series, Martin got a bases-loaded single to drive in two runs in the Mets' 9-5 win over the Braves in Atlanta. In the World Series, he had a sacrifice bunt in the tenth inning of Game 4 on which he was hit on the wrist by an errant throw, allowing Rod Gaspar to score and give the Mets a 2-1 win over the Orioles. The Mets clinched the World Championship the following day.

On March 29, 1970, J. C. was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Randy Bobb. Martin played in 112 games for Chicago from 1970 to 1972 to end his 14-year playing career.