Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez — known for his hotheaded temperament on the mound, including a regrettable incident where he threw then-Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground — now plays daddy to the vibrant flower and vegetable gardens at his three homes.
“I have three babies,” the 53-year-old retired Boston Red Sox ace cooed to The Post about the plush sanctuaries he maintains in Miami, Georgia and the Dominican Republic.
“I’m trying to keep them groomed and beautiful,” he continued. “It’s almost like you have a little girl, and you want her to look good all the time, so you’re always kind of fixing her hair, matching clothes and stuff like that. It’s my moment to relax, and I just go into my own space.”
This is the more delicate side of Martínez, who officially retired from the major leagues in 2011, trading the mound for a mic as a studio analyst for TNT Sports.
Gone are the bench-clearing brawls and the “Who’s your daddy?” taunts from Yankee fans.
Now it’s about the roses, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, spinach, the chickens he raises and the geese he feeds.
“Believe it or not, for 18 years in the big leagues, that would be my relaxing moment before every outing,” Martínez recalled.
“I had to go into my garden and clean my flowers, clip my roses,” he added. “That was my passion, and it still is. It’s a weird connection because if you watch me play baseball, you would never guess that I love gardening so much.”
The three-time Cy Young Award winner traces his gardening roots to his humble beginnings in the village of Manoguayabo, a suburb of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
His mother loved to garden and used the hobby to keep him out of trouble.
“[I’d] become this feisty guy that wanted to go after everybody,” Martínez remembered.
“So when I got mad, my mom started just taking me aside and saying, ‘Hey, here, hold the scissors for me. Clip this plant right here. Clip that one,’ ” he said.
Gardening became like yoga to him while he was pitching and now broadcasting.
The World Series winner was “caught by surprise” by how much he enjoys delivering hot takes instead of heaters — he just received a multi-year contract extension from TNT Sports.
His platform is a space to “relay my experiences” and “express myself.”
The man who scuffled with Zimmer in the 2003 ALCS — and lived to regret it — now reminds players not to be “too harsh” to others because “sometimes we don’t really know the human being inside the uniform.”
Martínez — who donned a Mets uniform from 2005-08 — used to have a lush garden of daffodils, petunias, dogwoods and crabapples at his six-bedroom Tudor revival in Greenwich, Conn.
He once imagined that it would be a winter vacation home in retirement, but he ditched that paradise when he kissed New York goodbye.
“I didn’t see myself going back to New York for too many reasons,” he admitted.
He reports that when he does come back, he receives a warm embrace from the city.
“I thought the fans in New York hated me, no, but it’s the total opposite,” he shared. “I found so much love in New York, but that was after I retired. Of course, if I was doing damage to the Yankees, they hated me.”
Never mind that he cheered when the Toronto Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees from the postseason with a 5-2 victory at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
He noted that Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is his godson.
Martínez played with Vladimir Guerrero Sr. on the Montreal Expos.
“Seeing the Yankees lose, it gives me a lot of joy,” Martínez said before quickly adding, “but I enjoy just being outside — nature, like the wild.”
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