Houston Astros Announce Creation of Houston Baseball Media Wall of Honor

Media pioneer Anita Martini honored as inaugural inductee

09/18/2007, HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros announced today the creation of the Houston Baseball Media Wall of Honor, a display on the broadcast level of the press box at Minute Maid Park. A committee consisting of selected local Houston baseball media and Astros front office staff will each season induct a current or former Houston media member who has made significant and lasting contributions to the landscape of Houston baseball through their work in journalism or broadcasting.

The inaugural inductee into the Houston Baseball Media Wall of Honor is the late Anita Martini, a pioneer in the sports media field. Martini, a native of Galveston, was a pioneer for women in sports journalism. Martini began her career with Houston radio station KTRH during the 1960s and became the nation's first woman sports anchor in the early 1970s, at Houston television station KPRC.

In 1974, she challenged Major League Baseball for the right to join her male colleagues in the clubhouse for post-game interviews with the players. Martini won her fight when she interviewed Jimmy Wynn in the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse after a game at the Houston Astrodome. By the 1980s, she was hosting one of the first call-in sports shows on Houston AM radio station KPRC. She died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 54.

Martini is also a November inductee of the Texas Baseball Hall of Fame.

Martini will also be honored in a pre-game ceremony this evening (Tuesday, Sept. 18) before the 7:05 p.m. Astros game against the Milwaukee Brewers. An induction plaque will be presented to Martini's sister, Cathy Arellano, and nephew, Chance Arellano, during the ceremony. Excerpts from an FSN Houston special commemorating Martini's career will be shown on the Astros scoreboard during pre-game as well.

Beginning with Martini this year, there will be an inductee to the Wall of Honor each season, nominated and selected by the Houston baseball media. In May of each year, a nominating committee will solicit nominations from all media members who receive season credentials from the Astros, and wish to submit a name for consideration. The nominating committee, consisting of selected members of the Houston-area media and Astros front office staff, will compile the nomination forms and create a final ballot of candidates for that year.

In June, the final ballot will be sent to Astros season-credentialed media, with the winner of the balloting (that year's inductee) announced in July.

Source: MLB

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