Tino Martinez stepped down quietly as Marlins hitting coach over the weekend after accusations of his choking a player, among other incidents, emerged.
Too quiet as it turned out. The former Yankees first baseman decided he could not let his reputation be tarnished by quietly walking away from the game, so he told his side of the story in an interview with FOXSports.com.
"I started thinking about it, thinking I've got to say something, not just let it go away," Martinez, who won four World Series with the Yankees, told the website.
"I've had a great reputation in this game for years. I walked away from the game with integrity. But now, to have a couple of kids try to ruin my name, I felt I had to say something and fight back."
Martinez went through all of the situations that led to his verbal altercations with players. As The Post reported on Monday, it was mostly over Marlins hitters unwillingness to pick up baseballs in the batting cage. Martinez recalled it getting heated with Derek Dietrich, Chris Valaika, and Justin Ruggiano.
"One day I told Juan Pierre, 'One of these days, he's going to help us pick up the balls. He's a 27-year-old journeyman. You're a 15-year big leaguer. He will help us pick up the balls,' " Martinez said of the disagreement with Valaika.
"So finally after about a month or so goes by, I decide I'm going to tell him something: 'Hey, Chris, help us pick up the balls.' And he goes, 'Why should I? I didn't hit 'em.' And I said, 'Pick up the balls, you're part of this team.' And he goes, 'But I didn't hit 'em.' So, I got in his face and I said, 'Pick up the f------ balls. You're part of this f------ team.' I got in his face and said it kind of angrily. And he picked up the balls."
Martinez said he did feel like he stepped over the line when he questioned an injury to veteran infielder Casey Kotchman.
"That's probably the only one I regret — he's a good guy," Martinez said. "I questioned his injury [strained left hamstring]. I shouldn't have done that. I felt bad about doing that."
Martinez also said Marlins brass repeatedly had questioned him over the choking accusation made by Dietrich and that was one of the reasons why he left the team.
"I resigned because I felt the manager and general manager had lost trust in me somewhat," Martinez said. "They kept asking me, 'Did you grab [Dietrich] by the throat?' And I kept saying no. I felt like I was being isolated by some of the coaches, the manager and the general manager. I felt that they didn't want me around at that point."
jterranova@nypost.com
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