ESPN’s senior baseball analyst Paul Hembekides, together with the historic outlet The Sporting News, has launched an ambitious undertaking that will span months and culminate in a tribute to the 140 most influential figures in baseball history.
At the heart of the project are 14 ‘rooms,’ each a curated collection of ten players who embody distinct archetypes of greatness, from dominant pitchers to trailblazing pioneers.
The Immortals Project
The inaugural room, dubbed ‘The Immortals,’ features ten legends whose careers reshaped the sport, among them Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, whose two‑year stretch in the late 1990s is still spoken of as the most dominant pitching performance of the steroid era.
Martinez’s feats read like a checklist of impossibility: he struck out ten batters in seven consecutive games not once but twice in 1999, and in 2000 he became the first qualified pitcher to record more than twice as many strikeouts as hits allowed, finishing the season with 284 strikeouts against just 128 hits.
Joining Martinez in this exclusive circle are names that have become synonymous with baseball lore — Cy Young, whose 511 career wins include 192 earned while wearing a Boston uniform; Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier and changed the game’s cultural landscape; Roberto Clemente, a humanitarian and Hall of Famer; and Ken Griffey Jr., whose graceful power swing captured a generation.
The selection also pays homage to other titans such as Cal Ripen Jr., Honus Wagner, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Satchel Paige, Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, each of whom left an indelible mark on the sport’s narrative.
What makes the Immortals project unique is its refusal to rank players against one another; instead, it groups them by thematic rooms that celebrate different facets of greatness, allowing fans to explore the sport’s evolution through varied lenses.
By weaving together statistics, cultural impact and personal stories, the series aims to give readers a fresh perspective on why these athletes deserve a place in baseball’s pantheon, and to inspire a new generation to appreciate the game’s rich tapestry.