He played in MLB for the Cubs, Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Atlanta Braves from 1986 to 2001.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Puerto Rican parents,[1] Martinez lived at East 93rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

[3] The Chicago Cubs selected Martinez in the January phase of the 1983 Major League Baseball draft.

[7] He began the 1984 season with Quad Cities,[8] and in 1985, he received a promotion to the Winston-Salem Spirits of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.

[11] The Cubs promoted Martinez to the major leagues for the first time on June 15, 1986,[12] and he served as an injury replacement for Bob Dernier.

[14] Martinez made the Cubs major league roster in 1987,[15] splitting time in center field with Dernier.

[24] After the 1991 season, the Expos traded Martinez with Willie Greene and Scott Ruskin to the Cincinnati Reds for Bill Risley and John Wetteland.

[35] After batting .260 in his first 29 games of the 2000 season, the Devil Rays, who needed to improve their pitching staff, traded Martinez to the Cubs for Mark Guthrie and cash.

Since 1901, the previous players to play for four MLB teams in a season were Frank Huelsman (1904), Willis Hudlin (1940), Paul Lehner (1951), Wes Covington (1961), Mike Kilkenny (1972), and Dave Kingman (1977).

[41] With Toronto, he filled in for the injured Raúl Mondesí as the Blue Jays contended for the American League wild card.

[43] He is one of the few players to play for both major league Canadian teams, the Toronto Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos.

[44] Martinez signed with the Atlanta Braves on a two-year contract covering the 2001 and 2002 seasons, valued at approximately $3 million.

He appeared in the MLB postseason for the only time in his career, as he played in the 2001 National League Division Series, as the Braves defeated the Houston Astros, and the 2001 National League Championship Series, where the Braves lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Martinez returned to the Braves in 2002, but missed the entire season after he injured his right knee during spring training.

[59] In 2016, Martinez was part of the Cubs' coaching staff that led the team to winning the 2016 World Series, breaking a 108-year long drought.

[63] Throughout his first season, Martinez made strategic lineup moves; placing Bryce Harper in the leadoff spot for the first time in over four years on May 1, 2018,[64] and allowing ace Max Scherzer to throw 121 pitches on May 19, 2018.

[67] The next night, Martinez and the Nationals captured the 2019 World Series championship by defeating the Houston Astros in Game 7.

[68] In 2020, he had his pitching staff issue intentional walks at a higher rate than any other major league manager.

[70] Martinez resides in Safety Harbor, Florida, a suburb of Tampa and is the father of four children[38][72] and two granddaughters.

[75] In September 2019, Dave Martinez underwent a cardiac catheterization after experiencing chest pains during a win over the Atlanta Braves.