Edgar will enter Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame

Max Hanson's Queen Anne bedroom is a veritable sports museum, filled with autographed baseballs and framed shirts, and a shelf of bobbleheads.

But the 11-year-old's prized possession? A baseball shirt autographed by his new friend, Edgar Martinez.

The two met in 2005 through the Washington Wine Auction, Edgar the famous baseball player, Hanson the brain-cancer patient.

They met the first time at Safeco Field, tossing a baseball to each other for so long supporters joked that they practically had to haul them off the field.

Hanson admits he was nervous meeting Martinez for the first time. "He said 'hi,' and it made me comfortable," said Hanson, who loves baseball but admits soccer is his favorite sport.

Hanson and his family will be in the crowd tonight when Martinez is inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame in Boise, Idaho.

The Hall of Fame inducts world-class athletes who are role models in their community and have a strong record of humanitarian efforts.

Information

On the Web: Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame information and inductees can be found online at www.sportshumanitarian.com

Martinez is being honored, in part, for his work through Children's Hospital and Medical Center, where he met Hanson. A suite the two co-hosted at the wine auction fetched $20,000 for the Children's charity.

"It's a great honor to be recognized that way," said Martinez, 44, who took his final swing as a Mariner in 2004 and was recently inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame. "It has a special meaning when it recognizes a way of doing things outside the game."

"He's a natural," said Larry Maneely, president of the Humanitarian Hall of Fame. "Edgar is one of the great Mariners in history, and, we think, one of the good guys in recent sports history."

Martinez will be honored with Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo, an NBA All-Star, and Kyle Petty, veteran NASCAR driver.

Martinez said he met Hanson through the Children's Hospital Foundation. "He's a great kid with a great spirit," he said. "It's a neat deal that he'll be there [in Boise]. It makes everything more meaningful."

Gary McGill, with the Children's Hospital Foundation, said the hospital finds a patient who will be the face of children for the annual auction, which is marking its 20th anniversary this year.

"Edgar is one of the nicest people you could ever meet," he said. "He and [wife] Holli are very generous with their time."

Hanson said it took him two years to pronounce the name of his cancer, medulloblastoma. He was diagnosed in February 2004 after complaining of severe headaches and nausea. He went to Children's Hospital for a CAT scan, and didn't leave for six weeks. When malignant cells were found in his spinal fluid, he was put on an aggressive regimen of radiation and chemotherapy, said his mother Erin Cordry.

She said her son, whose first word was ball, had to relearn how to walk. "He was a super athlete and wasn't able to walk," she said. "Now you see him today. He got it all back."

Hanson's cancer has been in remission for three years, but it's too early to talk of a cure. Every three months he goes in for an MRI and spinal tap.

Does he worry he could die? Hanson shrugs and says, "I don't think about that stuff."

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com