Not really. He's a guy you really like or really hate to play for. He divided clubhouses and put guys in his dog house that really didn't need to be there. And how he wore out the A's young pitching staff is a cautionary tale for GM's and pitching coaches.
@@dangelo1369 Billy was such a complex person. On one hand, he was a brilliant tactician, a competitor and a winner. He turned perennial losers into winners. He also had preconceived notions about guys which weren't always true. And his drinking destroyed him and compromised his skills as a manager.
This is the Billy Martin I saw play 1000 percent on every ball when I was a 1950s kid in Kansas City and he was playing for the then Kansas City A's and New York Yankees. Don't ever let anyone tell you different. They obviously weren't there. I was. Thanks Billy for memories thank can't die.
I remember Billy Martin managing the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League in 1968 when I was a kid - I used to go to many games in Denver. Martin was a very popular manager. The Twins picked him up the year after and won the division (1969 was the first year that baseball had divisions). I was always hoping Martin would be Denver's first major league manager, but he was gone before the Rockies came to be. Denver should have had MLB long before cities like Seattle or Montreal.
I met Billy in March 1989 at the Yankee minor league complex in Tampa. He was scouting the minor leaguers. I was 21. Waited for him at the exit of the park. He was very gracious. Took two photo's with me and we engaged in some small talk. It was such a thrill to hear that voice in person. I blew up the picture to 2'x3' and it hangs in my house to this day along with his little inscription he gave me. In 1988 the Yanks were 40-28 when he was fired over the Lace bar incident.
billy was a great guy one night he came in on the all nighter west coast to chicago and was going to montreal for the allstar game his flt was aa outa ord he asked me if he could have the brealfest of champions while in flt 7am dept I got him vodka and bloody mary mix from a service kit that contained 50 minatures he was happy and thankfull pete a fellow pizon
mikeyohioo - Guys like Warren Spahn threw 20-30 complete games a season in 4- man rotations, and would throw relief between starts now and then - Warren did it after 40 years old (he won over 20 games 12 times). I have no idea why a 5-man rotation in Oakland threw their arms out because they completed a lot of games. Baseball overruses relievers today.
If Billy hadn't passed away in 1989, He would have likely managed the Yankees in 1990. Seeing Billy manage the Yankees in the 1990s would have been interesting.
Billy Martin's presence in the dugout meant one thing to his players; you'd better leave everything you've got; on the field. He knew what winning in New York meant and never gave less then 100% to make it happen. Our kids today have it soft and are cuddle at every level. Most take away the experience of a loss as another day at the park and rush back to the security of their Xbox; it's a dam shame; the American spirit needs to be taken back in the right direction....now.
I know that Martin by his own word was Forever A Yankee, but I remember him as the Tigers' manager when i first started following baseball in the early 70's. Good scrappy teams with an aged lineup, they got to the playoffs once against the then really tough Oakland A's Reggie, Rollie et al and lost that series. Those two teams had a rivalry and a lot of brawl during that time period, with Billy leading the cahrge out of the dugout! Ah, baseball just doesn't have the character it used to have.
Billy Martin was the real deal. Wore his heart on his sleeve. It is a travesty that Billy and Pete Rose are not in the Hall of Fame because they played and managed the game like their lives FN depended on it.
This. When somebody was so famous, such a dominant force and constant headline...how is he not a HOFer? You could not talk baseball between 1974 and 1988 without considering Billy Martin. It doesn't matter that he was a jerk, a boozer, brawler etc. He was famous, he was often a successful manager. I don't like how the BBWAA applies this values clause to everyone. By merit of his fame, he should be a Hall of Famer.
like Rex Ryan now, he was a great motivator in small doses. He brought the Twins, TIgers, Rangers, Yanks, and A's all to be winners real quick, but each time, he'd burn his bridges. great character of the game.
That's a very good point, but I think you have to appreciate the times. "Back then", there was less automation, which means u got more exercise at a younger age. U were in overall better shape,which would carry on through adulthood. The chumps today? Everything is automated, sliced, diced and handed to them on a remote-control platter.
He got A LOT out of that team. I remember someone once saying that in 1974 in the Lone Star state, Billy Martin was surpassed in popularity only by Tom Landry. He was at times a GREAT manager but he let his ego blind him to what was best for the team, & he wanted total control over the team. While it's true the front office should leave the manager alone, every manager has to answer to authority. Billy had an almost pathological hatred for authority. No manager has ever had TOTAL control.
@nymike06 He was guilty on both counts, but that's what made him interesting. He was one of the few managers who got into more bar fights than any of his players who were often half his age. But we loved him in Detroit and the fans there were pissed when he got fired.
@faffaflunkie All this namby-pamby crap we have today about not calling losers losers is what's making this country a joke on the world stage. There's nothing wrong with being a proud winner.
If he could modify his personality to the point where he would be careful not to wear out pitchers arms and not create division within the team, as far as not having a doghouse or a designated whipping boy for the purposes of keeping all the players in line, I think a Billy Martin would easily win the West this year with this Ranger team. As it is they are not far off and Ron Washington is a good manager.
I think their ownership situation was unsettled at the time and they were looking to shed payroll. He's still a good pitcher but he's definitely on the decline. Now the reliever they got for him, Chris Ray, had a good arm but is a thrower. He saved 33 games one year but he pitched last year after missing all of 2008 with Tommy John surgery. He hits the mid-90's with his fastball but it's straight. He has a good slider. He could be a good bullpen addition. No way can he be a starter.
The Dodgers eventually dealt Burke to the Oakland Athletics. There, Billy Martin called him faggot in front of his teammates. After he suffered a knee injury [7] before the season began, the A's sent him to the minors in Utah. The A's released him from his contract in 1979.[2] Hmm, I just lost any respect I could of had for him.. At least Thurman Munson wasn't known to be homophobic.
Just to be clear, my comment was more on Billy's side not against him and since you don't seem to have the intelligence to understand it, it did not surprise me that you will post such utter proof of ignorance in the use of the english language. Thank you for the very "kind" words.
before he died. His hair is different. also I read that when billys mother was 3 months pregnant with Billy, Billys father was found cheating so his father was kicked out of the house. Billy didnt have much use for authority figures since.
Reading all these quotes about how Billy was a great manager is kind of interesting. He was a good tactical manager but his people skills were sorely lacking. He created a lot of division in the clubhouse. He played favorites & liked to treat 3 or 4 players as bad as possible so the other players would stay in line. It's no shock he didn't last long wherever he was. Believe me, Joe Torre, for all the talk about him not being a great strategist, is preferable to Billy Martin any day of the week
