Billy Martin was a damn good ball player in his Yankee Years, he liked to raise a little hell but the man wanted to win and he pulled off some pretty good plays when crunch time arrive. When he was traded to Kansas City in '57 I was one pissed off cookie. When Steinbrenner took over the Yankees he got Gabe Paul who did a hell of a job building that team that would win 5 Division Championships, three pennants and two World Series. When Martin took over that club they paled ball and became winners. The "Boss" made the mistake of letting Paul go and messing with Martin . As far as I'm concerned sympathy from Steinbrenner on Martins death may have influenced #1 but as far as I'm concerned Martin earned it. I always was a fan of Billy got the opportunity to chat with him a bit at Tinker Field prior to a ST game with Minnesota. In my Book Billy rules.
...Martin was a mediocre player hitting in a stacked line up on great Yankee teams. When compared to other SS of his era, his career OPS+ was a meager 81. ...as far as "Tinker Field"...do you mean the one in Orlando?
Michael I never saw Martin play but I'm told he was a tough scrappy player but IMO being a career 260 hitter over parts of 7 seasons does not warrant retiring your #. I've no doubt his # on the wall is for more as a manager than a player.
Martin was a scrapper no doubt, and as I stated the man wanted to win, and yes Tinker Field was Orlando. I knew a TV Cable Contractor who was a huge Stros and Baseball Fan, the man had some clout with the Spring Training games I attended twixt '88 and 2K we got premium seats apart from the ham and eggers. At Tinker Field in '88 we attended a game with the Yankees playing the Twins. Martin was making his way signing autographs. I got a score card and headed down there. As Martin signed the card I let him know I enjoyed his book #1 and we got into a brief conversation that was interrupted by a suit. I wished him luck and went to my seat. Steinbrenner was sitting two rows ahead and a few seats to my left. One of the cool things that day was seeing Lefty Carlton on his trout with the Twins and he pitched well that day. In conjunction when Jack Clark struck out some fans yelled out "Hey Clark still can't hit AL pitching..
...always loved Billy and his passion for winning, especially as a manager, but I think if he had played for anyone other than the Yanx, we probably would have never heard his name. ...I met him once in Florida years ago, along with The Mick, Yogi, Whitey, Charlie Keller, and Gene Michael....got all of their autographs on the back of a paper placemat at a restaurant...didn't get Billy's though because he got up from the table to go to the men's room...and I damn sure wasn't gonna follow him in there, not with his reputation for punching people out...lol. ...as far as "Tinker Field", I went there back in the 60's as a Little Leaguer (they took the whole team)...we saw the Orlando Twins (Minnesota's farm team back then) play somebody...it was a big deal for us because none of us had ever been to a big league park.
One thing that surprised me about Martin was his size, back then I was 5'11 and 140, I'd have swore he was a bit smaller than I, ditto Guidry who standing close by as Billy made the rounds. I still crack up when I hear Reggie sniveling about that game removal in '77.
...I remember watching that Saturday game live...like I said before, I was never a Reggie fan (well, except for that 3 HR night in the '77 Series)...but when Billy pulled Reggie and got in his face it made me a fan of Billy.
wait a gosh darn minute, you told me many times, you threw HR or Batting Practice, to Ruth and Gehrig, Joe too, but you never saw Billy play, hmmmmm.......
Martin had some sack, I was stationed in Germany when that Billy Reggie incident occurred but the replays made Armed Forces Europe sports highlights. I go back in time to see the last 5 weeks of the season.
Are you sure that was your 1st life, and not your 10th? wait a 2nd minute, I recall too well, how we both met while building those Pryamids...? Don't forget I taught Joe DiMaggio how to hit, when he played for the Frisco Seals.....! Hell, I taught him everything he knew or so he told me as much. (including how to become a public speaker for Mr. Coffee)....LOL...! On a more serious note, tho' none of us were fortunate to see DiMaggio play, but I was more UBER THRILLED, in 68, during an A's-O's doubleheader, to see Joe D in person in his beautiful gold/kelly green Uni's, when he was their Bench Coach. Hell that made the day as much for me, as seeing Reggie hit a HR in both double header games, and/or watching Catfish Pitch vs. Palmer, and Vida Blue pitch vs Dave McNally. Catfish narrowly lost the 1st, but Blue blew away those great O's teams of that time. Both of course were great teams to come, and it showed, both would go on to play in 3 consecutive Series, within the next year. (and yes Boog Powell was bigger than he ever looked on TV). Not til Don Baylor or Dave Winfield would I see as big a player. Of course Winfield was smaller than the other two... And honestly, If I owned the A's, I'd bring back those gold vests, kelly green long sleeve undershirts, Kelly Green Hats, and Stirrups. Tho' I've only heard others speak how 'gawdy those looked', I'd bring 'em back in a heart beat, along with those WHITE shoes.....
...^^^ Matts, I remember opening packs of baseball cards when I was a kid. You know, the ones that also had that awful gum that we chewed anyway and the smell stay with the cards for years? ...I'd always open one hoping to find a Mantle card which seldom happened...I'd usually end up with a Bob Skinner or Dick Groat or Minnie Minoso or Gus Triandos...those usually were fastened to my bicycle spokes with clothes pins. ...but it seemed that many of the players that were on the Kansas City A's one year, ended on the Yankees the next year.
Exactly. Its as if the front office knows its gonna be agod awful year and needs 3 ceremonies to jack up the audience.
I got lucky several years with those Wax Packs, and the stale gum that came with them. Shit that gum could of been 10 years old. But like you said, we still chewed it, while it lefts its stale aroma on the cards in those packs. Several key players I found with Wax or Bubble Gum stains on them, over decades. My luckiest finds, seemed to come in 66 and 68; when I found both a Koufax and Mantle in 66. In 68; I found 2 each Mantle's with two each W. Mays also, and a shitload of other stars and future HOF'rs, by far the best years for my card collection. The rookie Carew card, along with Killebrew and Olivas also floated my boat. I believe the last 3 were either 67's or 69's. BTW- you may not believe this, but in 68, I indeed had two each Koosman/Ryan Future Star Rookies, which I rode my bicycle clean acrosss Shreveport to trade for my 3rd Mantle and Mays, 1968. Yep, at that time Koosman was coming up, while Ryan was rarely being used, who would of thought decades later, what a blunder I made, LMFAO.....! My first lucky find was the 63's; with The Mick, and Whitey Ford, as well as Koufax and Drysdale. Shit that made my entire year of collecting alone. My most coveted card, bought for me by Grandpa when I was still a young kid, was a 57 Wax Pack, which Grandpa didn't even give to me until 1960, honestly I think he felt guilty about tossing away all of those early Tobacco Cards. I often asked him why he did as much, while he pumped me full of stories of Babe, Lou and Joe D. The only tobacco card which somehow evaded the trash can, was a 33 Red Rolfe. When I opened the 57 Pack, 2nd card was a Mantle All Star....I about shit my pants. I can recall a couple of occasions, when I was putting cards in my bike spokes, and Mom, always a seer for the future, (who kept all of my cards in a Cedar Box, when I left the house at 17, moved out on my own, and she packed all those cards away I almost forgot about, until I settled down got married), then she pulled the big surprise on me, giving all those cards back to me, which I thought were long gone. I went back to collecting in 82, going balls out collecting, until my sons grew of age, to build there collections too. The very luckiest find I ran into, was when I moved back here in 01, and a old buddy of mine was desperate to make some money for Xmas. He offered his entire collection of nothing but 50s, 60s, and a few other 70s rookies like Brett, Yount, Molitor, Ozzie Smith, and too many others to list then some 89's of the newer premium sets, ie, Upper Deck, Stadium Club, Fleer Flair, and Donruss leaf sets. He wanted 5 grand, and I told him I couldn't consider nothing less than half of that. When he came down to $2,500, I balked, and Kim made him an offer at $1,250, as desperate as he was, he took it, and I wound up with Rookie Cards, of Clemente, Koufax, Brooks Robinson, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Lou Brock, and a helluva long list of Rookies or Future HOF'r 2nd-3rd year cards, incl. a 2nd year W. Ford, no Micks tho'.
