Crime in Sports - Trouble Is My Middle Name Billy Martin Part 6

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

This week, we catch up with Billy, as he is again fired, despite being the league's Manager of the Year. He fights, more & more, with his celebrity getting him out of multiple arrests. But his celebrity doesn't help his attempted cocaine mule of a daughter. He lands his dream gig, as manager of the New York Yankees, only to almost be fired for talking back to the owner. Billy will never learn!   Get fired, even though you're the AL Manager of the Year, call Frank Sinatra & Henry Kissenger to try to get your daughter out of trouble, and start fighting with your new team's owner with Billy Martin - Part 6!!   Check us out, every Tuesday! We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!!   Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman   Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail] Get all the CIS, STM & YSO merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com   Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS, STM & YSO!!   Contact us on... instagram.com/smalltownmurder facebook.com/crimeinsports [e-mail]

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to crime in sports. Yay! Oh, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petro Gallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman. Thank you, folks, so much for joining us today on another crazy edition of Crime in Sports.

We got more Billy Martin for you today. And, yeah, he does not stop. Can't stop, won't stop. He's going to be punching and drinking and screwing his life up. week a little bit more so much fun he's evil can evil of baseball basically straight to his 40s right oh it goes on until his last breath basically he never slows down and drop we'll get to that before we do though shut up and give me murder is or shut up and give me murder dot com is the website you need to go to get everything there all of our merchandise you can get there everything like that tickets for live

small town murder shows there's a few left in filling because we release some so there's a few left and then that's it after that. And DC is sold out, but you can still get tickets to the virtual live show this Thursday. October the 30th. We can't wait just like a regular live show except you can watch it anywhere in the world that you can get internet access. And we'll just like a regular live show, the pictures will also be in costumes because it's Halloween and we want to look like idiots for you. That's what we do. Right.

So can't wait to do that. And you can watch it for two weeks afterwards too. You can get it. You can watch it every day if you want. You can watch it the last day. It's available. Doesn't matter. Do whatever you want with it.

Shut up and give me murder.com. Also listen to your stupid opinions, obviously, and small town murder while you're doing that. And then get yourself Patreon. Hell yeah. That's where the value comes in, everybody. Patreon.com. I always wanted to say that. You know that like in commercials.

That's where the value comes in, folks. That's a value. That sounds like a really fun thing to say in a commercial. So honestly, Patreon. Benefits to your life. That's, I mean, to you go, obviously, best value. And you point to that, the biggest one. No, but.

Value. Value. Savings. Savings. Patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus materials. And it really is a good deal. Anybody, $5 a month or above, you're going to get so much stuff. First of all, as soon as you subscribe, hundreds of bonus episodes you've never heard before.

You can binge all of those. Then you get new ones every other week. One crime in sports. One small town murder. this week is no different, and you get it all. This week, for crime and sports, we are going to talk about team relocations and the drama that that's caused. Teams moving, teams moving in the middle of the night.

Both. The drama and trauma that this causes. We're going to do a bunch of it. It confused my father his whole fucking life over. Oh, it's so weird. So we'll talk all about that. And then for small town murder, we are going to do, there's a couple lists that I saw come out recently of the most.

haunted place in every state. Most haunted building in every state. So we're going to go over them. We're going to find out how... 50 of them, how many sound like bullshit and how many you go, that could be interesting. So either way, we'll talk all about it. We'll make fun of people. You know how it works.

There we go. Patreon.com slash crime in sports. In addition to that, you also are going to get all the shows. Crime and Sports, your stupid opinions, both episodes of Small Town Murder, all ad free with your subscription as well. And you swallow James? That's sweet. And I'll swallow for you.

That's right. I say, well, either that or you can put it all over me. I don't care. Dealer's choice, everybody. And you get a shout out at the end of the show where Jimmy will swallow for you. So that said, let's get into Billy and see what he's up to here. When we last left off, Billy was getting in trouble for authorizing a beanball. Yeah.

Which is the oldest thing in baseball. Yeah. They throw it your guy, you throw it their guy. Usually the ump warns both sides, everything's over. That's how it works. An infraction has been, what is that? And it's rectified. Yeah.

Yes. You're right. You correct a mistake. They're unwritten rules in baseball. It's kind of the way to keep the umps out of the game, kind of, because you hit one guy, he goes down. Okay, you hit another guy. Now he should be even.

If anybody else goes beyond that, now you start throwing people out. But now we come out of the dugout. Yeah, exactly. or head hunting is never okay. That's usually considered being a bad taste. You're going to drill somebody and drill them in the ass. That's it. Right.

You know, like a gentleman. Or the shoulder. No, no, you keep it in the ass. Really? Yeah, I asked Rod about that back in the day. No, ass. No, you can break a rib like that. There's one part of the body where that ain't going to hurt you and that's your ass.

So any pitcher worth their salt, unless they really hate a guy, they're aiming for their ass. Because you go up top, they could move their hands in, break a wrist, bring hands without half the season. face shoulders, anything like that. You don't want to break anything. You're just looking to bruise a guy a little bit and have him go, hey, right. And in the ass is funny. That's in the ass, yeah.

You drill a guy in the ass. That's the respectful way to do it is drill a guy in the ass. And, you know, like a gentleman. So it seems like I don't think I've seen one in the ass. Oh, that's where they, most of them go. Ass are back, you know, because the back is another one. Yeah, that's what I mean. The riblets are kidneys in the back.

That's usually. aiming for the ass and that's what they're hitting, though, is the thing. Because, yeah, that's a little high. Yeah, Rod said every time, if you don't want to hurt a guy, you're throwing at his ass, period. That's how you're letting him go,

I have to be in you, but I don't want to hurt you. Yeah. This isn't a personal thing. It's just, this is the way. My boss told me to do this. Exactly. And they get it. Because Rod was telling me one guy

hit a home run off him. I've told the story before, but in case you never heard it, a guy hit a home run off him, and took a while looking at it, and then took a while getting in the first base. Yeah.

And Rod knew the guy and was friends with him, played in the minors with him or something, and looked at him and was like, you know, I gotta be in you next time. Yeah. And like two years later, he came up to the plate and it's the first time he's faced him. First fucking pitch, he said,

he walked up, looked at me and like nodded his head like, I know I'm getting hit. And Rod was like, you're getting hit. Elephant memory. And he said, beaned him right in the ass. He put the bat down, walked to the bag. He said he explained to me that I wasn't trying to show you up.

My manager was telling me, to do something and I didn't want to do it, so I swung away and hit a home run. So I was trying to show my manager up and he goes, oh, I get it, but I still have to drill you. Look bad. You made me look like an asshole, so I got to do. Nobody in the stands knows what your fucking boss said, do you? Exactly. Everybody in the stands saw you disrespect me.

Disrespect me is what it looked like. So boom, shot in the ass. 30,000 people saw you piss on my leg, you son of a bitch. He said, hit him in the ass. He put his bat down. He made him a little nod. Like, all right, we're even. Okay, very good. no hard feelings and we're moving on. But that's, he said, you know, ass is respectful. So

anyway, Billy is very upset that he's going to get, that he's getting suspended for this. It's going to be suspended for three games. And he's, he told the guy to hit him. Yeah. And he said, all I was was honest. Every other time, you know the manager told him to do it, but the manager just never tells you guys.

I just told, so I'm being, I'm getting fucking suspended for honesty. The hell is that about. Keep it above board? That's crazy. It's bullshit. He said, I actually told Crandall, that's the um, before. the game at the plate that I was sick and tired of having their guys, oh, I'm sorry, that's the manager, throw it Hara, Toby Hara, and Jeff Burroughs. I told them we were going to throw it a shortstop.

So, beanballing went back and forth, and Martin said, did you see what they wrote? Because of my honest comment at the plate, I've been suspended. I've been honest all my life. Wow. I'm just an honest guy. He said, I hope those umpires are happy about the report they sent in. I can't come out here to the ballpark.

I'll stay at the hotel for three days along three days. And then he said, who's going to protect the hitter if the manager's not going to do it? Yeah. That's the way. Hockey has enforcers. You check my score too hard. You fuck with him. I'm going to get this big guy with no teeth to come attack your score.

And that's how we're going to do it. And it keeps everybody in line. You have to have certain. In baseball, you got a pitcher. Yeah. It's so odd in football. There is really nothing like that. There's nothing for that because the game's all contact.

Yeah. There really isn't. I mean, the linemen protect their quarterback, but there's really not much more than that. There's not much more than that. It's not the same as like these. Because of violence in these games are cheap shots, whereas in football, a big hits a legal thing. It's totally legal. That's the game.

That's the goal. Absolutely. So Billy said. Now it's not. No, no, no. Billy said that bean balls have been a part of the game for 100 years. It's still part of the game. It's always going to be part of the game.

And anybody who's acting like it isn't is a fucking idiot, basically. So anyway, here is from the book. They'll explain it here. At a Sunday doubleheader in Milwaukee when Martin took out his lineup card for the pregame meeting with the Brewers manager Del Crandall and the umpires, he casually announced to Crandall. Your pitcher threw it our shortstop four times yesterday. So I'm telling you now that your shortstop, who is, by the way, future Hall of Famer at the time rookie, Robin Yount. Oh, wow. Yeah, we'll be going down today.

That's it. You throw out my rookie, my young shortstop, I'll throw it yours. That's it. And that's two. The unwritten rule of baseball is don't tell anybody you're doing it even though you're doing it. And you know you're doing it. And everyone in the park knows you're doing it. And the hump knows you're doing it.

But just don't say it because then you're bad guy. I mean, it was a slip. So stupid. It's so stupid. That's just dumb as shit. So you got a three game suspension for that. And this is while he is in the running for the manager of the year award. Oh.

making the Rangers from the worst team in the league to a contender. So, you know, he's like, this is, what the fuck, you know? He said, this is ridiculous. Obviously, I'm doing something right, and then they're, I don't know, it's crazy. He said, how did I know the Rangers would draw a million? Well, I knew people would respond to winning baseball. Why shouldn't I say that if I thought we could win? This year's been a different kind of challenge, a different kind of test for me as a manager.

It's the biggest I've ever had. I don't like to say I'm surprised the way. way things turned out. You could see in spring training that Lenny Randall, Jim Sunberg, Mike Hargrove, Joe Lovito, Mike Gargrove was the Indians manager in the 90s. And Toby Harrah could help this club.

Now, Cesar Tovar is a guy I really went after. So he's like, you know, I basically I constructed this. I built it and then they came. So yeah, that's how it works. Okay, here we go. Billy Martin, October

5th, 1974. this is an article from the Daily News. Billy Martin, Texas Rangers manager, who had almost as many fights as Muhammad Ali, recently slapped Bert Hawkins. This is actually very funny. There's a story from the book about this, and we'll get to it.

Who's Bert? The 60-year-old road secretary for the team, for the Rangers, in the face during an argument on a plane. This Billy was at a line here, completely out of line. You can't hit the... The guy that just types.

And he's 60 years old is more of a fucking problem here. Slap him around. Which is insanity. You can't just slap the guy. But I guess Hawkins, you know, everybody saw it on the plane. The fucking reporter saw it for Christ's sake. And they were wondering, they were going back and forth saying basically how are we going to report this or not, basically. Yeah.

This was how it works. And then somebody reported it. So everybody else had to report it, too. It's like, well, he can't get the scoop. So now he's going to be in six different publications beating up an old man on a plane. Apparently, yeah. So here's it said from the Daily News, it says there were two arguments. Witnesses said that the action described as a slap came several minutes after Martin, who's 46, shouted at Hawkins.

The argument centered around an attempt to form a Rangers wives club. Okay, this is where this started. And this is how it comes from the book too, which Hawkins supported the idea of a wives club. And Billy said, fuck no. We're not having a fucking wives club. What are they going to do? They're going to get, just to hang out together and have a social thing for team building. But Billy says, I don't want the wives getting together.

Because when they get together, they start talking and guys start getting in trouble and they don't play as well. I don't want to fucking do that. Keep the wives separate from each other. That's the idea. These guys want to cheat. you can't have them coming home and having one wife say yeah my wife came my husband came home with this and yeah mine came home with this and they talk about it next thing you know it's a mess so or you don't know your wife thinking uh every guy is doing the same thing when she exactly

assumes that hers is just maybe he just has a wandering eye no they're all doing it oh great now we can all hate each other's husbands together back then it was the general consensus was keep all the wives as separate as possible yes that's what they're used to do. So they said actually there were two arguments. At first the first which a coach broke up, Hawkins moved to an empty seat in the rear of the plane.

Martin, who was up front, seethed but said nothing. Then Hawkins returned to his original seat in the front of the plane and Martin began to berate him again. Yeah. The slapping followed. Hawkins is a dual role as traveling secretary and public relations man and he said,

I may drop the traveling job after that. I want to think things over for a while here is what he said. And remember, the other traveling secretary, for what was it, Detroit, he beat up at the hotel in the hotel lobby. So he does not like fucking traveling secretaries. People with big mouths. Man. So from the book, from Seasons in Hell, the Mike Shropshire guy writes, you won't believe what just happened, Walker told me.

Billy just punched out Bert Hawkins. Walker was right. I didn't believe him, but my earlier suspicions that Billy's psyche had already advanced to the attack phase were all too correct. Billy was no longer a baseball manager, but rather an aggressor nation seeking to eager to declare war on somebody. You get five drinks in Billy and he turns angry. It's all there is to it. It's got to settle some scores, whether you're involved or not. Doesn't matter.

What happened was this. Martin started shouting at Hawkins. for the ridiculous reason that Bert's wife Janet had expressed an interest in forming some sort of Rangers auxiliary. In other words, Rangers players' wives club. Now Martin was demanding that Bert make Janet abandon the plan. Martin said the goddamn wives will poison a ball club if you let him. The last thing you need is getting them organized. The fuck is wrong with you, we said.

Yeah, I don't think a union for the wives. Our guys need to concentrate, is what he's trying to get at. So Hawkins predictably suggested to Billy that he might go fuck himself. Wrong move. You go, okay, Billy, we'll talk about it later, you know, when you're sober and on the ground. Fuck 30,000 feet when you've had six scotches. This is bad. Or just go ahead and go fuck yourself in the front of the flight.

Either one. You might go fuck himself at which point Martin offered to heave Bert out of the airplane. If you think you're big enough, Billy Boy, then give it a try, Bert responded. Oh, Bert. man, he's just asking for it. Thus challenged, Martin got up and smacked a 65-year-old man with a heart condition across the face. Well, don't talk shit if you can't back it up.

I mean, honestly, if I'm 65 with a heart condition, I'm shutting the fuck up when somebody wants to somebody's mad at me. Think enough? I wouldn't say that. Other than that episode, it was a quiet flight to Kansas City. You know, other than the manager attacking the fucking team employee. once at the airport Billy marched about 27 paces ahead of the entourage and once outside hopped into what appeared to be a 65 GTO with front end body damage which is all of Billy's cars

Billy's got a GTO that he ran into something all of his cars are like that because he drives shit face every night so he bangs into shit and just keeps going he's like McNulty from the wire like he just fucking crashes he's like I'm Billy Martin is all right and he keeps driving 65 GTO is a good car it's a fucking sweet co he's a fucking sweet co he's like McNulty and he's a good car Yeah. And sped away in a cloud of exhaust smoke. Billy's gal needs a valve job, one of the players. Steve Hargan noted as the rest of the...

It smokes. As the rest of the Rangers climbed aboard the bus for a trip to the hotel. Hawkins wanted to talk to the players about what happened on the airplane. His message included some colorful usage. Quote, if that sorry little cock sucker doesn't apologize, then I'm going to the ownership of the Rangers and tell him they can stick this job up their ass. All right. That's what Hawkins told the team. I'm going to get an apology on Billy Martin, that little cocks.

That little cocks sucker. Yeah, he's probably going to get hit again. And he added that until he had made up his mind, he hoped nothing would be mentioned about the airplane debacle right away in the newspapers. He told the newspaper guys. And back then, they said that presented no problems, presented no problems because by now everyone was safely past deadlines. It's like, well, we already file our shit for the day. So, he says, my phone in the room at the old Mulbuck Hotel was ringing at the inhumane hour of 8.30 a.m. It was Bert Hawkins and he wanted to see me.

This is the Mike Shropshire guy. By the time I reached Hawkins Suite, the other two writers, James Walker and Randy Galloway, were already there. Galloway was preparing his special Grand Prairie Bloody Mary recipe, which consisted of two ounces of tobacco, nine ounces of cheap vodka and a teaspoon of tomato. juice. Nine shots. Nine ounces? Dude, the Fort Worth air conditioners even more. He talks about that in this book. The Fort Worth Air Conditioner.

That's a drink. That's a drink, which is just about eight ounces of tequila and some ice. That's the Fort Worth air conditioner. A water glass of tequila. At breakfast, he's having nine shots. Yeah. These writers drank everyone back then drank. I don't know how many of them lived past 30.

They drank an obscene amount of booze that I couldn't imagine putting in my body. A teaspoon of tomato juice? Is that what it was? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm sure he's exaggerating a bit. It's just a bunch of vodka. That's a crazy drink.

It's like when we get martinis at the steakhouse here. That's flammling. Good God, Jesus. I can't walk, please. I can run the car on this. Yeah, exactly. Put some olive juice in there. For fuck's sake, we're dying.

Hawkins' mood was drastically altered from what we had seen just hours earlier on the team bus. Now that the hostilities had abated, he seemed actually jovial. He said that the little, that the little Daigo himself had paid a visit to the suite and described Martin as a living portrait

of contrition. That's the other thing, too. A lot of times, Billy does shit when he's drinking and then feels bad about it later. That happens too. And I wouldn't, I don't think, I don't think there's, I mean, there's,

the number of senior citizens that I wouldn't feel bad about smack Oh, it's huge. My list is never ending. I don't care how old you are. Being old does not allow you to be a cunt. I'll smack your old face and I'll fucking thrill myself with it. I think that the number

thousands. It might start expanding soon though. I'm in my 40s. It's almost a fair fight at this point. That's what I'm saying. Oh, no, this is from a young age. These old people need a smack. That's the thing.

They need to realize they're not in charge anymore. God damn it. And I'll show you how much you're not. Bow, shut up. Sit down, old man. Take that, grandma. You're going to listen to us from now on, God damn. Your recipes aren't that good.

No, no. Sugar cookies suck. Yeah. No, most of the people that are senior citizens I want to smack are paid with taxpayer money. Oh, yeah. That's what they are. They're fucking not real life people, political people, I'm sure.

That list seems to grow. It's huge. It's huge. Most of Congress. But random private sector folks, there's very few that I wouldn't feel bad about hitting. Yeah, no, no, I would feel bad about hitting old people for sure. Most of them. Most of them, yeah.

Except for that one guy every once in a while, you know who he is. From time to time, one grabs up and you go, he's just never been hit? Is that what it is? I think it is. He made it 72 years. he's never been punched in the mouth. The amount of people on a daily basis that I see and go, you've never been punched in the fucking mouth for what you say, have you?

It's shocking. You've never stopped that numb? It's shocking. Our country needs like every town should have a kid puncher. Somebody who is authorized fully to take a kid at 16, who's done something shitty, said some dumb shit, and just fucking drill him right in the mouth and go, that's what happens when you run your fucking mouth.

That would be so advantageous to this world. Half the internet wouldn't exist. Fucking, it would be amazing. YouTube, all these fucking creators and all these comment people. You know what? I'm scared of getting punched in the face again. I'm going to shut my fucking mouth. Or they've been hit so many times they don't care anymore.

Those are the options. One of the tips. Yeah, it's that numb and then you lose taste and smell for a second. You need it. You need it. It's so good for you. Where you go, oh, my body just matched a reset. You need that.

You need a control, alt delete for your body, for sure. You need to realize that you're not in charge of fucking anything. Nope. There's always somebody that's more in charge than you. Always. That's it. So this guy goes on, he goes on to say, old Bert was clearly amused by the experience of the new Billy consumed with humility.

Quote, I suppose Bobby Brown threatened to fire him, said Hawkins, because Billy was really kissing my ass. You all should have seen it. Hawkins was laughing, now. According to Billy, nobody was to blame. Boos was the real culprit. Yeah, that's Billy. Then Hawkins issued a special request. Now that Billy had been sufficiently humbled and his apology had been formally accepted, wouldn't it be better for all parties to just forget the whole shabby episodes? In other words, leave it out of the paper as what he's asked.

Hey, guys, everything's fine. Keep it in house. Yeah. This whole affair for sure was like Galloway's Bloody Mary. It had an unsavory taste to it. Janet Hawkins' club efforts had ignited Martin and the publicity of the airplane event might restoke the furnace. Furthermore, this was the lurid sort of media event that presented the potential for one story eventually to become several stories.

Before it was over, I could see myself interviewing shrinks and social scientists to learn their views of the appropriate role of the baseball wife in contemporary culture. This could get way out of hand if this goes in the paper. Well, then it gets bigger than just two dudes fighting in the front of the play.

now it's should the women be involved? He's like, oh, do we just, you know, say fuck it? Yeah. Burt then added that in my case, ignoring the incident might not be that easy since the ceremonial publisher of the newspaper, Ammon Carter Jr., was on the Rangers board and knew about what had taken place. Galloway and Walker then agreed that it would be my decision and mine alone to determine whether the story should run.

My personal policy on matters like this was clear. As long as nobody was killed or arrested, why bother the reading public with the sordid particulars? That's how it was back now. They would have filed that story. It would still be going on in the plane and they'd be fucking have tweeted it out already. Boy, do they, oh, they love the clicks.

They love it. Oh, it's all the, this is an ultimate clickbait thing too. Billy Martin beating up an old man. That's fucking, wow. A manager of a professional baseball team just slapped a senior citizen. Yeah. This next next.

sentence. Keep in mind this is during the Watergate scandal. If Billy made headlines every time he quote caused a scene, there wouldn't have been any room in the paper for any Richard Nixon stories. Wow. It's every day with Billy. He said, at mid afternoon I called the Star Telegram's

morning sports editor Bob Lindley in his private office that was located in the tap room of the Piccan Valley Municipal Golf Course. His private office is a bar, obviously, and outlined my predicament. Linley was the type of man who heartily endorsed labor-saving measures and therefore a great editor.

Do whatever you want, he told me. I don't care. No one gives a shit about this. So in the press box at Royal Stadium before the Saturday game, I informed my writing colleagues that a decision had been reached. The airplane incident had never taken place. Bert Hawkins was now officially unslapped. Okay.

The Rangers beat, as we know this, not how it developed because I was reading an article from the paper before this. The Rangers beat Kansas City that night, and again on Sunday to officially. wrap up second place in the American League West. The flight to Minneapolis, where the season would end with two meaningless day games, was as festive as any I would experience with the ball club. The players could not have been more boisterous if they had won the World Series.

In Minneapolis, they staged a team party at Howard Wong's restaurant. The media was excluded, and later Jim Fragosi told me that even with the Howard Wong discount, the liquor tab ran dangerously close to five figures. Holy shit. Yeah. In 1973. Yeah. Spending fucking over 10 grand or 10 grand on booze.

That's a, that's insane. That's a lot of alcohol. For like 30 guys? Yeah. Holy shit. In 2008, when did I get married? Wow. A while ago.

It'd be hard to do now. I didn't spend, I think, $800 on alcohol and everybody was destroyed. Yeah. This is crazy. I ruined them with. booze. $800,000. $10,000 and how long?

Just an evening. One night. Yeah, one party, one party, one sit down. That's crazy. Jesus. So imagine my surprise when I opened my Wednesday morning Star Telegram, turned to the sports section and read an eight-column headline across the top of the lead page. Martin apologizes after airline and altercation.

Oh, that's good. All the nasty details of the flight to Kansas City were outlined in detail in a story beneath Harold McKinney's byline. Hastily, I phoned McKinney to inquire as to what in the name of God was going on here and was informed that James Walker of the Times Harold upon returning to Dallas had spilled

the beans, Harold McKinney's words, to his editor, the esteemed Blackie Sherrod. Let me say here that I sympathize with James Walker's thinking at this point. Walker found himself stuck in a dilemma where it was necessary to spill one's beans to cover one's ass.

Without a doubt, Blackie Sherrod, was and still is the best-known sports writer in the history of Texas journalism. With the possible exception of Jim Murray in Los Angeles and Mike Royko in Chicago, he enjoys the largest regional following of any newspaper writer in the United States. Blackie, I think, actually attended high school with H.L. Mencken, and naturally is a product of the old school of journalism, as opposed to the new school that Mencken apparently found revolting. Consequently, James Walker's heartbreaking confession generated shockwaves in the Times Herald Newsroom.

So the Martin Hawkins conflict would see print after all. One week after the fact, and the morning news and star telegram would follow suit the next day. This I told Harold McKinney makes me look like a total idiot. Screw that, said McKinney. I'm the one who had to come in on my day off and write this goddamn story. And don't sweat it. The whole thing's already blown over. So this caused ripples.

Even the newspaper guys got in trouble. The whole thing turned into a fucking mess. So of course, Billy Martin, right after that, is named Manager of the Year in the American League. Oh. On the field, can't fucking argue with it at all. Yeah, the best there is. Absolutely not. No way to argue with it.

I mean, they came close out of nowhere, and they called it the great turnaround of 74. And, like, it was a huge deal. And the Rangers were dreadful, right? They were a bad team for a long time. They were so, they were the Washington senators who were terrible. They moved because they stunk. Washington first in war, first in peace, last in the American League. That's the old, that's the old, you know, idiom of them.

So this is, they go to Texas, they're abysmal, Billy Martin comes in, now they're in second place. So that's a big fucking deal. Not too shabby. Right under that, by the way, there's a nice ad, the sales, Jimmy. You can get a fifth of John Handy Esquire Scotch. John Handy Esquire. Okay. It's a blended scotch, clearly.

$5.45.45 a fifth. Oh, fuck. That is rough. What is that? $15 today, probably? Probably more than that. 20 or so. That seems overpriced for shit scotch, right?

That's what I'm thinking. For blended? Yeah, that is... You don't want blended anything, right? I don't want to fucking blend. No, single malls or nothing. Fuck you. Unless it's like Johnny Walker Blue or something.

Even then I'd rather have a 20-year-old McCallum. Yeah. Even reds, like wines. I don't drink red blends. That's disgusting. I want a cabernet. I want a specific one. I don't need fucking blends.

That's gross. No, that is gross. That sounds like you're fucking making a bottle that shouldn't exist. There's a little bit left of everything. You're making it. Let me put a little cabernet. some Merlot together. Those are popular for a while, though, those blends.

Yeah. They're very popular for a while. Because they're, because it's not. Well, yeah. It's not what you want. There was a few brands that would be like $11 for a bottle, and that was that years ago. Yeah, a few years ago.

It's a blend. It's a bunch of shit together. It shouldn't exist. We had a little bit left of everything, and now we have a whole bottle. Now we have a whole bottle. So here's an article about Billy. Billy Martin, manager of the Texas Ranger, spoke for a full 30, minutes yesterday without spitting on the floor.

He didn't tell anyone to go bleep, and the only time he used the Lord's name was in reverence, not vain. Hard to believe, isn't it? Said Billy Martin. Everybody expects me to come out cursing, getting into fights, and just basically being a pain in the butt. I received that image when I played

ball with the Yankees, and it's always stuck. That's because you keep doing it. You beat up your fucking traveling secretary on a plane, you psychopath. The fuck are you talking about? He knows first and foremost, he'll always be thought of as a cocky, smart aleck punk, sort of a combination of a garbage-mouthed street fighter and Genghis Khan

rolled into one. Jesus. He said, I guess I've never really been accepted into the baseball world because of my maverick image. When I first became manager, they laughed at me. They told me I'd never make it. How could I, they would say? I couldn't handle myself. How could I handle 40 players? It bothered me for a long time. Man, did I get up tight over it? But if you threw a rock, it would miss everybody. If I threw a rock, it would hit him. And even if it didn't, I'd still get the blame for it.

Okay. He said, but I'm 46 now and it's too late to change the image. My middle name has always been trouble. That is amazing. That's a great line. My middle name has always been trouble. All right. That is fucking amazing.

I got to write that down. That's going to be the name of this episode. My middle name is trouble for sure. I make no peace with my God. I'm sorry, it's an old newspaper. I make my peace with my God every Sunday and I cope. Oh, I'm no Alvin Dark. I don't wear God on my sleeve.

I wear him in my heart. Oh. He also said, I don't get into fights as much as I used to. I just get as hot now, but when I get into it, when I go into a fight, I try to stop it, not make it worse. I'd feel terrible if I slugged a prospect and damage his career. You don't hit guys on your team. Yeah.

You're not supposed to. He said, now if the opposing pitcher was to throw up my team, that's another thing. I'd go up and slug the opposing manager. I wouldn't care about ruining his career. But I don't fight on the field anymore. The umps don't know that, though. They still think I'm going to smack them. I'd just scare them.

I get as close as I can and back away just to let him know I'm around. Okay. He said, my 10-year-old son, Billy Joe, came up to me one day last fall and said the kids in his class, said that, quote, your daddy is the guy who yells at um, umpires all the time. Ah. Which I would be like, that's awesome. I'd be like, yeah, totally.

He totally is. I told Billy Joe that I did talk a little loud to the umpires because the players I represent would lose respect for me if I back down defending them. Also, I told Billy Joe, the umpires are a little hard off hearing sometimes. Tells him they're a little older. Man, he said, there's only two things that I require out of the Rangers. One is that while we're traveling from Texas to another city, I asked them to wear a shirt and tie. Once we get to the hotel, they can wear a toilet seat if they want to.

Yes. Once you're out and about, fine, but on the plane and the airport, I want you to look like a respectable bunch of guys, which is fine. That's why. Wear a toilet seat if you want to, wherever you want to wear it. Knock yourself out. Yeah, while you're getting a blowjob in the alley, we don't care. The only other rule I have is that when the national anthem is played, I want the players to stand on the dugouts' first step and hold their hat over their heart. I love my country, and it's good for a kid to see that. All I want from a player is perform.

performance, not the way he looks, talks, or acts. A sports team is like a salad. You have a lot of mixed ingredients. Yeah, it doesn't care what your personal shit has as long as on the field it works. He said, you can have had on your chest. Yeah. He said that people have tried to push me around for what I believe, but I won't budge. I'm not ashamed one bit for what Billy Martin is.

Okay. Here is from the... Third person. All right. Third person, that's right. It's the first time we've really heard him. talk like that. So that's not bad. If this is a Ricky Henderson episode, we would be on

number 685 by now. But he's doing it. That's pretty impressive. Oh, he's doing it. This is March 1975. This is from the FBI files. Again, dip it into the FBI files. Billy Martin receives a letter here addressed to Mr.

Alfred M. Martin. So they have his real name at the Surf Rider Hotel, which is their spring training location in Pompano Beach, Florida. This is, let's see, this is from the FBI files. They said, honor about April 3rd, 1975 at Pompano Beach, Florida, victim, who is a manager of the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team, received a letter which contained traced left hand, above which was typewritten, set the Yankees back a hundred years by wearing that uniform. He didn't make a fool of himself at the Copa and other things.

you were the worst to ever pull on that treasured uniform. 47-year-old juvenile. Think about death and start to live. Interview of the victim, and a redacted name from the Los Angeles Dodgers, failed to determine the identity of the subject. Authorities in New York alerted, no further action taken, and there we go. So everybody was contacted, but he's getting sort of death threats, I guess. You could call him.

Yeah. So, yeah, 47-year-old. juvenile. Let's see. Type written, suggest following lines for it. Okay, that's something else. Oh, your tombstone. What? It says on page two of the letter. Your tombstone, Alfred Manuel Martin,

May 16th, 1928 at Berkeley, California to May 23rd, 1975 at Flushing, New York. That's where the Mets play. Any changes in above should be sent to, and there's an address in Vero Beach. interview prior to receipt of letter with Billy Martin determined he had no knowledge of Senator but claimed to have not seen letter as it was turned over to the authorities by his wife in care of the Texas Rangers.

Martin departed the South Florida area for Dallas, Texas, April 3, 1975, above reference to something else redacted Vero Beach probably refers to were the Dodgers who trained in Vero Beach. Okay, there we go. so he's getting threatened to be murdered over what who knows apparently anything huh yeah

in May 23rd 1975 that's what they're that's when they're going to kill him apparently wow that's how that works who knows yeah there's a lot he gets a lot of this type of shit like hate man

just death threats really yeah then they found that they said they interviewed somebody, a Los Angeles Dodger, interviewed by the bureau agents in California, this person advised the agent that he had no knowledge that such a letter had been sent that he did not send it. Oh, because he thought somebody else might have sent it. And could, and could he think of anyone else who might have. He stated that Martin had an altercation with somebody that put this incident had long been forgotten and now considered Martin to be a friend. So they're talking all sorts of

people around Major League Baseball seeing, do you know someone who hates Billy Martin based? This doesn't sound like a player, though. Right. That's, yeah, they're talking about he gotten a problem with some other player that, or some, who know, management person who, who everybody's saying it's forgotten, though. They wouldn't send him a death threat.

So, yeah. They said Martin, Martin was interviewed regarding the matter at the time, but was not available, has never been furnished again, to do it. Okay, yeah. So a lot of FBI stuff here. Martin was advised that if he considers himself in any imminent danger as a result of the threat

he should contact local authorities in New York. Don't bother us. Yeah. Yeah, Mr. Martin advised that he had only heard about the threatening letter. Okay, that's good. He said that during his playing years, he had received numerous threatening letters,

all of which he just tossed in a waste basket and paid no attention to them. He said he's not concerned about this letter and he considers it to be the work of a prankster or a nut. He did say the Rangers baseball team will be playing in Flushing New York on May 23rd, 1975. That is when they were redoing Yankee Stadium. So this was the season that the Yankees were sharing Shea Stadium with the Mets. Okay. A remodel of it, not the tear down and rebuild. No, no, no, just that this is when it went

from old Yankee Stadium to new Yankee Stadium, where they got rid of the older facade and put kind of the, all that shit. So, yeah. So anyway. way they said, you know, that's when the date would be. He's threatening to kill us at the Yankee game. And there's that. Now, 1975, Texas Rangers, 79 and 83. Third in the AL West. And Billy is not going to last the season. Yeah, and he's got to be pretty upset about it, right? There is so many times he's manager of the year and fired. It's amazing. It's incredible. It happens so many times with him. So, yeah, this year, Toby Harrah has a good year. Mike Hargroves an All-Star otherwise still not great.

Now, from Seasons in Hell, the book, talking about the spring of 75. Okay. Shropshire says, with little more than a week left in what had dragged on and on as a marathon spring, Martin would refuse to let camp close without at least one skirmish. You gotta wrestle somebody.

Got to fight. His opportunity arose in paragraph form, buried in a meaningless and obscure spring training feature article about the Yankees outfielder Elliot Maddox that had run in the Fort Lauderdale paper. Maddox, the ex-ranger, had not figured prominently in Martin's plans at the conclusion of spring training. 74. He dealt Maddox to the Yankees in a minor transaction

and Maddox had surprised both teams with a strong season. Now in the Fort Lauderdale paper, Maddox said that Billy may have written him off prematurely as a ranger and was quoted as saying, Martin has a habit of lying to his players. Oh, boy. That's going to get you a punch. Billy Martin is probably the only manager in the history of Big League Ball

who would choose not to ignore a remark like that in a recreational environment like spring training, particularly in a publication that wasn't exactly distributed worldwide. Some local Florida paper, who cares? Martin regarded the article as a call to arms. Martin's pressure valve was teetering over into the danger zone when I sat briefly across from him in a booth at the Banyan in the Banyan. Elliot fucking Maddox, Billy spat out his words. I was doing him a favor when I traded him to the Yankees.

He wanted to go to New York. Isn't that something? I should have sent him to Spokane, the minor league team. Maddox has one good season. Now he's running off at the mouth. There's a lesson here. Give a skunk a break and he'll piss in your face every time. Is that true?

Is that a lesson? I've never heard that lesson before, but you know what? I'm never giving a skunk a break. He might be right. That's true. Billy Martin might be teaching us things we need to know. You know what I mean? We don't know that.

Yeah, give a mouse and cookie, but give a skunk a break. Oh, my God, please. Naturally, the Rangers had a game scheduled against the Yankees at Fort Lauderdale the next afternoon. Elliot Maddox would probably lead off for the Yankees. Surely, Billy wouldn't insist that his pitcher Jim Bibby dust off somebody's skull in an exhibition game. Yeah. But as I reclined on the press box roof at Fort Lauderd. I gazed down and

was that a mirage or did Bibby just hit Maddox on the shoulder on the first pitch? That's so crazy. He's to go out and plunk that guy. Yeah. Wow. I can't believe it. Oh, Mike Bibby's uncle. Yeah. I can't believe it. Another Rangers pitcher, Stan Thomas,

threw in the direction of Maddox's head and missed in his next at bat. So in the next inning, the Yankees Mike Wallace plunked the Rangers Dave Nelson. Then both teams were out on the field. Burroughs was wrestling with Yankees. Yankees manager Bill Verdon. Meanwhile, Martin was attempting to fight his way around the familiar figure of number 32, Yankees catcher Elston Howard, in an apparent effort to attach his hands to Maddox's throat.

He just wanted a fight to break out so he could go fight so he could fight Maddox on the field. Elston Howard, by the way, not the first or the last time he'll break up a fight involving Billy Martin. Oh, is that right? No, he definitely won't. Afterward, Jim Fergosi told me that, quote, this had to be a spring training first. games don't count, but I guess the tempers are real. Billy Martin remained in peak form as he changed clothes at the end of the game. I saw Maddox and I told him he was gutless, Martin said, describing the acrimonious folk

dance that happened earlier. I called him gutless, Billy repeated, and he didn't say anything back. Why? What do you guess, Jimmy? Because he's gutless. Because he's gutless, exactly. I just told you why. That's right.

That's why. He's a disgrace to that uniform. He sets the Yankees back 100. years. What would guys like DiMaggio think? Calm down, Billy. This is really just you're pissed off. It's fine. He loves to bring up Tamasio every chance he can. Yeah, because that's the one thing. It's like reverence.

It's like in Blazing Saddles when they mention that guy's name and everybody like looks down and says it in reverence. It's the same thing. That's what it is for Joe DiMaggio. It's like people take their hats off. Joe DiMaggio, like it's holy. God rest his soul. God rest is soul. about two dozen New York-based print and on-the-air reporters were there to record Billy's sentiments. That afternoon's whole spring training urban street scene, plus Billy's erstwhile post-game oratory had been concocted entirely for their benefit and possible amusement.

It occurred to me then and there that Billy Martin was not protecting the honor of his good name. He was auditioning for a job. The Yankees had failed to win a pennant for the previous 11 years, and Bill Verdon, the incumbent manager, maintained all the charm. charisma of an old man's nut sack. Okay. I mean, that's not very charming or charismatic, I'd say. No.

Martin knew too well that somewhere George Steinbrenner was watching and listening, and he loves this type of shit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, this is fucking amazing. April of 1975, he doesn't like the umpires. No?

No, he's pissed off. Here's an article here. Quote, When he isn't punching someone in the nose, Billy Martin is a delight for baseball. That's a quite great line. He is saucy, sharp, interesting, exciting, and unpredictable. He's Leo DeRosher incarnate as an old guy who is the same as Billy Martin.

I suppose you heard about Billy's latest gizmo. He showed up at home plate during the lineup card exchange with a small microphone clipped to his jacket. At least that's what the story said. They said he had become so distrustful of umpires' reports about his conduct that he decided to wire himself for sound. I would love to hear Billy Martin I'd love to hear Billy Martin

over the course of a game cursing and yelling and fucking that'd be amazing Billy Martin would have a taped record of everything said between himself and the umpires who then couldn't accuse him of saying gosh darn unless he really said it

the only thing wrong with this wonderful story is that it isn't true the microphone was a prop a dummy it was connected to absolutely nothing no recording device no tape nothing but Martin's fertile imagination it was designed to irritate the umpires. That's great. It was a gag. What's more, the president of the league in which

Billy Martin works was forewarned. Lee McPhail happened to be in Texas the other day. The day after Billy Martin had been tossed out of a game for saying rotten things, he said he didn't say. They said, let's flash back a moment to that day. Rich Garcia was upping behind the plate. Ron Luciano was umpiring at third base. Oakland was playing Billy Martin's Texas Rangers. Billy's team expects to replace Oakland as the power in the American League this year, a fact which makes any Oakland-Texas confrontation important, even in April. Cesar Tovar hit a slow grounder down to third baseline and Sal Bando threw him out. There ensued a dispute over whether the ball was fair or foul and whether the play should have been called by the home plate umpire or the third base umpire, meaning fair or foul.

Sure. Things like which umpire has the authority to call which play become vice. in such arguments because they give the manager a chance to show how smart he is. During the course of the argument, some words poured from the mouth of Billy Martin that were offensive to Ron Luciano's shell-like ears. Words spoken only on battlefields and in movies starring Georgiana Spellvin? I don't know. Georgina Spelvin.

Ron Luciano will have got to be a porn star or something. Yeah, probably. Ron Luciano will accept them from Georgina but not from Billy. he kicked Billy out of the game. Now we get down to semantics. It's Billy Martin's contention that the things he said to Luciano weren't all that offensive. Furthermore, it's Martin's contention that the things he usually says to umpires in such situations are by the time they reached the league's offices, offices ears grossly exaggerated.

So he's going to fuck around with this microphone. So Billy said he would produce the evidence in wire himself for sound. And then he showed up with a famous little mic. What's that, Lee McVail, a dugout visitor before the game, said, I'm going to tape everything said during a game. I'm sick and tired of your one-sided reports to your office. Lee McPhail, who knows a joke when he sees one, surprised Martin. He didn't become indignant.

That's fine, said McPhail. There's just one thing. Remember, you must submit the entire tape. I want no taps or no gaps, no expletives deleted. So Martin laughed and did it. They were like, you're not doing that, I know, and I'm not. Yeah, it's fine. So that's the whole thing here, what they're trying to do.

More from the FBI file here. Q1 and Q2 were searched in the appropriate sections of the anonymous, anonymous letter with negative results. Representative copies will be added. They were trying to find out if they could get anything off of this. They said it was determined that the stamp affixed to the letter originated from a sheet of stamps. They were looking for fingerprints. They were looking for everything. They said that it was determined that the letters were prepared on a typewriter equipped with a style of type, which most closely resembles laboratory standards for a style of type used on all of vetti brand typewriters.

They're going to find this person. They are really looking for this person. Forensics. Wow. Then they have the hand trace, by the way. They have that. This is what this person sent. Yeah.

So who fits that? I don't know. Who fits this left hand? Half a turkey. We don't know. Yeah, put a little thing on there. That's what they should have done. Billy should have only had a return address. He could have drawn a turkey and sent it back. Send it right back. Oh, man. So that's the FBI's trying to find these people and having a hard time doing it. Now, here's something else from the book, Seasons in Hell.

The Friday night debacle was followed by a day game on Saturday. Less than an hour before the Saturday game, I was leaving the Grand Hotel, most of which had been taken over for the weekend by a convention of square dancers for the ballpark when I heard somebody, a solitary figure going, pst, from inside the bar. It was Martin. What are you doing in here? I asked him. Stupid question. He was having a pregame pop, obviously. He said, I'm standing in here having a drink with all my friends, Billy said. Then he proceeded to blame the previous night's loss on Frank Lucchese, his third base coach. quote, Frank held up a runner who would have scored easily in the second inning. Then we wind up not knocking him in. If Toby scores, no extra inning, simple as that.

And then I got a call from some asshole at Las Vegas at 3 a.m. claiming he lost 200 grand because of the Rangers and he was raising hell with me, claiming I'd blown the game by keeping Perry in too long. I told the fucker that if he wanted to bitch at somebody, bitch at Frank Lucchese. The fucker. The fucker. But he's loved by fans. Here's an article in the paper down there.

The headline is Texas Ranger fans love Billy Martin. Yes, they do. They love him. Yeah. They said, one, they're talking about talk shows in the area, and one said, I'm from the Detroit area, and I think it's just terrible what they did to Billy Martin there. I'm behind him and the Rangers all the way.

He's the greatest manager in the world. Every place he goes, he really just induces this type of loyalty. Another one said, why are umpires always baiting Martin and the Rangers? It seems like the umpires go out of their way to give us bad calls. So it's just people defending Billy no matter what he does. Now, right under that article is an incredible place that we need to go. Oh, where we're going? The sales, Jimmy, the sales.

We're going to the head shop. Get some head. Yeah. Is it in New York? This is not a blowjob facility, nor is it a place to buy bongs, which is what a head shop used to be. It's a fucking like a barber, which makes no sense. The head shop? I guess, I mean, that makes all the sense.

Yeah, it says it's now open for business under the management of Vic Calcutt, who wishes to invite all of his customers and friends to see the new shop. A barber with the word cut in his name. That's good. Calcutt, double T. Haircuts and styles of all types, children's haircuts also. So get in there right now. Where's it at?

I think it's in Florence, Texas, I believe. So the FBI files, again, back into this, they said that they have laboratory reports, no latent prints of value developed on specimens enclosed, meaning on the letters. Yeah. They did all the things they tried. They tried all the science that was available in 1974 to figure this out. I mean, now they can figure it out in two seconds probably. I'm sure there's some DNA on it or something, but not back then, not at all.

So, yeah, Billy is not going to be avenged by the FBI today. Okay. They said that the Baseball's Commissioner's Office on May 23, 1975, the day of his death, which was set out before him, that's the day that he was going to be killed. Baseball's Commissioner's Office advised arrangements were made to have Billy Martin stay at the St. Moritz Hotel while the Texas Rangers were in New York City. Normally, they stay at the Hotel Roosevelt. So, move him to a different spot. Yeah,

he was advised also. He advised that he had not received any additional letters. He stated he does not desire protection, but would abide by the wishes of the commissioner's office. They're taking it serious, though. Oh, yeah, I mean, it's a death threat.

I mean, you've got to kind of take it serious. He doesn't take it seriously, but at all, no. He said he doesn't want any protection. He wants nothing from anybody. Go fuck yourself, basically. But, I mean, what are you going to do?

So here is from the book, Seasons in Hell. Quote, Billy was so intense and so focused on what he was doing to get things turned around. Hargrove said there just wasn't a whole lot of energy left once it got turned around. By the end of June, the Rangers were three games under 500, 12 games behind Oakland. By the All-Star break, there were rumors that Billy's job was in jeopardy, and as usual, it wasn't just because the Rangers had slumped. Grieve, who was the GM, said we started to see the effect of his drinking. He would come in late to the ballpark and look terrible.

The players weren't mad at him. I think we felt, I think we, that's the player at the time, Grieve, sorry. I think we felt bad it was happening. It was more sad than annoying. He said, almost 40 years later, people ask, why didn't someone say something to him? Why didn't someone talk to him about his drinking? But that's not what people did 40 years ago. We didn't think it was any of our business.

No one would have dreamed of approaching him and talking, talk to him about his drinking. No, that's a man's private, don't mean, tell me what to put in my body. He's here. Shut up. Yeah. That wasn't considered being helpful back then or caring. That was considered being a fucking, being a fucking, you know, a washerwoman up in everybody's business. But he's busy trying to get things done and he's under a lot of stress and somebody's trying to kill him.

So he's drunk. All those things. Yeah. And he's an alcoholic on top of all that. So it's just getting worse and worse. Now he's fine and like, oh, I can have a couple drinks before the game. I got finding spots where he can drink more. He said, Grieve said, but I admit to, I think about it now, even 40 years later,

it was sad because I loved playing for him. So they go on to say here that the Rangers road trips were getting wilder and wilder with the charter plane journeys resembling a flying saloon and casino. That did not exactly set the Rangers apart in baseball back then, but that kind of behavior always gets mentioned more often when the team is losing. And team owner Brad Corbett, wily and irrepressible in the George Steinbrenner mold of a team owner, had encouraged several players to spy on Billy for him. Okay.

He's got fucking stooges now. Players? Yeah, players. Yeah. Corbett, who died in 2012, was told that Billy's girlfriends were flying on the charters with the team. something that especially became an issue to the players when Billy's Paramore bumped one of the coaches out of the first class section into the back of the plane

usually occupied by writers, broadcasters, and staff. Protocol on a baseball team is unwritten, but some things are out of bounds, and that was one example. Corbett heard all about it. Wow. Grieve said the off-the-field stuff became a distraction. It was discussed. It erodes the team a little bit. Corbett called the minority owners and team executives and said he was considering firing Billy,

and he told Billy the same thing. Now, more from Seasons in Hell. Quote, The Little Dago seemed to be in training for a middleweight title bout. It seemed the Rangers manager had been scheduling sparring sessions at least once a week

when he would play his rendition of the Moonlight Sonata on the nearest available face. Jesus Christ. Somebody suggested that Billy might be on a cash retainer, from the American Dental Association. I told Billy that he might consider changing his name to Sugar Ray. Kind of has a nice ring to it, that he conceded. One bout took place during a weekend of turmoil in Anaheim.

In a restaurant, the mixologist refused to pour another cocktail for one of Billy's coaching staff, claiming the gentleman had already appeared overserved. Which happens all the time in a bar, cut you off. Billy took Umbrage. while Martin and the bartender were engaged in a loud and intense disagreement over, I'll swear to God, an American's constitutional right to get plastered as he wants to. Another customer entered the room. Billy brought this to the Constitution from not pouring you another drink.

Okay, someone else entered the room. After several minutes, the customer, not realizing that he had stumbled into some distinguished company, yelled at the bartender, as soon as you get through arguing with these shitheads, would you mind getting me a gin and tonic? in seconds, Billy had rendered the customer horizontal. Ha! Obviously, yep. The bartender called the cops.

Given the notoriety of the winner of the first round, K.O., no arrests were made, but they said they did confiscate the keys to Billy's rental car. You're not driving, Billy. We won't arrest you, but you're not driving. So I have to say, there's a lot of people, like with the Billy Martin episodes, it'll be like, I want more arrests. I want more arrests. Billy literally couldn't get arrested back then.

Yeah. If all of the shit we talked about happened, say, from 1995 to now, he'd have 15 arrests already. You know what I mean? He'd be arrested. Just for assault. Yeah. Oh, he'd have 20 assault arrests.

He'd be fucking looking at prison time every time he touched anybody. But back then, if you were real famous, the cops would come and they'd go, ah, boys will be boys, guys fight, you know, hey, it's all right. Nobody's dead. It's all fine. And that was that. Let him go. Same thing with Evil Conevil.

It was like he couldn't get arrested until later on, but he was robbing banks and doing crazy shit. He was doing terrible things. Yeah. So in mid-June, following another loss in Kansas City, I was seated in the lounge at Royal Stadium, sharing a beer and polite conversation with Bert Hawkins. That's another writer. Oh, no, that's the road manager, a guy that he hit that he slapped, who the night before

had summoned me to his hotel room to meet his old friend David Eisenhower, the son-in-law of the recently ex-president, son-in-law. Oh, of Dwight? How the fuck would he be his son-in-law and have his last name? Um, I don't know. I don't think that's possible. How is that possible? Did he take Herald? Who knows? Eisenhower's a strong name back then. I'm not sure.

Sure enough, yeah. I was now telling Hawkins how Eisenhower, unlike his photographs, didn't look anything like Howdy-Duty in person. When somebody barged into the press box and announced that down in the Rangers Clubhouse, Billy Martin and Willie Davis, that's a player, were beating the crap out of each other. Uh-oh. Oh my God. Hawkins

smiled and said, hmm, hard to figure out who to root for in that one. Both guys you don't like. Oh, man. The winner in the long run was probably Willie Davis. Not 20 minutes after the hostilities, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, one like the Rangers were involved

in a pennant race. I'm gone like a cool breeze, Willie told me. Oh my God. That's fucking funny. Now there's an article about how Billy's a peacemaker. Oh. Here's an article from June 2875. Slumping Texas Ranger superstar Jeff Burroughs,

accused by an anonymous teammate of loafing in the outfield, exchanged punches in the clubhouse Friday with center fielder Joe Lovito and manager Billy Martin had to break up the fisticuffs between Burroughs, or potential fisticuffs between Burroughs and Jim Fragosi. Burroughs, the most valuable player in the American League in 1974, was later seen shaking hands with Lovito, but called the Fergosi a backstapper. It's the guy he fought with. He's fine with that. Burroughs was criticized by an anonymous teammate in the local Dallas paper after a game in Chicago.

The teammate told the Dallas Times Herald that several balls fell in that Burroughs should have caught. Burroughs, who'd been benched by Martin for both games, a Friday night's doubleheader with Minnesota, walked into the locker. room while an associated writer was waiting to speak with Martin. Burroughs walked into the restroom area and shouted, did anyone really think I was loafing in Chicago? There are some backstabbers on this team and I think I know who they are. Not up. Yeah. Lovito and several other players were standing nearby Burroughs outburst. Burroughs moved near Lovito and said, I think you might just be one of them and then punches started flying. However, none landed and teammates It's quickly separated the duo.

See, Billy's not involved because no one actually got hit. That is fun when you see a fight and nobody lands a single punch. I've seen one recently. That was a waste. Yeah, two guys threw 40 punches minimal. Neither of them hit anything. No. Oh, when I was a bouncer, I used to see that all the time when people are real shit-faced.

Yeah, they were. They'd fucking wind up from the ground to throw a punch and the other guy as drunk as he is, be able to get out of the way. So much time to move. There'd be like eight missed punches and then they'd just like. hug each other and go to the ground. We'd wait for that part. We'd be like, well, see if anybody wins the fight first. Nobody wins. All right, I guess go break him up when they're

on the ground. Fuck them. The bigger guy got so frustrated, he grabbed the smaller guy by the shirt and threw him, but hung on to his shirt. So he just ripped his shirt off of him. And then he hit the ground causing scratches. And that was the only blood incurred by this

fight. That's a sad fight. Unbelievable. Jesus Christ. So they go, Burroughs stalked back into the locker room bench and began talking with the AP reporter Randy Galloway of the Dallas Morning News, who had just walked in the locker room. Levito and Burroughs exchanged apologies. Then Fergosi came into the locker room, and Burroughs twice called him a backstabber. With that, Fergosi walked over to Burroughs in a threatening manner and asked, would you say that one more time? Burroughs looked him in the eye and said, you're the backstabber.

Uh-oh. I'm afraid of you. As both players moved toward he. other Martin dashed from his office and broke up any potential problems ordering for gosi to his office so basically I'm the only one who's allowed to fight here yes not you right you bring it to me and I'll see if they need an ass kicking and I'll dispense it so here's another one from seasons in hell back in Texas according to a ranger's pitcher who claimed to be an eyewitness Billy's winning

streak turned down a dead-end street at the county line bar and Graham Prairie This is a hilarious story. Oh, boy. I told a basic overview of it earlier in this series. In Grand Prairie, on the night before the team would leave on an extended road trip, Billy allegedly sucker punched an off-duty iron worker. Oh, fuck. Some real tough son of a bitch who works hard for a living out in the Texas son.

Sucker punched. Billy nailed him with his best shot. This is a quote from the pitcher. Billy nailed him with his best shot and the fucker didn't even blink. then the guy grabbed Billy by the shirt and I saw something I thought I'd never see. He apologized to the guy. I'm so sorry. If you hit somebody with all you got in the face and it doesn't even flinch him,

try an apology first. Let me tell you because you're going to get your ass kicked. So maybe you can stop it from happening, but I doubt it. Yeah. What are you going to do? Run is the best thing. Run. Then the big.

son of a bitch spat a mouthful of blood on the floor, looked at Billy and said, listen, apologies ain't enough with no way. Pologies ain't enough. Then Billy said, look, I'm drunk and I don't know what I'm doing. And the big guy said, then I'll catch you when you're sober. Wake up, yeah. So Billy jumped in that big Lincoln and got his ass out of there. Yeah.

I'll find you when you're sober then, pal, don't you worry? Which is terrifying. Yeah. It's a fucking terrifying way to thing to hear. I'll be around that. I'm going to calmly kick the shit out of you. This isn't, I'm not angry. I'm okay.

I'll be cracking my knuckles. Yeah. Waiting for you. From the book here, as part of his adoption of the Texas lifestyle, Billy had become a big fan of country music. He attended concerts and befriended country music stars like Charlie Pride and Mac Davis. During the seventh inning stretch at Arlington Stadium, Billy wanted the public address system to play John Denver's, thank God, him a country boy. He's from fucking San Francisco or Oakley's from

Berkeley for Christ's sake. You're not a country boy at all. You're not. You're a fucking guinea from the fucking docks. What are you doing? I don't get this. It had been the top selling record in country music in 1974 and the Texas crowd loved it. But the Queens born

Corbett lobbied for the traditional baseball anthem, take me out to the ball game. The two men argued over which song to play throughout the 1975 season until Corbett insisted take me out to the ball game be played in the seventh inning stretch at every home game, and that was that. Wow.

The day after Corbett told Billy he might fire him, the Rangers were cruising to a 6-0 victory, a five-hitter by Fergie Jenkins. In roughly the sixth inning, Billy called the press box and asked to talk to the person who chooses the music played between the innings on the public address system. He can't stop. Who's the DJ? Oh, my God. Who's got the ox cord?

I want to fix this. I am going to fix this. Yeah. Let me plug my phone into that bad boy. Umpire Ron Luciano was working the bases and wandered over to the Rangers' dugout for some water in the midst of another hot Texas night. He heard Billy screaming into the dugout phone. Here's a quote from that guy from Luciano's autobiography. Billy was saying, I don't care what the owner says.

Play the goddamn John Denver son. I want John Denver. That's the angriest anyone's ever been about John Denver in any aspect. He has ex-wife's wives that aren't as mad at him. God damn John Denver. Why is the goddamn Denver? Oh, man. I couldn't believe my ears.

Billy's yelling, I better hear, thank God, I'm a country boy, and then slams the phone down. What the fuck? Wow. The public address system played, thank God I'm a country boy. In the owner's suite, Corbett steamed. After the game, the Rangers announced that Billy had been dismissed as a manager. They fired him over John Denver. Wow.

Has anyone ever been fired over John Denver? Over playing. Thank God I'm a country. They were so aggrieved that he is not one. Yeah. They fired him about it. They fired him. So Corb is like he went against what I said I'm firing.

Which is, okay, this is two children. Yeah. Billy shouldn't give a shit what's playing during the seventh inning stretch because he should be worried about other shit. Yes. And the owner shouldn't get in a pissing match with his fucking manager on the, he should care about what's going on between the fucking in lines and so should the manager. Neither of these two should be involved in this. Also, if the manager

thinks that this song may improve morale around here, playing, who gives a shit. But Corbett, Billy is drawn to that George Steinbrenner, Corbett, you know, dictatorial guy that I'm going to disobey type of

shit. So I don't know if it's something to do with his dad or what the fuck it is, but I don't know. Corbett said the decision was made because of a lot of factors which had built up over the last month or so. By the way, the next six seasons, the Rangers are going to have six managers. So Corbett's not exactly

great at hiring managers, put it that way. Including four managers in 1977. Wow. Four. Billy was disconsolate and red-eyed as he cleaned out his locker after the game. Quote, what I'm proud of is the fact that I brought Texas a winner.

I brought them a million fans and I brought them some real Major League Baseball. Billy retreated to an equipment room where he wept as he shook hands with coaches, players, and reporters. It was a pitiful sight seeing Billy all broken up, Rangers trainer, Bill Ziegler said. A reporter asked the reigning American League manager of the year about his future. And Billy said, I have no idea. I love this game.

Baseball is my life. I love the game. But at this very moment, I feel like telling the game to shove it. Tell the game to go fuck itself. He's the McNulty of managers. That's what he is. He's like, I love this job that are trying to fuck me over. Like he's that guy.

It's not good for you. You're not good for the job. The job's not good for you. Stop. You're killing yourself with booze. So, yeah, he is shit can done. Yeah. And that's that.

Corbett, if asked if he considered Martin disloyal, said, I wouldn't care to comment on that. Okay. Interesting. That third base coach that he blamed a loss on, he's the guy who takes over for him. And Billy said, he'll do a good job. he'll do fine.

Also, they shit can Art Fowler and Charlie Silvara, who are two of Billy's, like, loyal coaches, so they fire him. He takes Art Fowler everywhere. Really? Everywhere. Luke Casey said, following Billy is like a fellow following Al Jolson in his prime

of show business. He said, I respected the man who was here, meaning Billy. He said, yeah. So, he's fired now. What's he going to do? What do you do? Yeah, they go over all of his hits. His wife, Gretchen, said he doesn't fit into the mold of the man in the gray flannel suit.

It's just his nature to speak out about what he thinks. Baseball's not the means to an end. It's the end for Billy, she said. Oh, it's everything. It's everything. So August 2nd, 12 days after he's fired by the Rangers, Billy is named the Yankees manager. He's hired. because he wants somebody with fire.

He wants somebody that's going to kick shit around when the guys aren't playing well. Go fucking tell those umpires to go fuck themselves. He wants that. You be me out there is what he's doing. I need you. So he wants it. Now this is a real interesting thing.

If you read Sparky Lyle's book here, Sparky Lyle wrote a great book. He's a pitcher for the Yankees won the Cy Young Award in 77, I believe, and a relief pitcher. And his book is great. It's honest. It's just a diary. It's just a diary.

of a couple of seasons. And he talks about when Billy came in and it really seemed to cause a lot of drama. It worked for the team, but I mean, it was like drama, drama, after this. They really didn't understand why their manager was being fired to begin with just because it was Billy. It was weird.

So Billy is named Yankees manager. The New York newspapers had been predicting the move for days, news leaked by George Steinbrenner. This is from the book. In a press conference in New York, Billy, his face flushed and his voice cracking, said the day was a dream come true. 18 years after George Weiss had banished Billy to Kansas City, then Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Detroit again, and finally Texas, Billy was back. Here we go.

He had predicted as a child that he would play for the Yankees and he had. Now in middle age, three years short of 50, he would be the Yankees manager. They said, gaunt and weary as he exited Texas less than two weeks earlier, Billy now. appeared revitalized. He told reporters, this was the only job I ever wanted, the only job, the Yankee job. And I mean, it's good for whoever wants to kill him. He's in a much bigger spotlight. You can see him, yeah. He's in the stadiums open. Yeah. I mean, but Texas has more guns, so you got that. That's true too. Easier to shoot him there probably. We only need one though. Yeah, that's true. As it happened, the day Billy reunited with the Yankees was also the team's old timers day.

and Billy, in a move that presaged Steinbrenner's love of showmanship, was to be introduced during the on-field festivities after DiMaggio Mantle and Ford. Public address announcer Bob Shepard called his name, and Billy jogged out and waved his cap. The crowd stood and cheered. The 1975 Yankees had been lethargic. The anticipated dynamism of Billy Martin was appreciated and welcomed. The ovation continued longer than it had been for all the Yankees.

Yankees Hall of Famers. Wow. They love him. Billy was back. In his mind, the circle was complete. This is like one of, I think, six times he's going to manage the Yankees or something, because he gets fired constantly. Nice.

He stood on the field and waved his cap repeatedly as he wiped away tears with the other hand. At his home on that day in Glendale, California, Casey Stengel was confined to his bed. In 1974, his wife Edna had sustained a stroke and was now living at a nearby nursing home. Oh, no. Casey, who had turned 85 three days earlier, had recently been diagnosed with leukemia. Shit. Jesus.

In pain and increasingly immobile, Casey had hired a housekeeper to help him, Mrs. June Bolin. Sports writer, Mori Allen, interviewed Bolin shortly after Billy was hired as Yankees manager. She said the television was on in Casey's bedroom where the newscast mentioned Billy Martin. Mrs. Bolin got Casey's attention, pointed to the screen, which showed Billy on the field at old-timers' day. Casey, Casey, she said, Billy is the new manager of the Yankees. She said that Casey smiled and then wept. So it's happy for him. Yeah. Happy for him. So everybody's all excited. He said, it's great to be back where it all started. Now with one of these rinky dink fucking, you know, bullshit things. He said, when everybody fires you, they try to explain why. First of all,

when everybody fires you. How many people? How many times have the average person been fired? Oh, well. Not enough to say when everybody fires you, I don't think, right? Yeah. You should look in the mirror if everybody's hiring. That's the thing. That's for sure. I've, I took a piece with that a long time ago that I knew I was, I was absolutely the problem.

Well, yeah, you weren't even trying, though. You were a teenager. You didn't care. That's what I mean? You're not even trying at that point. What the hell do you care? You're just, I'm going to stay here until they fire me. I'm not doing it.

I'm not doing it. I'm not trying to make my way up the, fucking grocery store corporate ladder. I'm just trying to make a paycheck. Yeah, pay for it. Yeah. All the dumb shit I got to pay for. Yeah. One of the Yankees executives said it, Billy Martin hadn't been available. Bill Verdon would still be the manager of the Yankees.

So we weren't even unhappy with our manager. We just wanted Billy. So that's that. Billy Martin is the manager. Everybody is happy. Martin was on a fishing trip in Colorado when he was reached by the Yankees through Martin's father-in-law. They began negotiations and reached an agreement.

And one of Martin's first meetings was with center fielder Elliot Maddox, who he tried to fight and threw out. Yeah, he said, hello, Elliot, this is Billy Martin. Maddox said, I said, oh, he recalled because it was on the phone. He, Martin, felt that things in the past should have been forgotten. So he said, hey, you know, that's that. Let's bygone this bitch. 1975 Yankees, 83 and 77, finished third in the AL, and Martin did the same job as Verdon. Verdon was 53 and 51, Martin was 30 and 26.

Same shit. Yeah. Feels like it might be the players. Possibly the players on this squad. You got, hey, Sandy Alamar Sr. Look at that. Yeah. Ron Guidry is a 24-year-old kid.

Christ, he was great. Catfish hunter. This is the Rangers? No, this is the Yankees. Oh, this is the Yankees. Catfish Hunter. Alex Johnson, Sparky Lyle. Trying to see some other guys.

Thurman Munson, obviously, Greg Nettles, trying to see people would hear of. Lou Pinella. This is a bunch of future managers on this team, too. Roy White, the future broadcaster, Chris Chambliss, who's a coach and manager somewhere, I think. Anyway, that's the team. Now, they said Roy White recalled a game in August

when he was the base runner at second base and Lou Panella was at the plate. Thurman Munson was on first base and Billy put the bunt sign on. So Roy White, who's on second base, says, Lou fouls off the bunt attempt on the first pitch. I didn't even look at the third base coach. I assume the bunt was still on.

But the next pitch, Lou hits a single to right field. And I went to third. I scored when the next batter hit a ground ball. I'm coming into the dugout and everybody's shaking my hand. I figured I did something good. Yeah. Billy comes toward me and I extend my hand. And he sternly says to me,

you missed a sign, you cost a sort of. a run. Way to go, dickhead. Nice job, asshole. Turns out Billy had changed the bunt to a hit and run on the second pitch to Pinella. I'd never heard of a hit and run with runners at first and second. Billy says to me, Thurman couldn't run on the hit and run because you didn't run. If you're both running on Pinella's single, then you score and Thurman gets to third. He scores on that ground out, not you. You cost us a run. Ah. That's it. And I thought to myself, uh-oh, I better start really paying attention. This isn't the same game I've been playing. We all knew. Billy could help us, but we didn't realize how much concentration that would take.

You got to pay attention at work. Yeah, for sure. Just dick around. Now, George is a different kind of owner. Oh. Owners in baseball generally shut the fuck up and stay out of the way. They control everything from behind the scenes. If they want to fire a manager, they do.

If they want to call a guy in, they'll talk to them, tell them they want to do that. But the manager does what they want, generally, until they get fired. George is a different kind of cat. Oh. Completely different. He steps over lines that you don't step over is enough. owner. He's involved a lot. Yeah, from this book, they say

Billy had never had an owner who treated the locker room as his place of business, too. Late in the 1975 season, Steinbrenner, a former assistant football, college football as a young man who himself never played football, that says a lot. That's George Steinbrenner. Had taken

to taping pep talks for his players on audio cassette. And just sending that in? Yeah, that's the manager's job. Not yours. Not yours. Not yours. Go manage a team yourself if you want to do that. You don't do that. Prohibited from going into the locker room himself because of his suspension, George ordered Gabe Paul. He was suspended by the league. George ordered Gabe Paul to have the speeches played for the players before certain big games as a way to motivate them.

Oh, boy. They hear an owner's voice. They all just roll their eyes and go jerk off. This does not motivate them. They have no respect for him when it comes to that kind of shit. The cassette player would be placed on a stool in the middle of the clubhouse with the, the volume turned on high. The first speech was just two minutes long. The next one a week later was a little longer. When the third speech went on for more than three or four minutes, Billy emerged from his office,

stalked toward the middle of the clubhouse, kicked over the stool, then pushed the stop button on the cassette player. Uh-oh. Not having that shit. The players roared their approval. Exactly. That's what they've wanted.

And Billy uses George as a way to motivate his players in this way. I'm protecting you from this jackass. And then they love that and they get behind Billy and everybody's on a team. But they need an enemy and that's going to be George Steinbrenner. And if we all got a common one and he happens to be right around the corner, much more beneficial to all of us. Exactly. And then you're on my side too when things come up and that helps too. Yeah.

It's us against them. Yes, exactly. They said they later would ask Billy if he was playing George's tapes to the players, the general manager did. And Billy would say he was. Oh, yeah, yeah, we got to play them. Don't worry about it. In fact, after Billy kicked over the stool, players took turns stopping the Steinbrenner speeches, rushing to the cassette player and forcefully banging on the stop button. They don't want to.

September 29th, the day after the 1975 regular season ended, Casey Stengel died. Oh, damn. Yeah, he said that Billy went straight to Casey's home in Glendale, California, and on the night before Casey's funeral, slept in his mentor's bed. That's creepy. That is creepy. I don't want to sleep in some old man's bed whether he's alive or dead. That's fucking gross.

Why do you do that? I don't know, man. He's 85. Things are leaking out of him all the time. I don't want to be in there. No, fuck that. That's gross. Anyway, they said,

Billy said he wanted to do it to connect with Stacy one last time. Stangle, yeah. This was Coach Charlie Silvera said. Billy Silvera and Yankees infielder Jerry Coleman were Paul bearers at Casey's funeral. carrying the casket from the church of the recessional,

the pastor reading one of Casey's eulogies quoted the Los Angeles sports reporter Jim Murray, who wrote upon Casey's death, God is certainly getting an earful tonight. Billy stayed another night at Casey's home before flying to the Bay Area to go hunting with Lou Figon. With Mrs. Boland's permission,

Billy took with him some of Casey's old long-sleeved t-shirts that he'd worn under his Yankee uniform. On occasion, Billy would wish Wear them beneath his Yankees' uniform and show visitors the 37 stenciled underneath the collar of the shirt. Nice. And this is Casey's shirts, which is cool. That's really cool. Okay. Now, in November, 1975, his daughter with his first wife, Lois, Kelly Ann, remember her? She's arrested.

Oh. It's crazy, too. What'd she do? Trying to smuggle. This is in 75, by the way. 450 grams of cocaine out of barrenquia, Columbia. Oh, Colombian Coke. Smuggling and incal 450 grams of Colombian coke. What is that?

That's a lot of eight balls. That's fucking amazing. That is a lot, man. Are you trying to figure out the weight of it? I was trying to do math in my head. Yeah, that's fucking, that's... 28 grams to an ounce, babe, so think about it that way. Yeah, that's a lot of ounces.

That's a lot of eight balls. What is she trying to do? Is this personal use? Fuck, it's more than, it's, it's like, um, what, 15 ounces, 17 ounces of fucking coke. That is not personal use unless you plan on either exploding your heart or doing coke for the next two years. Right. Does it, does it, does it have an expiration date? Can you just keep that in the cabinet?

No, yeah, you have to, you have to store it a certain way. Yeah, you can't just hold it out there. You can't put it up there like it's fucking just old sugar. Yeah. So this was as she boarded a flight for Miami from Columbia. Now, the Colombian authorities grew more interested in prosecuting Kelly Ann when they found out her father's a fucking big famous American. Now they really want to make an example. Now, Kelly Ann, who had put the cocaine in plastic bags and strapped them to her legs.

That was her way of smuggling them. Yeah. Also would not identify who had given her the cocaine. Well, yeah, she doesn't want to be murdered by a cartel. So that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Kelly Ann was 22, a secretary living near Berkeley, and she ran with a rough crowd. Though she initially claimed she'd been duped into carrying the drugs, she later confessed to her father that she was trying to make some extra money on a drug running mission.

Okay, so she doesn't do drugs. She's trying to get. She might do some, too, but she's making some money. This is 75. Coke wasn't, like, affordable to the masses until the early 80s. Really. The late, and that was like in very specific places like Miami. There'd be tons of it or New York City.

But it was still in the 75, it is extremely expensive this shit. I mean, so fucking expensive still. They hadn't figured out how to really get the packaging and get it going and make it a real big business. It was still very, very expensive. So they said, Billy was obsessed with trying to find back channel ways to get Kelly Ann clear to the charges. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. The case lingered for many weeks as Billy tried to call in every favor from his extended network of friends.

Frank Sinatra made some calls. Really? You got Frank Sinatra making calls for you? That's awesome. You got all blue eyes on the hall. Wow. Holy shit. As did Bill Reedy, who worked for a politician with ties to then-President Ford. The Yankees used their resources and arranged for a respected lawyer. Billy called then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

because Kissinger was a renowned Yankees fan. Kissinger promised to look into the matter. Colombian officials also extorted tens of thousands of dollars from Billy. There was Colombian officials saying, I can help make it go away. And so he bribed a bunch of people that didn't do anything. They just extorted it. They just took the money, yeah.

The ordeal weighed on Billy. He blamed himself for not being more of a part of Kelly Ann's life. through the years Kelly Ann had visited her father and lived one summer with Billy Gretchen and Billy Joe in Minnesota, but father and daughter were far from close. Yeah, that would make you feel like it's your fault. In January, Kelly Ann was sentenced to three years in jail. Wow. Wow. Because of the official lobbying of Billy's friends in high places, she avoided a hardened Columbia jail.

She was instead confined to a convent where she was watched over by nuns. Really? You're going to be real bored for a couple of years. all it was. It was understood that she would likely serve about two-thirds to one half of her sentence. Jesus Christ. As for his other child and the family left behind in Texas,

Billy did return to live with Gretchen and Billy Joe for weeks at a time in the off season. It was an uneasy standoff. Oh boy. Jesus. Neither filed for divorce. Gretchen made visits to New York and Billy made visits to Texas.

This is Billy Jr. here. Billy Joe. Yeah. Said it was tough. I was trying to get through school and sports. They wouldn't give up on it, but you could feel the sadness for everyone. Billy was seen on the Manhattan Bar Circuit, and there was always the occasional one-night stand for companionship, but he was a lonely figure. Writer Mickey Morabito,

or I'm sorry, Mickey Morabito, who's the Yankees' assistant public relations director, said, I remember Billy coming into our offices all the time that winter. It was strange to see him hanging around the office. office like that in the off season. Managers don't usually do that. He had rejoined the Yankee family, but I think it was the only family he had at that point. Sure.

Yeah. Lou Pinella says about Steinbrenner, quote, George just loved to be seen and involved and truthfully, I think he thought he was helping. He thought this helps and it doesn't. He doesn't, because he's not a ballplayers and understand baseball. That's the problem. That's why the managers are all ex-players because they understand what players are thinking and doing how to motivate them.

Man, I can't imagine having my daughter go to prison for traffic. No, it's horrible for fucking trafficking. You would definitely feel like that was your fault. Yeah, yeah. Did she not feel like she could talk to me if she needed something? Yeah, you need money, you come to me, you know what I mean? Wow. That's how you want your daughter.

I feel like a failure. Yeah. My daughter knows, you need money, you come to me. You don't need anybody else. You call your father and I'll figure it the fuck out. If I have to go knock over a fucking liquor store, I'll get you the money before you have to go get the money. You're not trafficking for Christ's sake. You're not, yeah, I'll

traffic if I have to, but you're not doing it. Not you, Jesus Christ. So that's how your father's supposed to be, but who knows? Anyway, Lou Pinella said, and at first I think it just amused Billy, George would come strutting by and say something like, okay, Panella, now

let's whip that bat around. How does that help? You know what I mean? Or he would watch infielders and shout, step lively, boys. And Billy would be standing there with his hands in his back pockets biting his lip. Then George would turn his back and walk to the next field and Billy would

wait a minute and say, you heard the man step lively boys and they'd all laugh. Move it. He said everybody would start quietly laughing, turning away so no one can see. He reminds me of, and please don't take this politically if you fucking idiots, he reminds me exactly of people describing Trump in the

New Jersey General's owner's box when he owned the New Jersey General's USFL team. He'd be like, you know, it'd be like third in a half a yard and he goes, watch this. There's going to be a great pass right here. And it was obviously a running play for a first down. And the people around him were going after like a quarter of watching the game,

they go, this guy doesn't know a fucking thing about football. Like not a goddamn thing about shit. Never heard of it? Never seen it? Yeah. And that's what Steinbrenner is. But he wants to be involved. You know what I mean? He wants to be the leader, but it's, you don't know anything about it. And that's where Steinbrenner's at too. Might mean well, but it doesn't help anything. Sure.

Another time one of the Yankee starters sprained an ankle and an athletic trainer, Gene Monaghan, Christ, he was their trainer forever, had the player hustled into the dugout. Coaches gathered on the bench as Steinbrenner rushed over, peering into the scrum and circling the player. Monaghan was pressing ice to the ankle, which was swelling nonetheless. Do something, Steinbrenner yelped. Don't you have any colder ice? Anything more frozen? More frozen than frozen?

Is that possible? Don't you have gold or ice? And it's just a guy sprained an ankle. It's normal. Kind of shit ice is it around here. He's going to limp for a week. I'm buying, who's buying shit ice on my dime? I lay out for the best fucking ice in this country, God damn it.

So that's where Stein. He doesn't know what he's doing. He shouldn't be doing this. But he wants to be involved. It's his money. So whatever. Steinbrenner was not just a noisy interloper of the Yankees appeased. The players appreciated that he spent money on the roster.

And that's the thing. That's one thing they appreciate is he's not fucking cheap. Every other owner you go on, they're so goddamn cheap. They'll sacrifice winning to put three extra bucks in their pocket. I said this about Steinbrenner. He'd rather win the World Series and lose money on the year than make money and lose. Every time. He'd much rather do that.

And he made a shitload, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. He made a ton of money on the Yankees. And I mean, and also the Yankees back then, it's so weird because like back then team owners looked at the bottom line of like, we took in $10 million, but we spent $12, so I lost $2 million. Nowadays, they don't even look at it like that. No?

No, because the team, the team's an asset that appreciates an insane level and is worth billions of dollars. It's growing money every year, no matter you lose it or not. If you lost $50 million this year, your team probably appreciated $200 million in value, which made you a profit of $150,000,000 million dollars that you can now. borrow against making you that you're worth. You made more money. Losing, that's what I mean, people with these out of control payrolls, they always say, they don't care about that.

They don't care if they're making a profit. They are all the teams. They're all profitable, but that's not even, that's not where the money comes from. The money comes from the value of the team nowadays as an asset. So, anyway, they say one of Steinbrenner's, the Yankee Spring Training Home had been renovated with more spacious locker room and additional fields. one of Steinbrenner's first acts was to upgrade the Yankees travel arrangements. The team now had newer jets to fly them around the continent, and they saved at the best hotels in whatever city.

Hell yeah. Which makes the players like the guy. Yeah. Exactly. Here is the Yankees traveling secretary, Bill Killer Kane, who had become a friend to Steinbrenner and Billy Martin, said he had a difficult daily double, recalling that the upgrades were ordered by both men. Billy said, I want my guys to have better shit. And George said, we're getting the guys better shit.

He said, Billy, meanwhile, wanted to make sure the players' lives were easier and that they felt special. One of the first things he told me that he wanted was Chivas as the only Scotch served on the planes when we traveled. I told Billy, I didn't think we served Scotcha at all. And he said, well, that's not right. Give the players the best. Let them have a drink to relax when we went together on the road. Let them have some fun. So he had Chivas on all our flights

And good food too Shrimp cocktail steak you name it It was Billy's idea that they should feel honored To play for the Yankees And George thought the same thing That's how you run a team Absolutely cheap fucks Make them proud to be a piece of this organization

It's ridiculous Any of these fucking teams that are these fans That go to these fucking games With the top five lowest five payroll teams Don't give them your fucking money Don't give them your money Watch it on TV. Watch it on TV.

Tell them to go fuck themselves. Yeah, make them earn it. That's what I mean. These owners are cheap as shit while their team is appreciating like Christ and value. It's fucking ridiculous, man. 1976, Yankees, 97 and 62. Hey. First in the AL East, not too shabby here.

They beat the Royals 3-2 in the ALCS. That's the Chris Chambliss home run. That's a huge thing in Yankee lore. And then they got swept by the Reds in the World Series. This is the big red machine the end of that. Yeah, yeah. The end of their dynasty. So they were tough.

They were real tough here. Now, before the opening game of the 76 season in Milwaukee, this is from the book, Billy with a black armband on his sleeve commemorating the death of Casey Stengel, assembled his team for a clubhouse speech. Yankees always do that. Legend dies. They were a black band like they're in the mafia for the rest of the year. Or a number on that they had the, you know, DiMaggio's number with the thing for the year he died.

Mickey Mantle. Panella said he didn't say much. The first thing he said was, we're winning the division this year, then we're winning the pennant. The next thing he said was, the only way that doesn't happen is if you don't believe in what I'm going to ask you to do. This is a good team, and we're going to scare the shit out of the league if you buy into what I'm trying to do. Scare the shit out of him. Trust me, you do that and we'll win. Then he walked out of the clubhouse and headed for the dugout. I was standing next to Thurman, and he turned to me and said, quote, that SOB is going to win us a pennant. I believe him.

Get in the plane. Not too, yeah, let's go. By June 14th, 1976, there's a headline that says Yankees fiery Billy Martin creates constant havoc. Oh? Yep. George Steinbrenner once said, quote, I don't want a manager who goes to the mound to remove a pitcher

with his hands in his back pocket, walking slowly and looking like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I want a manager who bounds out of the dugout and goes to the mound like he knows what's wrong and he has the answer to the problem. And it's not you. You get out of here. I don't need you. Yeah. And that is so ridiculous because some managers have a different aura. Some have that fiery aura.

Some of that. Joe Torrey would walk out. Calm as can be like a confused old man, but he knew exactly what he was doing. And they were winning World Series. He's going to go ask the guy. Do you still have it? You've been watching. I know you don't have it.

You don't know what you're talking about, George. George and Billy were not necessarily a match made in heaven. They had their differences and will continue to have their differences. They said some are out in the open, some are in private, but they're definitely going to have some problems here. So from the book, it says those guys on the 76 team would have tried to run across a pond if Billy told them to. That's what that killer cane guy said.

Sure. They would have assumed that somehow they wouldn't sink if Billy told them so. That's what you need out of a manager. Yeah. You believe you can do this. You got to ask R. Kelly, you got to believe you can fly. And you got to believe that the closet door locks and that teenage girl won't be able to get out and go tell people what you're doing to her. You got to believe it.

You got to believe the bucket will hold it all. That's what you got to do. So, wow. They said that day by day, Billy was challenging the rest of the American League to stop his refurbished, hard-charging Yankees. Mickey Rivers, Willie Randolph, Roy White, Reserve Sandy Alamar, even Lou Pinello were running teams ragged. dealing bases with abandon. Billy was attempting stolen bases at a rate twice that of former Yankees manager Joe McCarthy and Ralph Hout, Ralph Halk, and three times as often as Casey Stengle. Wow.

Moreover, the 76 Yankees were feisty. Slides into bases were hard and tags were forceful. The pitchers weren't afraid to throw inside and Munson scald at everyone who approached home plate. Billy worked the umpires from the dugout ceaselessly. Gene Monaghan, the trainer said, Billy just kept everyone on a. edge right from the first inning. If he didn't like an umpire's call, he'd be on him. He'd yell, okay, pal, that's

it. You're off the Christmas card list. You owe me one now. You don't get back on the Christmas card list till I get that call back. Breaking balls. And he'd turn and wink at the players on the bench. But that would get everyone paying attention. He would stand on the first step of the dugout

with his hands in his back pockets and just jaw out there, almost like a challenge to the other team. Until that year, players usually sat back on the dugout bench. That season, I noticed half the team would be standing on the first step of the dugout with Billy. Hey. The 76 Yankees had veterans and young players, but most of all, they were a team in sync with their manager. Willie Randolph said, somebody would slide in, slide late at second base and knock me halfway into the outfield.

And then we'd get into the dugout after the inning. Billy would make a show of coming over and asking me how I was. Then he'd say out loud, that was a bullshit play. Defending his players. And he would walk slowly past the veteran. guys like Munson, Pinella, Chambliss, and Nettles, and he would just give them a look that said, you know what to do. He didn't even say anything.

He just looked at him. And boy, that other team's middle infielders would be getting bold over that next inning. That's just the way it went. You got my guy, so I'm going to get your guy. But it got around the league. People knew Billy would punch back and maybe punch twice. Yeah. He's not taking it.

Not taking any shit. They said the Red Sox came to Yankee Stadium on May 20th, trailing the Yankees by six games, but they still had the swagger of a champion. In the mid-1970s, players did not fraternize before games. In fact, oftentimes, they genuinely did not like each other or resented one another's success. Right. It was before the modern big money era of baseball when players,

they're so fucking rich. They don't, hey, I'm super rich, you're super rich, like what you do. And I don't really care if you hit 50 home runs because I have a fucking guaranteed $180 million contract, so I'm fine. It doesn't matter what you do. Let's hang out after this. Yeah, if everybody's rich, it's easy to be friends.

You know what I mean? Everybody's rich and happy and nobody's scared. Real easy. Monson resented that Fisk received more favorable media attention. Carlton Fisd, the longtime catcher. Sometimes Monson attributed to Fisk's movie star looks. Monson was scrot and rough hune. Fisk, a native New Englander, was raised to detest everything about the Yankees.

Most especially that they had won 20 world championship since the Red Sox's last World Series. victory in 1918. That's as of the 70s. The game on May 20th was the first of four scheduled. In the sixth inning, Pinella slammed into Fisk at home plate as he tried to score on a single. Pinella was out, but Fisk didn't wait for the umpire's

call to deliver his own verdict on the collision. The Red Sox catcher started punching Pinella. Oh. The benches emptied in a flash. Mickey Rivers and then Greg Nettles grabbed Boston starting pitcher Bill Lee from behind the old spaceman Bill Lee, with Nettles throwing the pitcher into the infield

grass on his left shoulder. When Lee came at Nettles again, he got the worst of it again and later left the field with torn ligaments in his left shoulder. Dang it. Not good. Lee had won 17 games in each of the previous three seasons, wouldn't rejoin the Boston rotation until September. The team split the four-game series, but Billy's team had made a statement.

Randolph said, we had become like Billy, defiant, backing down from no one, willing to do anything to win. There's no question we took on his personality. So the Yankees had a 10-game lead over the Red Sox by the 4th of July and never look back. Okay. This is more from the FBI letters here. Oh, boy. More from FBI shit, different people now.

Enclosed for the Bureau is the original and a Xerox copy of a letter postmarked Brooklyn, New York, dated 6-876, addressed to Mr. Billy Martin, care of the New York Post. A newspaper here. This letter was forwarded to Yankee Stadium by the United States. the post, this letter could be considered threatening in nature having a deadline of June 14, 1976. Okay, let's find out what the letter says here, because it's pretty funny, actually. Did I remember this? No, no, this is a letter, the FBI talking about a letter someone sent to Bill.

Oh, okay, got it. Yeah. Dear Martin, how would your wife and kids get along after you're gone? Did you write out your will yet? This is in somebody's broken handwriting, so it's hard to read. Don't wait until it's too late. Do your wife, oh my God. A favor?

No, no, no, no, no. Do your wife have to go out and sell her cunt again? Oh, my God. Again. Again is the word that makes it funny. That makes it funny. It was his wife go out and sell her cunt. That's just crass.

Again, that's kind of funny. I gotta be honest with you. You better hurry up. You have until Monday night, June 14th. Or else she's going to have to sell her cut? He's going to be selling her cut. And I'm not even buying, so I don't know where she's selling it to. Holy shit.

So he's building a winner. There's all these articles all through the season about how he's, you know, no one's laughing at Billy anymore. You know, Billy is getting these guys fucking ready. Martin said it was an overhauling job from the basic foundation. The last two months I was an observer. I didn't like the execution on the field and I didn't like it was going on in the clubhouse, meaning the last season he was here.

So I just sat around to just get an assessment of everything last year. But now this year I'm ready. He said on the field, the execution and discipline was very poor. They missed the cutoff man all the time. So often it was unbelievable. And they were bringing every Tom Dick and Harry into the clubhouse. It was chaos. Yeah, the cutoff man,

an ex-second baseman really gets pissed when you miss the cutoff man because that's him. Don't miss me. I catch it, relay it, what are we doing? You know,

you don't have confidence in me is what you're saying to him. So, yeah, he's talking about discipline's got to start in the clubhouse. You can't have a country clubhouse, a country club clubhouse. Last year the game would start

and some of the players would come out to bench, to the bench an inning later. Now the players find each other if they're not out there for the anthem. and the guys who aren't playing aren't complaining and moaning. That's the way it was with a winning club.

That'll fall apart here later on, though, as he's going to fight with Reggie Jackson when he comes in and everything else. It's going to be real bad. September, 1976, here's a story from Dick Young, a daily news writer called Young Ideas. In the first inning the other night, Mickey Rivers hit a ground ball to shortstop, and suddenly from a tremendous hustling ball player

who was excited the fans and his teammate, Mickey Rivers turned into a bit of a dog. He did not run out the ground ball, and when Mark Wagner babbled it, there was time to pick up the ball and throw to first for the out. The real Mickey Rivers, as distinguished from the man who dogged it,

would have beaten it out. I was inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, to concede that perhaps his legs were troubling him because he did complain of them a few days before that. But later in the game, he broke for second on a steel, and even later he out-legged a bunt for a base hit. So I must assume if he could run then, he could have run in the first inning.

Billy Martin, when asked about the incident, said, quote, it won't happen again, I guarantee you that. He's going to put a stop to this. Yeah, they say Mickey Rivers has become a star and is seeking special privilege. Billy Martin is the boss. To the boss, there's no such thing as special privilege. It has led this to a strained situation,

a condition Mickey Rivers cannot win. Bigger stars than he have been traded away. You don't need to think, you needn't think too far back to remember Bobby Mercer. His departure shocked a few Yankees fans and a few Yankees players. Before that, Casey Stangle unloaded some biggies who defied his authority. Casey warned them and he didn't heed it. Mickey Rivers, too, Sparky Lyle, through the whole book. He gets pissed off at Billy for this.

He loves Billy and all this type of shit, but he said he doesn't like the way Billy uses him as a reliever. Yeah, yeah. He was a Cy Young Award winner, and then they bring in Goose Gossage. and fucking the next year and he's like he's a setup man after that he's like I'm not a long reliever I was the Cy Young Award winner and a fucking closer

just because I can't throw a hundred doesn't mean I can't get guys out I'm still a great fucking pitcher yeah and he also got mad at the way he handled Mickey he always a million times in the book he said just leave Mickey the hell alone and let him do his thing

and he'll do great just leaving the hell alone gotta leave guys alone Billy gets some guys you gotta ride some guys you gotta leave alone and he goes Billy sometimes doesn't know no difference between those two He just rides everybody. Casey Sengel used to say to his players,

a moving van is going to back up and hit some of these guys in the ass. That is fucking funny. On their way of fucking out the door. That's very funny. Billy said, I don't know why, but every once in a while, someone will test you like little kids.

And like little kids, you've got to slap their hands when they break the rules. I treat them like men as long as they act like men. When they act like kids, they got to be punished. You bet. Twice with an.

week Mickey Rivers tested Billy Martin. They said the team was in Baltimore the first time. Mrs. Rivers had showed up unannounced. Martin and Rivers had words about it. Other players have their wives on the road. Rivers said, feeling persecuted. He said, other players ask permission before

the trip. That's the club's rule, stupid. So they said the club rule and many teams have it is that a player must receive permission from the manager to take his wife on a trip or to have his wife join him somewhere along the way. This reduces the risk of surprises and for the traveling secretary who has to juggle rooming list to different roommates and

shit and for the players you know they got to know ahead of time so uh the manager of another team who has a similar rule once told me i have three wives on this club who like to show up by surprise on the road wonder why yeah they're trying to catch somebody couple of assholes in that in that club as it feels like yep and he says suppose one of them sees other things by two other players. Then they're in trouble. You can't, you can see what that does to your ball club. Same reason why they didn't want a wives club in the last one. A few days after the unexpected wife incident in Baltimore, Rivers showed up late for a double header at Yankee Stadium. He wasn't just late. He was practically absent. Instead of being there two hours before the game, as per the

rules, he got there five minutes before. Can't do that. No. And it caught and it, uh, he was scratched from the lineup and it cost him $500. He said, was heavy. And Billy said, traffic was heavy for everyone. Yeah. Find and you're sitting on the fucking bench. Yeah, exactly.

But Billy said, Mickey's having a great year, but I don't bend the rules for that. If one man gets away with something, it's a disease. It spreads like cancer and destroys your team. So, yeah. Anyway, they won the AL East by 11 games over Baltimore,

so absolutely sailed, cruised. This is the first time they've been to the playoffs since 64. They played Kansas City, and then, like we said, you know, later on, they're going to lose to Cincinnati. So here's a little story here, ALCS championship here. They said Martin's choice of Ed Figueroa to pitch the decisive game five at Yankee Stadium was controversial, as Figueroa had not pitched well in the late season and had lost game two, but was in good form and helped the Yankees to a six to three lead. the eighth inning when Brett, George Brett, tied the game with a three-run home run.

Martin did not let the home run phase him and had a verbal exchange with the next batter, John Mayberry, which helped wake the Yankees up from their stunned disbelief at Brett's home run. From the book, it said the next pitch to the next hitter, John Mayberry, sailed high and hard over Mayberry's head. So they threw at Mayberry. After dunking, Mayberry glared at Billy, who yelled back, what are you looking at? Get your fat ass back in the batter's box. It's a fat ass back there.

That's great. Yankees' first baseman Chris Chambliss drove the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth over the right field wall, garnering the Yankees their first pennants in 64. And Billy's first trip to the World Series of the manager. Yep.

Yankees faced the Reds. Martin was ejected from game four at Yankee Stadium after rolling a baseball toward umpire Bruce Fromming, the only Yankee to ever be kicked out of a World Series game. Wow. Jesus Christ. You can't get kicked out of a World Series game, but maybe he was trying to get the team fired up.

Sure. That's all it was, I think, probably. In his mind, that's what he's trying to do. Now, Lou Pinella here from the book they're talking about this, Lou Pinella, a close witness to the last 15 years of Billy's life, has always viewed the 76th season as pivotal, necessary step in the Yankees' evolution into a championship team. Pinella was Billy's kind of player. He smoked, he drank,

swore like a sailor and played with Fury. He likes that. On the field, he always got a case. He's always got a case of the red ass, Bill, he said of Pinella. I like that about Lou. I love that. That's just a baseball term, the red asses. I love that. But off the field, Pinella was astute. He successfully made his own investments in the stock market and real estate. He was well read and a sage observer of people. That's why he's a good manager later. Someone who saw the little things. Penella would notice when one reporter had started cinching his belt notch tighter or looser or one had stopped wearing a wedding ring. Oh.

To this day, Penella believes that Billy had a plan for the Yankees, even if it included losing the World Series. Penella said, I'm not saying he wanted that, but getting there and getting whooped was part of the learning curve. We needed that to get us hungry again. We needed to see the big stage before we could own it. Okay. Here it is.

This is what it feels like to get your ass kicked on it. That felt bad, right? That's not fun, right? Yeah. He said the day after we were swept, I went to see Billy at that hotel in Hasbrook Heights where he was living. We had a drink. Let me tell you he was fine. He wasn't beaten.

He knew what happened and he knew what we were going to do next. He looked me right in the eye and he said, Lou, we're going to get a player or two and we'll win everything next year. You wait and see. He is once again named Manager of the Year. Yeah. Absolutely. So it goes on to say there was an inherent pressure on Billy in the time between 76 and 77 seasons, and everyone knew it.

As columnist Dave Anderson wrote in the New York Times, Billy Martin knows that many baseball people consider him a one-year manager because he's done great twice and then he burns out. Billy knows that many baseball people will be surprised if turmoil does not develop on the Yankees next season. It's been his usual path in Minnesota, Detroit, and Texas. That winter, Billy also came to understand that Steinbrenner was going after Reggie Jackson at any cost. Right. Reggie's a giant star at this point.

He was the big gun in Oakland's dynasty that they had. So, yeah, Billy did not try to talk him out of it. He told Steinbrenner that he could use a right fielder. So, well, I could use a right fielder. That's fine. Steinbrenner courted Reggie with every inducement he could muster. He took him repeatedly to the 21 club with the Yankees general manager Gabe Paul. George and Reggie had lunch with the New York mayor, Abe Bean.

Reggie had once made the comment, if I played in New York, they'd name a candy bar after me. Which they make Reggie bars. With George's help, Reggie was already meeting with standard brands about producing a Reggie candy bar.

He's like, I can get you a candy bar. You want a candy bar? Sure, they'll make one. Jackson signed a five-year, $2.96 million dollar contract with the Yankees, which is enormous. I mean, that's insane.

Billy was not invited to the news conference. Wow. Billy later wrote, I kept reading about George taking Reggie to lunch at the 21 club, and I was sitting across the river in my hotel room the entire winter, and George hadn't even taken me out to lunch once. I'm a little jealous now. Wow, Reggie told a reporter, it's going to be great with the Yankees because George and I are going to get along real good. I said to myself, you're going to find out that George isn't the manager of this fucking team.

I am. So you better suck up. Going to be me, asshole. Yep. So that's what he ends up getting. He's getting, they call, he's offered a king's ransom, they said. I guess the Padres offered him more than $3 million. Wow. While the Expos offered him slightly less than $4 million. What?

The Dodgers said by Padre's owner Ray Crock to be Jackson's real first choice, didn't offer a money package close to the other three teams. That's why he went somewhere else. So here he is. Why did he accept the Yankees deal? They said probably because of New York and probably because of George Steinbrenner, a source close to the negotiation said. He said he found the Yankees to be fair gentlemen to deal with.

Okay. And Reggie is just living. No, no. No, he's happy now. But him and Billy are these giant personalities. Yeah. They're going to clash. And Reggie does not have this.

Yeah, you find me if I don't run. I'm a star and I deserve special treatment. That's Reggie's... That's Reggie Stimmel. Not yet, but he will be. In his mind, he was always Mr. October, though. That's the thing. When he was at ASU, he was Mr. October.

He shows up when he needs to show up for sure. And Billy wants him to be a great star, but also play like everybody else because Mickey Mantle still showed up on time. That's his stuff. I hung out Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford. They did everything they had to do. You a bigger star than Mickey fucking Mantle?

I don't think so. That was his thing. You got a bunch of rings and triple crowns and shit because Mickey did. Fuck are you doing. So from the book there, it says Reggie never contacted Billy after his introductory news conference.

Billy did not reach out to Reggie. It might be customary for a manager to call a new player signed to his team, especially a player of such renown. It would also be more than customary for that manager to have been invited to a splashy news conference announcing the acquisition of a celebrated new player.

Yeah, that's fucking cool. You want that. Yeah. Yeah, but George one, wants Reggie to be his friend because he's a big star. He doesn't want him to be Billy's guy because then they'll be against George. So he wants it to be George and Reggie against Billy, which he should just want him to play well and we win. Yeah, I don't care if he hates me or likes me or what. It's very stupid.

So anyway, neither thing happened of foreboding an awkward first step in the relationship between Billy and Reggie. Both said the right things when contacted by reporters. Reggie, who did not know that Billy had not been invited, praised Billy for getting the Yankees to the World Series. Billy did not bring up his preference for Joe Rudy or any of the reservations about how Reggie would affect the team chemistry. Billy said, I'm happy to have another bat in the lineup. Reggie will make us better.

He's been a winner everywhere he went, and I like winners. We'll get along just fine. Interesting. Most of Billy's friends and allies now say that Billy was telling the truth when he said he didn't have an issue with Reggie, though perhaps not the whole. truth. Eddie

Saper, his advisor and legal consultant, said, quote, Billy had nothing personal with Reggie. The problem was the people that Billy was loyal to on that Yankee team. Thurman Munson, Greg Nettles, and guys like that. Those were Billy's guys. And Billy knew that they had a problem with

Reggie or probably would. They were blue-collar-type guys, and Reggie had this big contract, and you could see it all coming. It was going to be trouble. It's going to be ugly. Lou Pinella, a friend of Reggie's, when They were Yankees' teammates and a friend of managerial protege Billy in the 1980s and managerial protege of Billy's in the 1980s agreed, although he saw both sides to the brewing acrimony. He said it was obviously going to be explosive.

And Billy was right. It did cause problems with Thurman and Greg. But at the same time, let's face it, Reggie was never Billy's kind of ballplayer. I think Billy did resent him a little bit. He didn't like most guys who called attention to themselves. I have a different take on this for me personally. Billy doesn't like guys who are physically gifted. He doesn't like a guy who is just a fucking star athlete

that always has been the best player on his team. And he looks at that guy as you didn't have to work hard. You're too talented. You're just real good at this. Yeah, he looks at guys like himself that had to struggle and fight. Those are the fighter guys. This guy, he steps up and he hits home runs and everybody says he's great. What if he starts struggling?

He doesn't know how to fix that. You know what I mean? That's how I think Billy. He looks at Munson as a guy like that, you know, pulled himself out of shit. He's not athletically gifted. He's a catcher. He's a tough guy. That kind of guy.

Nettles is the same thing. He's a dive for a ground ball kind of guy. So I don't think he likes that about him. I don't think, as some people will mention at some point, that they thought it was a racial thing. And I don't think that I think that's far as this thing from it. As we know from Billy from the other teams, he doesn't give a fuck what color you are at all. doesn't care. Play the game. So, and on the other side, Lou says,

Reggie had issues with anyone who didn't love him right away. He's a nice guy at heart, but he wants to be noticed. He certainly didn't make it easy on Billy, and Billy wasn't going to make a big deal about Reggie out of respect for the other players who already played hard for him and want to pen it. I'm not going to act like he's something special. Others saw Billy's dislike and resentment of Reggie from the start.

A New York Post writer said he never wanted to give Reggie a chance, That was obvious to me always. He was also a teammate, Gene Tennis, said he was very insecure and sensitive. Another teammate of Reggie's said about Reggie, he's likable but paranoid. Paranoid about what? Everything. Oh. Reggie.

He's a public figure number one and a baseball player second is the way Reggie looks at things. That's just how he is. so no good here anyway Billy through all of this he's trying to keep it together basically they're talking about here there's an article

it says Billy Martin is about as subtle as a rooster at sunrise and Billy likes it that way I believe in the truth says the man who last year managed the Yankees to their first World Series trip in a decade the truth usually gets me in a trouble but I can't help it. That's the way I was taught.

So Billy Martin spoke what he believes to be the truth when he was asked about the free agent draft, which has thrown pro baseball into a free-for-all among owners. This is when the free agency became a big deal. He said, I think it's bad for baseball, said Martin, who was at the Bocatica plugging next week's Yankee Grates in invitational golf tournament and softball tournament. I think they've created a monster.

All the clubs will have problems. it's like a gasoline war. They can't get out of it right now. They'll have to wait a while. Then someone will have to say, hey, let's stop this bidding war. We're only killing ourselves. The funny part is they did that in the 80s,

and they also got charged with collusion and had to pay these guys tons of money. Can't do that. The owners can't all get together and say, let's stop bidding on free agents. It's called collusion. You're supposed to be, your only interest is supposed to be your team,

not the league or anybody else's shit. He said, I have five millionaires working for me right now. Now, what do you find a millionaire? 250 grand? It's only going to make my job harder. That makes sense. He said, I personally don't think we had to get extra players to be competitive.

That was Mr. Steinbrenner's decision. Ask my opinion, and I'll tell you that we could have won it all this year without the two extra players. Oh. Which is Reggie Jackson and pitcher Don Gullet. A little bit more about George's micromanaging, and we'll call this a day here. So this is from the book here. Before spring training started, months and instigated. a public snit with George Steinbrenner, claiming that Steinbrenner had promised him that he would

always be the highest paid Yankee other than Catfish Hunter, which this is a big deal. He said, you're my highest paid Yankee. Catfish, I had to get him, and he's a winner, and everybody loves catfish anyway. So that's fine. But he said, basically, you know, you have favored nations with me otherwise. Okay. Which I'll match whatever with you. And now he doesn't.

He gave Reggie's this big money and didn't give Munson anymore. So they said, now Reggie's salary exceeded Munson's. Steinbrenner appeased Munson with a few deferred payments, but the bad blood was already highlighted in the New York papers. The atmosphere around the Yankees was tense not only because of the ramifications of the Reggie signing, Steinbrenner, embarrassed by Cincinnati's World Series sweep, was micromanaging every detail of the team's operations and began to exert the total control for which he would become famous in the next few years. Top executives were fleeing the Yankees offices and droves, taking other baseball jobs to get away from Steinbrenner. When you get a guy who doesn't know what he's doing who comes in and wants to change everything

and wants to do things, it's horrible for people who know what they're doing. You don't understand how this works. Stupid. They really love to put their stamp on it. Yeah. Well, because it's just all about them. It doesn't matter what happens.

It has to be winning isn't enough. They have to win because of me. Exactly. That's ridiculous. Overall, more than 25 top Yankees front office workers left the team between 75 in the beginning of the 77 season. They left despite knowing what everyone in baseball knew that the Yankees were a team on the rise.

They left because Steinbrenner was an intractable and unreasonable boss. Okay. Now, here we go. We'll end here. This is crazy. This is the week, a week before the end of spring training. Last week of spring training, 77. Billy is the safest manager in the majors besides Sparky Anderson who manages the Reds to beat them.

He took a non-penet winning team, won the fucking pennant. Went to the World Series. Billy Martin is fired before the season starts. What did they do? He's fired. It's Sostis is all Steinbrenner being a jackass, basically. The Mets, Yankees and Mets played a spring training game where the Yankees were beat six-nothing.

And it was telecast back in New York, of course. So George is pissed off that he thinks that's embarrassing. It's spring training. No one cares. Yeah. Yeah. So they said when George came striding toward the clubhouse after the Mets game, he's real pissed off. The Yankees not only had lost, they'd been shut out. And instead of starting

Reggie Jackson, as Billy said he was going to, he sent him in late in the game as a pinch hitter. Instead of playing the starting lineup all the way, George was saying play to win, and he's like, that's not spring training. No. Shut up. You don't know what you're doing. I've done this literally 40 times in my life. You have no clue what you're talking about. So he said he sent, instead of playing the starting lineup, George, like George told him to, Billy finished with a team of substitutes, as you do in spring training. But if you want to know what George was really furious about, it was that he had discovered during the game

that Billy had driven to the ballpark in a rented car. Oh, why? Half the players were already in the team bust when George came striding toward the clubhouse with Gabe, the general manager. The first thing the players heard was George scream, I don't care. This has to, this has got to stop right now.

Do you hear me, Gabe? I've got to stop it right now. Because Gabe's telling him, Calm the fuck down at spring training. Let the guy manage. Shut up and let him do his business. Yeah. Into the clubhouse, he stormed, a wild man.

Quote, I want to talk to you right now, George shouted at Billy. You lied to me. Billy knew exactly what was coming and he said, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear that stuff anymore. He shouted back at George. You heard what I said. That thing is going to stop right now. So Billy said, you fat bastard, I don't care what you say.

I'm going to do it my way. Shut the fuck up and get out of my fucking locker. room. You lied to me. You told me you were going to ride on the bus. Billy said, I'm not riding on no lousy buses. Get the hell out of here. Leave me alone. So, Gabe Paul said, hey, watch yourself, Billy.

He said, Billy, don't, don't, don't. Because Billy got up to punch George. I'll knock your fat ass out. He doesn't care. So Gabe Paul gets in the middle. George was back near the wall about 10 feet away, staring at Billy incredulously. What did you say, he

muttered, as if he couldn't bring himself to credit what he was hearing. What did you say? Billy, Gabe, said, don't talk to him like that. And he said, Billy said, then you can tell him. You hear me? You fucking call him a fat bastard. Either way, he's getting called a fat bastard today. This time, George heard him. You don't talk to me like that, damn it. You don't ever talk to me like that. Billy said, I'll talk to anybody like that. How are you going to stop me? Yeah, throw fun. What are you going to do? Yeah. He turned and went striding into the trainer's room with George and Gabe right behind him. Everyone, everyone, was ordered out, the door was slammed, the screaming went on. The screaming went on. George was yelling

that Billy had lied to him and not only about the bus. He promised to play the starting team all the way. Billy said, don't tell me how to manage my ball team. I'm the manager. I'll manage how I want to manage. It was an exhibition game. This is not a game. Yeah, he said, this is not a game where you leave your blood and guts on the field to win. It's a game you prepared yourself for a winning season, and that's what I'm trying to fucking do. He said, there's things I have to find out now. If they work or not. And if they don't, I'd rather lose now than later. Yeah.

Which is exactly what you should do. So he said, that's why you see a team that's four and oh in the preseason in the NFL. That's not going to be a good team. Not a good team, usually. He should have already found them out, George yelled. You should have already known what the team has. He's like, that's what spring training is for, you fucking fat idiot. You should have figured that out before you got here.

Yeah. He said the season's starting in a week and you don't have the team ready. So they said they were on opposite sides of the team. trainer's table, shuffling back and forth, and as Billy was shouting back that you didn't prepare for a 162 game baseball season, the way you prepared for a 14-game football season, not the same, his fist went slamming into the big bucket of ice in which the pitchers soaked their elbows. The ice cubes in the water went splashing all over George. Well, yeah, because that ice is too warm. It's too warm. Get me colder ice. George went into a total rage. Quote, I ought to fire you,

he screamed wiping off his face, digging ice cubes out of his pockets. You want to fire me? Fire me. Believe me alone. George sent for coach Yogi Barra and offered him Billy's job on the spot. You're the manager, he said. Yogi, not being one of your more excitable men, said, no, take it easy, George. I don't want to.

Billy's a good manager. You don't want to do, you don't want to go doing anything because you're mad now. And George yelled, the job is yours. When they came out of the trainer's room, Billy was very subdued. It must have been some drive back to town in that rental car because at that moment, Billy was fired. Uh-oh. The next morning, they got together in Gabe's room for breakfast and Billy was unfired. Welcome back.

This is, you can't run a team like this. No, that's a terrible way to run a team. Or you can't run anything like this at all, as we've seen. You can't have any relationship at all that is like that. No. you can't you can't fire people because they don't have

unwavering fucking fealty to every whim you have that's what dictators do and shit and that's what George wants to be a dictator he wants to show he's a dictator

you can tell it's a very common asshole quality here so they gets unfired from then on Billy wrote in the bus and he never yelled at George in public again

but whenever Billy expected to be fired during the season he would tell the writers from the moment those ice cubes hit George's face He knew his days as a manager of the New York Yankees were numbered, which is fucking funny.

And we'll get into the rest of that because there's some stuff about it. They were just joking and shit like that. So it's just, man, no big deal. It's just, it's just, just joshing. You know what I mean? So we'll, we'll get into it tomorrow, our next week tomorrow and figure it. I imagine if we did this every day. Oh, God.

So there you go. There is Billy Martin. And he's really going to get cooking here. I can't wait. He's going to be fighting and getting. getting fired and there's racism claims next week that are pretty crazy. So we'll get into all of that and more next week. Before that, though, definitely head over to shut up and give me murder.com.

Get your tickets for live shows. Only ones left for Smalltown Murder at this point in the year is Philadelphia. There's a few tickets left there that are just about sold out. Definitely sold out, sold out in Washington, D.C., hard sellout. You can get tickets for the virtual live show. Oh, yeah. Anywhere in the damn world you are, it doesn't matter. anywhere you are, you can sit there in your

pajama pants drinking your own booze and watching what is exactly like a regular live show. The screen and the pictures and us and the jokes and everything like that. Crazy murder story with a Halloween theme, by the way. It's Thursday, October the 30 and it's available for two weeks after that as well. You can watch it

100 times. You can buy it anytime in that two weeks. Do what you want with it. We're going to be wearing funny costumes because... Oh, like idiots. We look like idiots every time we do these shows, so that's a lot of fun. We can't wait. Get in there and get those tickets. Shut up and give me murder.com. You can follow us at Crime and Sports on social media.

For sure, definitely get yourself some Patreon. My God, patreon.com slash crime in sports is where you get all of the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above is going to get everything that we put out. We're talking hundreds of back episodes of bonus stuff. You've never heard immediately upon subscription to binge on, new ones every other week, one crime in sports, one small town murder,

and you just get them all. This week we're going to talk about heaven. It's beautiful. It's idyllic. We're going to talk about for crime in sports, major teams relocating and the drama behind relocations. Teams sneaking out in the middle of the night and shit like that. I'm fascinated with teams moving and folding and defunctness and all that kind of things.

And all that stuff. Oh, it's so much fun how sad the fans are and everything. And then for small town murder, we are going to talk about, I found several lists of basically the most haunted things. places in every state. So we're going to find out what are just ridiculous and maybe what's actually creepy out there. So that'll be fun

shit. That is patreon.com slash crime in sports. Is where you get all those more. And you get all the shows. Crime and Sports, small town murder, both episodes every week and your stupid opinions all add free with your Patreon as well. You can't beat it. And we're so excited

that we need to give you a shout out as well. Jimmy, hit me with the names of the the most fantastic goddamn people on earth who deserve all the shouts that we could possibly give him. Hit me with them right now. This week's executive producers are Kip, Kristen, and Jamie, who don't want us to forget about Julie Burjaker. She passed away a couple weeks ago.

That's sad. Yeah, she was a wonderful gal, and we've met her before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She was in the hospital when we were in Grand Rapids. Yeah. And, yeah, she didn't make it. It's two bats. She lost the battle.

We are. But we'll never forget her for her valiant effort. Wonderful woman. For sure. Other executive producers, Corporal Carl Kirchner is back. Do you remember him? There he is. Yeah, what a guy.

Corporal Kirshner. Yeah. Gary Howard is in Edwardsville, Illinois. I'm sorry, Gary. Yeah. And then the Shast-thathasta. Shethasta. The Shasta. I think, Jimmy's.

just bit his tongue real hard. He's trying to and that's her first name. And then Shethethethitha, Smith. Oh, Smith. Jones. Do. Thank you guys. You're the best. Other producers this week, Liz Vasquez,

Peyton Meadows, Ryan Bender, happy hour in Memphis. Hey, Memphis. Careful out there. Janice Hill. Amanda. Thank you, Janverson. Put, put, put, bam. I think it's supposed to be put putt put bam, but you put One teeth. That is put-put. That's put-put.

Yeah. Rebecca Kennedy. Camille Vegas. Man's moon. What is that? Man's moon? I don't know. That sounds like a storm. Yeah.

Is it a monsoon? It's a man-smoom. Or a big ass with a very short butt crack. Irene Castillo, Devin Graham, Clinton per singer. Zendro would know last name. Helen's mom, Danielle Bush. Your ass crack tells you how big your ass should be, by the way. It's a guy to exactly.

how big it's, I don't know, I think so. I bet you're right. I think it's, that would be just on top of my head. Have a look see at it and then be like, uh-oh, I got work to do if it's smaller than. Or bigger than you got work to do too. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, either one. Geez, I've got to put some ass on me.

God damn. Eat some more cheeseburgers. Fuck. Danielle Bush. I don't know if that's ownership or not. Troy, beerbins, blurbans. Wyatt Sheldon, Alexis Kaiser, Sherry rushing, David Brucker, Kyle's Wilson, Kyle's, plural. Valerie Reimann, Riemann, subtle tea, three owls, not just two, Nancy Burling, Josh would know last name, Emily Silva Knox, Darnel Swallow.

I don't know, that's an order. I'll leave that alone. Seyung, Jung, Albert Lucas, Crystal Jackson, Megan, Megan Peterson, Tortelvis, Tortlevis, Jason, Jason Ulrich, Caroline Russell, Dana. Isaminger. Kim and Wilson. It's probably just Kim Wilson. I'm sorry. The N is right next to the M.

We can't help it. Laura C. Yucky Bacala. I don't know what that is. Bacala. Yucky Bacala. Alexis Jones. Drew would know last name.

Bailey Commons. Kameen's. Whitney Painter. Eric Willoughby. Curtis Hardin. Patrick Murphy. Michael Mara. Amber Withy.

Withy. Jim Landrum. Kylie Tabor. Tabor, Tabor, Aileen McGar, yeah, Carrie Ann Ray, Stephanie Blanco, Kamia, Camilla, Hamilton, Dorsey, Ali King, Brittany Secord, not second, it's an N instead of an R, oh, wait, secord, Madison would know last name, Terry Wolf, Chris would no last name, Samurai Spiros, Ryan Huff, Mark Allen, Jay Cohorst, Kaylee Martell, Mortel, Mortel, Mortal, Ben Ack, Misty Frazier, Wissala, Lewis Cook, Dave Guilford. Yep, Michelle Waters, Jennifer Blanken, Eddie Fogle, Edy Fogel. That's not Eddie, that's one D.E. Eighty.

That's Eighty. Alan Rutledge, D&T, this show, two letters, D&T. Tammy would know last name. Rory Peterson, Barbara Myers, Christy Shipman. Shipman, I shipped my pants. Candy, Homan, December Hanson, Melissa Crane. Robert de Groot, Paula would know last name, Emily Merling, Joshua Ratcliffe, Cam would no last name, Mojo would no last name, Ashley Spawn Rath, Pocahontas 802, Melissa Linthacum, Nick Anstead, Jenny John Tony, what, Jen John Tony, three words right there. Jenny Jane has done it again, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, Krista Rummage, Ramage, Rumage, Ramage, Jamie Rosa, Amanda would no last name. Amanda C. You got to roll your Rue Mache. There you go. Now you got it. Cliftonnenin. That's two ends. Danielle Hilton. Jeffrey Perkins.

Eon would know last name. Matt Freeman. Chad Phillips. I worked really hard at Spanish and I still don't know any of it, but I can roll the I can roll the ours. Dave. Livesee. Livesee. Katie Katz.

Josh White. Briana Collar. Collar. Brian Carr. Oh, two names that are. sound very similar, entirely different people. Ash B. Kelly Moller. Micah James. Clarissa.

Clarissa Fleming. El Reiden. She is. They're damnedest. Megan Sear. Benjamin would no last name. Madeline Taylor, Rebecca Murray, Jen Sullivan, Joseph Brown. All rise. The Honorable. Gina Breen. Allison would no last name.

Robin Baldah. Jack would no last name. Laura Hyatt. Tyler. Ames. Serena Jean, Serena Jean, Jada Jagenist? Greenist. Mead. I'm the Ad-Gainist.

Jada Geinist. She's so gayne. Mead, 65, Jane Olson. And then also all of our patrons, those people, don't forget them. They're the most amazing. Thank you all. Thank you so much, everybody. You beautiful, fantastic, wonderful bastards. We appreciate all that you do for us. And we promise we'd never come over and punch you in the face.

like we were Billy Martin and you've done something to wrong us. So thank you so much for what you do for us. If you want to follow us on social media, shut up and give me murder.com. As drop-down menus, it'll take you everywhere you want to go. Get those tickets while you're there too. See you at the virtual live show. That said, live from the Crime and Sports Studios.

We will see you next week. Bye.