Billy Martin: A Brash New York Yankees Winner Who Was Politically Incorrect

Billy Martin never minced words. He needled opponents with a fervor that has not been seen among ball players in many years. He was politically incorrect before we knew what it meant.

Martin set a World Series record in 1953, getting 12 hits as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games. Shortly after the Series ended, Martin made some comments directed at Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen.

"The Dodgers are the Dodgers. If they had eight Babe Ruth's they still couldn't win."

Martin was a fresh guy who often shot off his mouth about subjects he didn't know much about. Based on his lack of information about Ruth and other greats at the time, he considered Ruth one of those players that old fans always talked about.

In Billy's mind, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Ruth couldn't carry the gloves of Martin's Yankees.

When Martin joined the Yankees, manager Casey Stengel batted him eighth. The brash rookie was far from pleased as he laced into the manager.

"What's this, a gag? Tomorrow you'll have me hitting behind the bat boy."

When Stengel asked Martin where he thought he should bat, Martin responded in his usual manner,

"Third, where else?"

A few years later, in 1958, Martin tried to get under Ted Williams' skin.

"What you need to win is team effort. Those .300 hitters don't win pennants. How many pennant clubs has Ted Williams been on?"

He wasn't finished with Williams, who started out the 1958 mired in slump. Martin was with the Detroit Tigers, who were playing the Boston Red Sox. When Williams stepped into the batting cage to take batting practice, Martin started,

"Here's my hitter. Any guy who can hit .380 can hit and the rest of us .200 hitters can't do a thing, huh Williams?"

Williams didn't hit any balls hard during batting practice, which gave Martin more ammunition.

"Why not let the hitters hit and show us .200 hitters what to do, Williams? Maybe we can all learn something from hitters, huh?"

When Williams left the batting cage, he had a big smile on his face. He asked Martin,

"How come you changed your name?"

Martin, whose real name was Besano, snapped back.

"Oh, so the sportswriters would talk to me. They couldn't spell my name the way it was. So I changed it so they'd put my name in the papers. All us .200 hitters have to do things like that, you know."

Williams, of course, didn't know. He got the last laugh when he won the 1958 American League batting title with a .328 average. Martin hit .255.

Billy Martin did more than use words. His "exploits" as Yankees manager with Reggie Jackson and George M. Steinbrenner are well known, but younger fans probably don't know about his feud with former Yankees catcher Clint Courtney, who was a tough as Martin.

When Martin and Courtney were in the minor leagues, their teams played each other. Courtney spiked Phoenix' playing manager Arky Biggs, who punched Courtney in the face, breaking his hand. Martin never forgot.

He told baseball writer Maury Allen that he was always waiting to get Courtney.

With the Yankees top farm club at Kansas City, Courtney knocked out future Milwaukee Braves shortstop Johnny Logan's front teeth when he slid into second base. Near the end of that season, Courtney spat in umpire John Fette's face and hit him with a bat.

Courtney was fined $100 and suspended indefinitely.

In 1952, Courtney was with the St. Louis Browns, who were playing the Yankees. The catcher spiked Martin in the second inning of a game at Sportsman's Park. Martin got revenge.

In the eighth inning, Courtney was on first with two outs. He attempted to steal second, which was not a wise move.

He was out by a mile, but to be certain, Martin tagged him extremely hard right in his face. Courtney followed Martin after the play was over, but Martin turned around and smashed Courtney in the face. The latter was fined $100 and suspended for five days.

Billy Martin was never a great player, but he was a winner. Today, his behavior would not be tolerated. He would be viewed as a troublemaker, which he was, but he only was defending his team and himself.

He was a chronic alcoholic, but he didn't need alcohol to make him act the way he did.

If the 1950s Dodgers had eight Billy Martins, they might have been able to win.

References:

Smith, R. (1953, Oct 14). Even in off season brash billy martin harasses dressen. Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960), pp. 24. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/840194321?accountid=46260

Billy martin takes shot at ted's pennant record. (1958, Mar 13). Daily Boston Globe (1928-1960), pp. 24. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/845414259?accountid=46260

Clint Courtney at Sabr

Allen, Maury. Damn Yankee; The Billy Martin Story. New York, NY: Times Books, 1980: 77.