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Billy MartinAmerican baseball player and Major League Baseball (MLB) coach
Date of Birth: 16.05.1928
Country:  USA |
Content:
Biography of Billy Martin
Billy Martin was an American baseball player and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He gained fame as a coach for his ability to turn losing teams into winners. However, he was also known for constantly arguing with umpires and mocking them. Martin was heavily criticized for his inability to get along with veteran players and team owners, his policy of wearing out young pitchers, and his love of alcohol. He is most famous for his time as the coach of the New York Yankees, a position he held five times at different periods in the team's history. Under his leadership, the team won the American League championship in 1976 and 1977. Although the Yankees lost the World Series in 1976 to the Cincinnati Reds, they emerged victorious over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the 1977 World Series.
Early Life and Playing Career
Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin Jr. was born on May 16, 1928, in Berkeley, California. He was the son of Joan and Alfred Martin, a Portuguese man. However, Billy's mother always referred to his father using the derogatory term "jackass" for abandoning the family. Not wanting her son to carry the name Alfred, Joan decided to use a dialectical variant of the Italian word for "beautiful" - Billy. Interestingly, Billy only learned his real name when he started school and the teacher called him Alfred, causing him to think she had skipped his name on the list.
While attending Berkeley High School, Martin began playing for the Oakland Junior Oaks, a team associated with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. After graduating in 1946, he signed a contract with Eddie Leishman and played in the Class D Pioneer League. In 1948, his coach Casey Stengel was impressed by Billy's aggressive play and brought him to the New York Yankees. Martin began his major league career in 1950 as the Yankees' second baseman. In the 1953 season, he was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series, and in 1956, he participated in the All-Star Game. In 1958, Billy recorded 13 sacrifice hits, sacrificing himself to advance base runners, resulting in an out for him. He retired in 1961 with a career batting average of .257.
Personal Life and Tragic Death
Martin was known for his excessive love of drinking and his rowdy behavior while intoxicated. In 1957, he and his Yankees teammates celebrated his 29th birthday at the Copacabana nightclub. The party turned into a brawl when Martin, Hank Bauer, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra tried to intervene with other intoxicated patrons who were making racial slurs towards Sammy Davis Jr.
Billy was married four times and had two children, a daughter named Kelly Ann and a son named Billy Joe. He first married Lois Berndt, who gave birth to their daughter but left him in 1954. Gretchen Winkler became his second wife in 1961, and they had a son before divorcing in 1979. He was never faithful to his third wife and eventually left her for his mistress named Jill, whom he married in 1989. At the time of his death, Billy was planning to become the coach of the Yankees for the sixth time in the 1990 season. However, he tragically died in a car accident near his farm north of Binghamton, New York, while intoxicated.
