{"id":1807,"date":"2009-12-23T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/23\/memories-of-billy-martin-from-mike-pagliarulo-rod-carew-and-rickey-henderson\/"},"modified":"2010-02-25T02:11:18","modified_gmt":"2010-02-25T07:11:18","slug":"memories-of-billy-martin-from-mike-pagliarulo-rod-carew-and-rickey-henderson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/23\/memories-of-billy-martin-from-mike-pagliarulo-rod-carew-and-rickey-henderson\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of Billy Martin From Mike Pagliarulo, Rod Carew, and Rickey Henderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death on Christmas evening 1989<\/a> provided the troubled finish to a melancholy year for baseball. As a way to look back on that day and Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s career, as well as the reasons why he had such an impact on baseball and the players he managed, here are some memories of the man. In October 2008, I talked with Mike Pagliarulo about his time playing for Martin on the 1980s Yankees:<\/p>\n

Q: How did you respond to Billy Martin, first as your coach on the Yankees, and then upon learning of his death?<\/p>\n

A: I loved Billy Martin. That was a very sad day for me. I burst out crying when I heard the news.<\/p>\n

He was the kind of guy who wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afraid to tell you what he thought of you. If I got one hit in a game and hit a couple other balls well, but they were caught, what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say to me was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You dumb-ass dago, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get more than one hit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Billy was very honest.<\/p>\n

I remember one day, a game against the Angels. It was 1985, my first full season. In the eighth inning I fielded a bunt, threw the ball to second, and the throw pulled the man off base. When I got back to the dugout, Billy was waiting on the top step, screaming at me, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What the hell were you thinking out there? That wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the right play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t back down; I told him, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was the right play, I just didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make the throw.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

A little while later Clete Boyer, our third base coach, says Billy wants to see me in his office. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to get sent down, but Billy said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey look, maybe you were right about that play.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re right,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but he said maybe I was right. He was willing to admit he was wrong. Of course he added, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You dago son of a bitch, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only saying this because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Italian.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Billy could see the field so completely; he knew what everybody was doing. My manager with the Twins, Tom Kelly, was like that. One day I made a step on third and throw to first double play, and back in the dugout T.K. said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe you should have stepped on the base with your other foot, it would have put you into better position to make the throw.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d T.K. did the same kind of ribbing as Billy, just a little quieter. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m half-Irish, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny, one day T.K. said the exact same thing Billy had: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m only saying this because you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Irish. Now get the hell out of here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Billy and T.K., they noticed everything. Sometimes you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily like it, but they noticed everything.<\/p>\n

Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rod Carew, writing about Martin in his self-titled 1979 autobiography: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reggie [Jackson] is a giant compared with Billy, but if they had ever come to blows, Reggie would have had to kill Billy to keep him down. The harder you hit Billy the more he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll keep coming back at you.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For all this, Billy is a gentleman, and a really fine manager. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smart, knows how to handle players and is aggressive. He has a theory that aggressive, running teams force opponents to make mistakes. He must know what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s managed first-place teams in Minnesota, Detroit and New York. Billy and I also became good friends. He helped me tremendously on the field and off, giving me meaningful fatherly advice when I really needed it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Finally, in his Hall of Fame induction speech<\/a> this June, Rickey Henderson said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In 1980, the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hired a new manager<\/a> that I would look up to for the rest of my life, one of the best teachers and managers anyone could ever play for, Mr. Billy Martin. Billy always got the most out of me. He taught me to compete at the highest level and respect the game of baseball. Billy, I miss you very much and I wish you were here with me today.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Arne Christensen runs Misc. Baseball<\/a>, a blog assembling eclectic items about baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history, and 1995 Mariners<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Billy Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death on Christmas evening 1989 provided the troubled finish to a melancholy year for baseball. As a way to look back on that day and Martin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s career, as well as the reasons why he had such an impact on baseball and the players he managed, here are some memories of the man. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":601,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1050,1053,907,1048,1049,1041,1045,145,1044,1035,1052,1039,834,1046,1040,1047,1042,1038,1043,1051],"class_list":["post-1807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-1980s","tag-balls","tag-billy-martin","tag-boyer","tag-bunt","tag-christmas-evening","tag-double-play","tag-dugout","tag-dumb-ass","tag-eighth-inning","tag-memories","tag-mike-pagliarulo","tag-rickey-henderson","tag-rickey-martin","tag-rod-carew","tag-sad-day","tag-son-of-a-bitch","tag-third-base-coach","tag-tom-kelly","tag-yankees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t