Martin: Goodbye for a While

Once the class act of baseball, the New York Yankees have fallen on ugly times. For nearly two years, Owner George Steinbrenner, Manager Billy Martin and Outfielder Reggie Jackson have presided over one of the tackier chapters in the sport's history. Together the Cuisinart blades of their egos have produced an almost daily puree of spite, envy and innuendo. In the process, they have transformed baseball's proudest franchise into a synonym for small-minded rancor. Last week one of them, Billy Martin, exited, temporarily, from the one job he always wanted in baseball. Question: Did he fall or was he pushed? Answer: Yes.

Martin's weepy departure was the result of the latest and most savage round of acrimony. It began two weeks ago when Jackson committed the cardinal baseball sin of insubordination, twice ignoring Martin's signal to swing away. He bunted foul on the third strike for an automatic out. That did it. Martin's hair-trigger nerves were already frayed and his health deteriorated by pressure and the search for solace in liquor. He paused only long enough to smash a radio and a beer bottle against his office wall, then suspended Jackson indefinitely.

Steinbrenner is pals with Jackson, the Nathan's of baseball's hot dogs, and has defended him in past rows. But this time he backed his manager, who had the fans on his side most of the time. Steinbrenner, however, reportedly did order Jackson's exile limited to five days. The Yankees won five straight games without their temperamental star. Jackson returned to the team unrepentant, telling reporters that he did not feel he had done anything wrong. That renewed Martin's rage; he approached reporters to excoriate the outfielder. Not content with that, he again tracked down writers waiting for a team flight and delivered the fatal lines. Jackson and Steinbrenner, said Martin, "deserve each other. One's a born liar and the other's convicted."

Martin had long been accustomed to blasting his boss in four-letter words while talking to reporters. But because the remarks were delivered off the record, they were not printed. This time the newsmen felt that Martin was talking for print--and they printed his crack about Steinbrenner being "convicted," a reference to his guilty plea in connection with illegal contributions to Richard Nixon's 1972 campaign.* Within twelve hours of deriding his boss, Martin was tearfully reading a "resignation" speech. Steinbrenner, who has never been loath to meddle in clubhouse affairs (including making out lineup cards and giving pep talks as well as second-guessing his manager in print), left it to Yankee Vice President Al Rosen to induce Martin to resign.

Martin's replacement was an unflappable former Cleveland star, Bob Lemon. But the drama was not over. At week's end, during Old Timers' Day ceremonies at Yankee Stadium, it was announced that Martin would return to manage the Yankees in 1980. The crowd cheered as Billy trotted onto the field.

*Steinbrenner was not convicted, nor was he tried. After plea bargaining, he agreed to plead guilty to two charges of violating the campaign contributions law and was fined a total of $15,000.

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