Billy Martin is most remembered as the fiery manager that led the New York Yankees to the title in 1977, but his legacy goes far and beyond that. Martin was a part of the Yankees dynasty during the 1950s and has the record for most hits in a World Series with ten. Martin was an all-star in 1956 and 1957 and by the time he retired, he was known as a fierce competitor who would never back down from a fight.

During his time as a player, Billy Martin got into a few altercations with players and managers. In 1957 he and a few players met at the famous Copacabana nightclub to celebrate Martin’s 29th birthday, when the part was interrupted by hecklers hurling racial slurs at Sammy Davis Jr. Martin and teammates Yogi Berra, Hank Bauer, and Mickey Mantle challenged the guys and ended up in a much criticized brawl that was blamed on Martin. Soon after the brawl, The Yankee general manager George Weiss, traded Billy Martin.

When Martin was playing for the Reds in 1960, he got into a fight with Chicago Cub player Jim Brewer after he received a pitch that Martin thought was too close to his body. Martin charged the mound, punched Brewer and broke Brewer’s jaw.

Martin became the manager of the Minnesota Twins in 1962 but his famous brawls didn’t end. He was fired after the 1969 season after he punched one his pitchers, Dave Bosewell, in an alley outside of a bar. Martin was hired by the Detroit Tigers as their manager in 1971 and on his Topps baseball card, he’s seen throwing up the middle finger. Martin was involved in another incident that made people wonder what kind of a manager he was. Martin led the Tigers to the AL Championship against the Oakland A’s and in game 2, he ordered pitcher Lerrin LaGrow to throw at Oakland’s shortstop Bert Campanaris, which ended in a nasty brawl.

His most famous manager brawl came when he was the manager of his beloved New York Yankees. Martin was never the one who wanted to be the star of the show so when Reggie Jackson was signed, problems seemed inevitable. On June 18, 1977, the Yankees were playing the Boston Red Sox on National television when Billy Martin thought Jackson didn’t run hard enough to catch Jim Rice’s fly ball. Martin pulled Jackson from the game and Reggie went flying into the dugout and confronted him. Martin had to be restrained by two other coaches who were in the dugout. Martin was forced to resign and his stint with New York was over, even though he would be re-hired just be fired again.

- John A. Roberts

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Tags | 1977, Baseball, Billy Martin, Campanaris, Chicago Cub, Copacabana nightclub, Dave Bosewell, Detroit Tigers, George Weiss, Hank Bauer, Jim Brewer, Manager, Mickey Mantle, Minessota Twins, MLB, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Reggie Jackson, Sammy Davis Jr, Yankees dynasty, Yogi Berra