Billy Martin on Winning

[faffaflunkie]

See. Billy 1, "Sabermetrics" 0. 

[46spoony]

My favorite drunken, degenerate dirtbag, Billy Martin.

[MichaelHansenFUN]

before he died. His hair is different. also I read that when billys mother was 3 months pregnant with Billy, Billys father was found cheating so his father was kicked out of the house.

Billy didnt have much use for authority figures since.

[Mowhawk13]

whos the idiot that disliked this billy martin is the produst yankke to ever put on the pistripes

[carlinrulez666]

@Mowhawk13

When the Yankees retired # 1 for him in 1986, Billy said, "I may not be the greatest Yankee, but I am the proudest."

[aitraining]

This was a great video. I have it on VHS. Finished right before he died I believe.

[robandrene]

Winner....DUH!

[xltrt]

The kind of guy you want to play for.

[shaman683]

Billy commands respect,and he speaks wisdom, just as surely as an ancient philosopher. It would profit a young man to study him.

[LeMunson]

The Dodgers eventually dealt Burke to the Oakland Athletics. There, Billy Martin called him faggot in front of his teammates. After he suffered a knee injury [7] before the season began, the A's sent him to the minors in Utah. The A's released him from his contract in 1979.[2]

Hmm, I just lost any respect I could of had for him.. At least Thurman Munson wasn't known to be homophobic.

[faffaflunkie]

Great wisdom. Too bad Steinbrenner made him (Billy) into such a buffoon.

[NYYankeeVlog]

I absolutly love this, can't stop watching it - So dead on.

[BanditofRx]

this is my great uncle. he already inspired me so much but whoever posted this.. THANKS!!!!

[NYYankeeVlog]

@BanditofRx Whoa that is awesome! respect.

[faffaflunkie]

Good loser? There shouldn't even be a good winner.

[Bogframe]

@faffaflunkie All this namby-pamby crap we have today about not calling losers losers is what's making this country a joke on the world stage. There's nothing wrong with being a proud winner.

[BSlash24]

like Rex Ryan now, he was a great motivator in small doses. He brought the Twins, TIgers, Rangers, Yanks, and A's all to be winners real quick, but each time, he'd burn his bridges. great character of the game.

[loyaldude10]

@BSlash24 ---Billy would achieve success and then always self destruct. Combination of burning out the pitching staff and his drinking

[Wehategod]

He was a great player and a good manager all contraversies aside.

[superjoe6]

@Wehategod You are so right ! I agree 100% Gil Hodges should be inducted HOF

[nymike06]

@Wehategod i toally agree. my all-time favorite yankee manager. billy was a great manager for all the teams he managed. the media wants to make him only to a drunk who got hired and fired 5 times by george steinbrenner.

[tucsonia]

@nymike06 He was guilty on both counts, but that's what made him interesting. He was one of the few managers who got into more bar fights than any of his players who were often half his age. But we loved him in Detroit and the fans there were pissed when he got fired.

[nymike06]

@tucsonia they miss him in oakland too where he made a mark. i thought he was outstanding, just outside of all the drama.

[StraightTwoDVD]

too bad this guy drank...he'd still be alive and probably managing...and winning..thats for sure...billy was a master at managing...a master...RIP

[wjb4341]

I recently read his autobiography #1 .... The book is basically a chronicle of all the fist fights he's had in his life. None of them were his fault, he did not start any of them, but he won them all and gave detailed accounts of how he pounded his foes senseless. His record is approx 25-0-1 (fought a kid to a "tie" in grade school) Jeeeeeez..

I do believe he was a tough guy ... but was also a sucker puncher. His only later "loss" was a decision to Ed Whitson who kicked Martin in the nuts.

[stenchmachine]

He has no clue. Being a good loser, is not about wanting to lose, but about not being an asshole to others when you do lose.

[msjonas4life]

I don't know why ? its taking sooo long for Billy Martin to be inducted into the HOF ?

My guess is that the Sport writers and the Media just didn't like Billy Martin. Its a dame shame....I tell you, Billy Martin got the most of his players, it didn't matter what teams he Manage. He made them better !

[Heidibear76]

Well said Billy. Well said. It's all about WINNING! PERIOD!

[aopopoipo]

the greatest

[Winforall]

words of wisdom

[ridgerunner72160]

I remember when I was a kid Billy was the manager of the Rangers from late '73 through about mid season '75. In 1974 the Rangers, who had been at the bottom of the A.L. since moving here from Washington, nearly beat out Oakland to win the A.L. West. All those media jerks associate Billy with the N.Y. Yanks, but for that one season Billy nearly performed a miracle in the prairies of northeast Texas.

[dzanier]

He got A LOT out of that team. I remember someone once saying that in 1974 in the Lone Star state, Billy Martin was surpassed in popularity only by Tom Landry. He was at times a GREAT manager but he let his ego blind him to what was best for the team, & he wanted total control over the team. While it's true the front office should leave the manager alone, every manager has to answer to authority. Billy had an almost pathological hatred for authority. No manager has ever had TOTAL control.

[ridgerunner721601]

@dzanier That's true, but no Rangers manager has ever had Billy's comeback success with those '74 Rangers. Johnny Oates finally brought the Rangers to the post season in the late '90s but they were eliminated almost as soon as the playoffs began. And as lousy as the Rangers and Astros have been in recent years, I'm wishing Billy was around to be hired and peform another miracle....lol.

[dzanier]

If he could modify his personality to the point where he would be careful not to wear out pitchers arms and not create division within the team, as far as not having a doghouse or a designated whipping boy for the purposes of keeping all the players in line, I think a Billy Martin would easily win the West this year with this Ranger team. As it is they are not far off and Ron Washington is a good manager.

[ridgerunner721601]

Yeah, I think Nolan and Washington have done a pretty good job so far. The Rangers' big bugaboo over the years has been pitching, or rather lack of pitching. My girlfriend is from Bessemer City, NC and she knows former Rangers pitcher Kevin Millwood. They both lived in the same neighborhood at one time. I wished the Rangers had kept Millwood for the 2010 season, but I'm anxious for April to get here and the start of the season.

[dzanier]

I think their ownership situation was unsettled at the time and they were looking to shed payroll. He's still a good pitcher but he's definitely on the decline. Now the reliever they got for him, Chris Ray, had a good arm but is a thrower. He saved 33 games one year but he pitched last year after missing all of 2008 with Tommy John surgery. He hits the mid-90's with his fastball but it's straight. He has a good slider. He could be a good bullpen addition. No way can he be a starter.

[ridgerunner721601]

Yeah, I agree with you about Millwood being in the later stages of his career. Still, I have to admit it would have been fun to be able to drive up to Arlington and for Rachel (my girlfriend) to be able to call Millwood and maybe get free passes for us....LOL. Also, I have an old baseball card of Rangers announcer Tom Grieve. It would have been fun if Kevin could have arranged for us to all meet so I could get Tom to autograph that card.

[superjoe6]

Billy Martin should be in the HOF .

[restlessr84]

@superjoe6 I hate the Yankees, but I couldn't agree more.

[ericcollins81]

@superjoe6 i agree look at what he did in minnesota detroit texas and oakland

[Wehategod]

@superjoe6 Martin isn't in the hall thats a sin and you know who should be in the Hall of fame too Gil Hodges

[yomamakunt]

@superjoe6 for what sucking Lou Pinialla's dick a thousand times????

[tucsonia]

I know that Martin by his own word was Forever A Yankee, but I remember him as the Tigers' manager when i first started following baseball in the early 70's. Good scrappy teams with an aged lineup, they got to the playoffs once against the then really tough Oakland A's Reggie, Rollie et al and lost that series. Those two teams had a rivalry and a lot of brawl during that time period, with Billy leading the cahrge out of the dugout! Ah, baseball just doesn't have the character it used to have.

[ridgerunner721601]

I remember that year. It was in 1972. Detroit almost won that playoff series. I remember it went 5 games in a best 3 of 5 games they always had back then. Al Kaline's career was winding down and I remember the Tigers had some good solid players like Joe Coleman, Jim Northrup and Eddie Brinkman. I remember after the playoffs I was pulling for Cincinnati in the World Series even though I liked Catfish Hunter, the Athletics ace starter.

[McGlasshole]

I remember Billy Martin managing the Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast League in 1968 when I was a kid - I used to go to many games in Denver. Martin was a very popular manager. The Twins picked him up the year after and won the division (1969 was the first year that baseball had divisions). I was always hoping Martin would be Denver's first major league manager, but he was gone before the Rockies came to be. Denver should have had MLB long before cities like Seattle or Montreal.

[McGlasshole]

mikeyohioo - Guys like Warren Spahn threw 20-30 complete games a season in 4- man rotations, and would throw relief between starts now and then - Warren did it after 40 years old (he won over 20 games 12 times). I have no idea why a 5-man rotation in Oakland threw their arms out because they completed a lot of games. Baseball overruses relievers today.

[Soulblackman]

That's a very good point, but I think you have to appreciate the times. "Back then", there was less automation, which means u got more exercise at a younger age. U were in overall better shape,which would carry on through adulthood. The chumps today? Everything is automated, sliced, diced and handed to them on a remote-control platter.

[vastpisces]

Billy Martin was one of the best coaches baseball has ever seen.

[mikeyohioo]

Hey ! Thats Billy Martin...

The guy really knew how to work over a pitching staff.

google Mike Norris and Rick Langford

Billy let Mike pitch a 14 inning complete game. 14 innings ! Thats called stupid.

What an idiot....Too bad Billy didn't get a chance to manage Denny McClain, that would have been hilarious !

[DarealIdroo]

ya well when your gm gives you five solid starters and a bullpen consisting of the first 5 fans over 22 years of age, what choice does the manager have but to pitch his guys. besides which guys used to pitch complete games all the time Cy Young 815 starts 749 complete games, suck that mike norris. and rick langford well his 2 best seasons the only seasons he had winning records 1980 and 1981 being managed by who- ya Billy fuckin Martin

[flyguy619]

How many world series have you won? Billy an idiot huh? you need to check yourself.

[mellymoke]

BILLY MARTIN ALWAYS #1.

[cervantes600]

Happy Birthday Billy.R.I.P.

[carlinrulez666]

If Billy hadn't passed away in 1989, He would have likely managed the Yankees in 1990. Seeing Billy manage the Yankees in the 1990s would have been interesting.

[spitfire71068]

When I was a kid, I loved Billy. Aggressive, smart manager. A true Yankee. Unfortunately, the booze was his undoing. If he could've gotten off the booze, he would've been even better than he was.

[cheaptrickcharlie]

Umm, Billy Martin was a real good baseball mind. But off the field was as big a dirtbag as there ever was.

[25Yanks]

Hey! all he wanted to do was WIN; we need more Managers like Billy; not just in baseball but life itself. Long live the KID'S memory.

[iijjllss1]

billy was a great guy one night he came in on the all nighter west coast to chicago and was going to montreal for the allstar game his flt was aa outa ord he asked me if he could have the brealfest of champions while in flt 7am dept I got him vodka and bloody mary mix from a service kit that contained 50 minatures he was happy and thankfull pete a fellow pizon

[bobmiers1969]

Billy always wore the game on his sleeve as a manager and a coach...he had a reason not to forego the pickup of freeagent Reggie Jackson (not that he was bad) LOL . Team oriented baseball. RIP Billy you'll always be NO. 1

[Area51Spy]

I met Billy in March 1989 at the Yankee minor league complex in Tampa. He was scouting the minor leaguers. I was 21. Waited for him at the exit of the park. He was very gracious. Took two photo's with me and we engaged in some small talk. It was such a thrill to hear that voice in person. I blew up the picture to 2'x3' and it hangs in my house to this day along with his little inscription he gave me. In 1988 the Yanks were 40-28 when he was fired over the Lace bar incident.

[prausch65]

I'm not a Yankees fan, but I have the utmost respect for Billy Martin and his approach towards the game. He has to be among the finest mangers ever.

[NJHockeyGoon]

I loved Billy as a little kid and remember all the news and game highlights. I remember the "Bring back Billy" bumper stickers. Now, Billy's grave is about 2 minutes from my home and every summer we bring Italian and American flags and place them at his site. "Forever number 1."

[tigersruhl84]

Too bad he died, I really liked him.

[switchhitter08]

I was five years old when Billy died. But you're right. He was a genious. Few have had such a passion for the game.

[carlinrulez666]

We need Billy Martin's wisdom now more than ever.

R.I.P. (1928-1989).

[twinkescrew]

True That

[henhao1972]

A truly great competitor and manager. We needed him at the helm one more time! I bet George would have hired him back to!

[kittykat6681]

well shidt

[raketa00]

Billy once commented "Show me a good loser and i'll show you a loser".

[MutantLarva]

i'll show u a good loser..."raketa00" a friggin bonehead loser ass wipe mega weasel sniveling little stain of a troll...go "f" yourself ya dope.

[raketa00]

Just to be clear, my comment was more on Billy's side not against him and since you don't seem to have the intelligence to understand it, it did not surprise me that you will post such utter proof of ignorance in the use of the english language. Thank you for the very "kind" words.

[MutantLarva]

if billy was here..he'd kick you in your balls...then again..your fat wife probably stripped you of those on your wedding day u pussy.

[iluvvalentina]

well this was 8 months ago, still, his "fat wife"? That just shows how much of a shallow fag you really are.. and I'm a Billy Martin fan and what not, but what'd he do that was so offensive towards Billy anyways?