Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 300

illegal contributions to Nixon; "The two of them deserve each other. One's a born liar; the other's convicted."

The next day, July 24, 1978, Martin announced he was stepping aside for health reasons at a tearful press conference. He did so on the advice of his longtime legal adviser, Louisiana judge Eddie Sapir, who concluded earlier in the day that the Yankees would almost certainly fire him for cause. By resigning for reasons of health, Martin obligated Steinbrenner to honor his contract. Steinbrenner replaced Martin with Lemon. There was considerable anger among Yankee fans at Martin's forced

departure, and towards Steinbrenner. Some holders of season tickets burned them outside Yankee Stadium.

Steinbrenner almost immediately had second thoughts about

Martin's departure, and negotiations for his return, including meetings between the two, began within two days of the resignation. At first, the plan was for Martin to return in 1979, working elsewhere in the organization until then, but Rosen felt Lemon, who replaced Martin, needed to be given a full year. The talks were successfully kept quiet, and at Old Timers' Day at Yankee Stadium, July 29, 1978, Martin was introduced as the Yankee manager for 1980 and after by public address announcer

Bob Sheppard, meeting an ovation from the crowd reputed to be second only to that given Lou Gehrig on his retirement in 1939.