Damn Yankees by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Damn Yankees

Page 301

However, Golenblock believed it might have been greater, saying; "The fans liked Gehrig. They loved Billy."

The re-hiring was only a verbal commitment, and was to some extent dependent on Martin staying out of trouble, which he did not do. During the offseason, Martin engaged in fisticuffs with “Reno Gazette” reporter Ray Hagar while visiting the city as a guest of the Reno Bighorns basketball team. Steinbrenner insisted that Martin could return to the Yankees only if there was neither conviction nor out of court settlement, and this occurred, though money likely changed hands behind the scenes.

In the interim, the Yankees, under Lemon, had made a dramatic comeback to win the division, pennant and their second consecutive World Series over the Dodgers.

In 1979, the Yankees got off to a slow start under Lemon. Injuries to Jackson and Gossage, and key players proving less effective than the year before had the Yankees reeling. Steinbrenner fired Lemon on June 18 and brought back Martin. The Yankees failed to improve, and Munson's death in a private plane crash on August 2 devastated the team. The Yankees were 34–30 when Martin took over and finished 89–71, in fourth place. After the season, Martin got into a fight with marshmallow salesman

Joseph Cooper at a hotel in Minneapolis. Cooper said that Martin should not have won his American League Manager of the Year