Interview: Billy Martin Jr

ladies and gentlemen and welcome to step up to the mic welcome back to the show and we're going to go down to Arlington Texas and welcome in sports agent Billy Martin jr. Billy thanks for joining us how's everything going hopefully you staying safe down there you know just doing my best to avoid the virus it's crazy right though you know in today's world ah it's hard to know what you're reading is true what you're hearing is true and with this crazy thing I've never experienced anything like it 9/11 is as close as it comes for me I guess one question with you being a sports agent you know the name of the company is Pro agents maybe you can tell us a little bit about that and make a prediction you know when are we gonna see baseball I'll be optimistic and saying we will see baseball in 2020 when I'm gonna say early early July they're gonna do it without fans I'm gonna assume that I think it's gonna be in the home ballparks as an agent is it rewarding for you to be a sports agent though some days it oh I'd say it's a fluid business you have great years you have bad years it's uh it's it's for me a business about relationships and you know I think we've been blessed to have some awesome clients and I consider myself lucky to still hear from former clients who haven't played in over decades and I still hear from those guys and I love being part of the game I'm I'm a baseball lifer so you know it's uh it's a unique role it sometimes you got to play bad guy but I just try to be real consistent and and shoot people straight just as you said you're a lifer I mean you were born into the game when you when you look at your dad Billy Martin and when you think about probably when when you were boy you're living out of a soup to a degree but when you look at he was the manager of the Minnesota Twins in 69 and then the Detroit Tigers in 71 and in the Texas Rangers 73 before thank God he came over to the Yankees hmm.well and before that he was the triple-a manager for the Denver bears which was the twins triple-a affiliate and a year and a half before that he was in Minnesota as their third-base coach I mean yeah it was every two or three years we were packing and moving and you know baseball is the life of the Vagabond I mean you do have to live out of a suitcase to some degree and we did love Texas we dropped anchor here you know if you remember my father started wearing cowboy hats and boots from then on and he really embraced the Texas persona opened a western wear store in New York City if you remember and but but his heart was always with the Yankees you know what let's center around that moment in time you dad opened up the the Western store there was no bigger celebrity in New York and Atlanta and let's sent her in on 1977 a year near and dear to my heart every Yankee fans apart and and yourself also just to paint the picture for some of our Yankee fans diehard fans that are a little too young to remember those days you know let me just take them back in time you know when I was a kid growing up in the 60s my timing wasn't great I was a big Mickey Mantle fan but I caught the end of his career my first memory of the Yankees was watching Mickey Mantle hit home run number 500 oh wow 1967 Mother's Day on a little black-and-white TV and it was Mickey you'd only be limping around the bases and everything his head down your baby the game was completely different back then and 68 was his last year and the team you know really took a downturn it almost the the dynasty was over and it was a type of thing though where the the Yankees kind of were deteriorating right in front of our eyes your dad was long gone as a as a player and basically what happened was the artists the mechs took over to town they won in 69 and the Yankees were the Horace Clarke years they just they just kept on you know sinking in this in standings etc the stadium was falling apart and you just we just didn't know what was going to change things around when Steinbrenner boarded in 73 there was hope and we started going in the right direction when he picked up your dad in 75 boy that was that was a big piece and we started building toward something I really felt it I was a young I was a teenager and I said wow you know what you could feel this with Thurman Munson and with just the team that they put together you mentioned in 76 we got close we got really close we made it all the way to the world see there you go Chambliss know what let's let's start there tell us about your memories of that year we all remember Chris Chambliss hitting a home run putting him into the World Series just give us some thoughts of 76 well you know as a kid for me it was just so awesome to see dad get to the World Series I mean he'd been to the playoffs with every other team he managed other than Texas and they were close from 74 they were very close behind Oakland who won the World Series that year um but you know New York's where he always wanted to be and to win there what it meant to him it's hard to imagine I mean that was great that was a special year for me because it was here I really realized how lucky I was to be his son to get to hang out with the guys to travel with the team I was actually in Fenway that season in left field I had Thurman's glove on taking balls and batting practice in left field and one of the balls hit the Green Monster and that thunk that's so iconic it made me think wow Babe Ruth used to play on this field the DiMaggio brothers and Ted Williams and you know the history of it all kind of hit me it and just how lucky I was that year and then for dad to you know get to go to his first series I'll never forget it you know I'll never forget it either I was at those World Series games we got swept and in 70 that was the coldest I ever was I've been to football games where I wasn't that cold I mean we sat there and you know what as a testament to your father and the love affair that the Yankee the die-hard Yankee fans had with your dad in that team not a boo in the stadium we got swept pretty good we got kind of embarrassed but you know what we walked out at a stadium and we said next year next year is our year and I'll tell you from my perspective and then you can go from there when we got Reggie I was a little bit concerned right from jump because he made some comments about Thurman Munson and I cringed and I'm a drink yeah stirs the drink right bill I swear to you I saw this just before it even happened I said the thing that we love about your dad and the thing that we loved about that team they were as tough as nails nettles Piniella Munson your dad and you know what they were fighters and they were scrappers but the enemy was never within the enemy was Brett in the other dog at the enemy was whoever we were playing and just the turmoil in 77 that as we went through that season it took a lot away from it for me and you know I don't know what your perspective was well okay so while all that was going on and you know my father doesn't get credit for being the psychologist he really was and he realized right away that he would have to do something or this fraction and and and reggie's you know taking a shot of Thurman and all that stuff was going to harm the team so what did he do he found ways to aggravate Reggie and and kind of put him in his place for the other guys on the team to feel like hey thanks skip thanks for standing up for us and so he batted Reggie in the six hole my father knew Reggie should have been in the three or four hole but he did it on purpose to say hey talk about my captain he's not gonna be a good team player this is what we're gonna do and it's not what he wanted to do he wanted to be Reggie's friend he wanted to get along with him but it's what he had to do to save the team because otherwise it could have gone the other way and what Reggie doesn't know and looking back at that situation my father got the best out of him and that was his job it wasn't to be his friend it wasn't to be his pal it was to win baseball games and to get one of these rings that's right that's right and you know what just made the picture a little bit further when you think about it just as as I was mentioning the Yankees went into a steep decline in the late 60s early 70s before your dad got there and now we're knocking on the door in 76 we get Reggie in 77 there's some turmoil but there's a lot of talent on that team and they again knocking on the door is the way I'll describe it but you gotta kick that door down and you gotta finish it right and when George Steinbrenner is them is the owner of that team and you're playing in New York the stakes are as high as they get and the pressure is ratcheted up as it gets and to everybody's credit and I'll just tell you because just being in that Stadium for Game six of that World Series when Reggie hit three home runs that's a memory bill I will never forget right I couldn't fly I was 19 years old I couldn't afford to pay full price but the scalpers were asking for all kinds of money so you know I waited till the national anthem was being played you know I bought the tickets and ran into the stadium you know and I'm sitting in one place early on in the game when Reggie hit the first one in this second one by you know by the end of the game people are passing around you know flasks drinking whiskey passing him around to each other throwing him onto the field it was like the Wild West we just couldn't wait for that that celebration and when it culminated boy oh boy I mean talk about a party talk about a celebration you know tell us from from your vantage point well like I said I sat in the dugout for quite a while to watch the the billy club show and and that was outstanding until one of the clubhouse guys grabbed me and said get in the clubhouse it's dangerous down here um that was my first night to drink champagne I was underage so I'm not gonna admit that finding police officers but uh Willie Willie Randolph little brother and I had had a lot of fun and in there in the clubhouse with the guys and you know getting to know those guys and they were all very good to me um see their joy to feel it uh to know that all that hard work and effort and dealing with the pressure of New York and the media and dad and George and Reggie and all that stuff that was going on ah to be there and see that it was it was it still gives me goosebumps to just just listening to you now I was it's just funny you mentioned billy clubs i was wanted in unfortunate was i ran onto the field a little prematurely i don't know and i got pull up back into the stands and everything like that once the last out finally was recorded i ran onto the field and i'm just you know I wanted to get like you know first base second base or home plate so we ran over towards home plate and you can't you can't pry up home plate with your hands because it's kind of nailed down and you know a typical Yankee fan takes a you know he takes a crowbar out of his jacket my friend I said how come we didn't take a crowbar you know he pried up home plate the pitching rubber I said I got to get something so I ripped up a section of sod Yankee Stadium grass and I removed it up I put it in my snow Parker went home that that night you know I walked into my house my mother said what's that is it my Yankee Stadium dress and I'm planting it in the backyard and memory memory of a lifetime you know Billy Bronx is burning I remember seeing that depiction of it you know what was it was it accurate that your mom was in it you know your dad you know very action and in so many ways I mean look there were some little things that were awfully I watched it twice I get to watch it at the premiere and which was an old-timers day that was really neat got to meet John Turturro who played my father when I went home I watched it with my mother and it was so funny watching some of it with her because she remembered all that stuff like it was yesterday and the lady who plays my mother in the joe says to my father when he says Billy Joe do you want to go to the game with me right before game 6 the final game the lady playing my mother Cisco Shh Billy don't bother him he's watching cartoons my mother goes nuts she's like are you kidding me the whole world thinks I don't want my son to go to Game six with his father of the World Series because of heckle and Jeckle you know she she was ready to strangle the producer but I pretty sure really had more to do with the fact that they just didn't want to hire another child actor cuz I did go to Game six with my father and probably saw you get hit by that billy club it was otherwise very accurate in a lot of ways um I thought Totoro did a great job of capturing my father's mannerisms and you know now the ears were a little silly they had like cab doors wide open that they put on him but but I thought that was great tutorial is a great actor but your dad's better-looking than him and he you know but he captured he captured your dad real good it was you know that I thought it was it was pretty good all the way around let me ask you this now you go to school the next day I mean yeah you're a 13 year old kid tell is like walk us through being on top of the world there um well I think I experienced my first hangover the next because of the champagne but you know I to be honest with you I don't remember the next day I only remember that moment because you know it was so special now but what about soon after that your dad was on top of the world he's making you know Miller Lite commercials he was he was a celebrity you know above and beyond a ballplayer II kind of a little bit ahead of his time nowadays you know the young generation is a relative they all do commercials guess what they not all an MD commercials name it did commercials your dad did commercials George was a natural Steinbrenner mr. Steinbrenner but not everybody did commercials now they didn't and and he did lots of different ones but most Miller Lite especially the group ones were for his absolute favorite I always tease him that he would have paid them to do those commercials because they were so much fun the guys were drinking the whole time you know they were doing those commercials and it was it was a lot of when he made lasting friendships on those commercials with with so many guys that he may not have you know hung out with with otherwise and I said so many stories about that stuff and he was that he was who's on sitcoms and movies and serve he was only manager to ever host Saturday Night Live um he was on the cover of Si seven times he was on the cover of Time magazine you know he he was recently mentioned in Ocean's thirteen and American Gangster and it's uh it was surreal walking the streets of New York with him was so much fun guys would be cleaning a window on the third story of a building and screamed down give them hell Billy as we're walking down the street because you could recognize him because he had his little cowboy hat on and his iconic walk and cabbies would roll down their windows and say the same thing it was it was special because you know loved them we loved him because he was the embodiment of New York and he he connected people guys like me he connected I mean I'm not old enough to go back to the glory days of Mickey Mantle is a teammate of Mickey Mantle so yeah would you when you look at it he won in 51 52 53 then he goes into the military 54 and 55 maybe they would have won in 55 if he was if he was there right I mean the Brooklyn Dodgers well we got I guess we got to give him one right he got well he got back for 55 I like the end okay yeah but you know when they won he didn't he didn't take a ring that year he didn't want a second-place ring cuz he already had rings from 51 52 53 where he was MVP I mean first four years the big leagues he got a World Series ring championship ring so 55 you didn't want a second-place reign in 56 he got another one and you know it's funny people ask me all the time why New York why did he love New York I'm like hmm let's look at his first four years that's why right because my father loved to win that's all he cared about was winning all it mattered to him you know I don't know if the Yankee fans know that he took less pay at times to go back to the Yankees other teams Cleveland offered him a lot of money plus a draw of the gate because everywhere he went attendance went way up well he turned that down to go back and be a Yankee because that's where his heart was as a baseball man and you know his relationship was George to me is still one of the more amazing relationships ever I hope George ends up in the Hall of Fame with my father one day they both belong there I think George was absolutely a Hall of Fame owner and it's a you know their relationship was as true a love-hate relationship as I've ever seen but there was always a giant chunk of respect there there's a lot of similarities between the two I mean they were both fiery they were both they win it or they would they would cut off their arm you know rather than lose a ball game and the you know yet to to alpha males and it's it's it's understand well I want to just do like some quick hits with you and if you have anything to share so let me just just as you alluded to boy oh boy you know casey stengel love them the manager of the Yankees at that point they were winning 49 50 51 52 so those were the halcyon days the the golden era of not only for the Yankees but but New York baseball because the Dodgers and the Giants were great teams you know you had the rivalry and you had you know Mickey you know you had to do right and yeah Willie Mays but tell us about 52 because your father was just coming into his own or or you know on the you know a protein coming into his own and he makes that famous catch in 52 on that windblown pop-up by Jackie Robinson saves the World Series for the Yankees did he ever talk about that to you you know he a little bit you know he was he wasn't big on boasting on his past you know I actually Mickey Mantle told me more about my father as a player after Dad passed uh you know the mantles live in Dallas and I spoke to Danny mantle actually uh on my way to the house to do your show um he would tell me about those things and but only time he mentioned it we talked about it because you know that was a ball really between the pitcher's mound and home play and so it obviously should have been a ball that yogi or moose got my first base caught but dad said he looked up you know started going to the ball like you're like you do and then he looked around and he realized nobody else was really going for it it was kind of such a tweener ball that everybody assumed the other guy was gonna get it and so dead you know cranked it low gear and ran up and made that catch and you know he in his mind it wasn't that hard to catch but he was just glad that he was heads up enough to keep going after it and not take for granted somebody else was going to catch it you know you were talking about Mickey um 56 my goodness win the World Series but Don lost a lot of attention people think about 56 but do you think about Mickey and the Triple Crown year did you dad share any memories of that well of course I dad was his roommate that year well dad was a good luck charm roommate he was a guy you wanted because you you won MVP basically or sihyoung if you room with that for some reason so um you know hearing dad talk about Mickey now and and mind you he it was his best friend and really more of a brother than he ever had and in in real life um but obviously he was a great talent evaluator and the way he talked about Mickey was surreal I mean the the power he had his ability to run you know so many people don't realize Mickey could have stole with so many bases he might have been the fastest player ever to first base especially in that era and he would ne think about these guys that won't even hit against a shift in today's world Miche would lay down a bunt if he was over seven eight or nine because he just wanted to change his mojo and and get something positive going and here a guy with more power than anyone in the game or just raw power that could just hit it out of damn near any ballpark wouldn't lay down a bunt to get on base to help his team win ball games like you said he hit the light tower at the old Yankee Stadium upper deck ball would have went out would have been the only fair ball to go out of Yankee Stadium for didn't hit the light tower just as you said a great dread Bunter just anything to anything to win get himself out of a slump just as you eluded to speed just I mean who has a combination of speed and raw power like that think about how neat it must have been back in those days dad Mickey and whitey the three amigos would go out to touch shores hang out with the Rat Pack with Gleason and Sinatra you know Sammy Davis jr. and those guys were asking what's Ted Williams like all the baseball stories right and you know dad Mickey were like well what's it like dating Angie Dickinson and you know ask it uh the celebrity stories but they all bonded and it was a regular thing you know years later she's 76 I get to meet Frank Sinatra I saw him sitting one of the Yankee games and and went to get his autograph on my Yankee hat and he asked me how I'd been able to get in that section and I said well you know my father's with the Yankees and and he looked at me says wait a minute are you Billy son and I said yes sir you sit down next to me and so I sat in the aisle he he was in the aisle seat I said in the aisle three rows behind the dugout okay you know somebody's about to tell me to leave right and sure enough you know guys comes and ask me leaving Frank looks at him says he's with me oh yes sir mr. should not drive you know if frank says he you're with him you're okay but he had me sit with him and talked for a couple innings and what a great man he told me some of those stories and how much fun they used to have back then it was such a different world you know people beat up on Mickey and dad and any of those guys because they drank too much do you think about the 50s go watch a movie from the 50s the celebrity has a glass of Jack Daniels in one hand and a cigarette in the other and that was posh that was cool back then and it was just as you said Sinatra had a song it was called one for the road I mean yeah right I mean you think about it right I mean it was different it was a different lifestyle back then he was buried he was buried with a bottle of Jack Daniels Frank Sinatra because he said it's the nectar of the gods baby you know what your dad you're telling your dad was the chain you know when you look you know you know Alfred Manuel Martin no billionaire got the name Billy from your great-grandmother his grandmother Bello and that means beautiful in a j-team oh yes means cutie sweetie beautiful in Italian and the kids heard that and turned that into Billy yeah and his father left his mother I'm gonna say when he was about six months old so she also didn't want to honor his father and and be the second so he wore Billy like it was his name and that his mother was kind of tough on him you know she would look at him especially as he started getting older and say oh you look like the Jackass that broke my heart and left me and that hurt so so dad wanted to be Billy and twice he went to change his name and backed out because he felt like it was a sin it was not against the church it was against the Catholic Church to change your name he felt like and and so he never did it but that's why when I was born he made sure I was Billy di LOI and he was gonna call me Billy jr. and that was just how it was gonna be and no we talked about DiMaggio right I mean does he have relationship with Jodi I mean they weren't contemporaries in a sense on the on the ball field but you know tell us about their relationship ah no Joe was really good to dad you know because when he when he signed you know Joe was at the very tail end of his career and and and was a Big Brother there too dad you know cuz they were both from the Bay Area both had played in the Pacific Coast League and so when dad got there and they're both Italian you know Joe would take that out to dinner by mistake and and kind of took him under his wing a little bit Mickey told me the best stories about that because Mickey was shy you know people don't realize that you know the mantle boys and I talk a lot and and they talk about uh people say off Mickey didn't drink so much he wouldn't would have been so much better I'm not sure that because I think that liquid courage helped him a little bit in that crazy New York society but um but Mickey said he had a hard time even talking to Joe as a rookie because was he was married to Marilyn Monroe he was the biggest celebrity in the game and a dad on the other hand would joke around with him and play practical jokes on it and Joe he loved that dad treated him just like one of the guys so Mickey even told me about some of those practical jokes and because Mickey said he was such a celebrity I could tell you step-by-step what he would do when he would walk into the clubhouse he would walk in and we just stare at him the whole way to his locker and if he knew your name he'd look at you go hey Mick if he didn't he just go hey hey Billy hey whitey to the next guy and then he get to his locker and and literally make he could tell me how he undressed you know the shoes first then the jacket then the pants then the vest uh but Dad would play tricks on me and if you remember when you wouldn't remember wewe don't remember but Marilyn Monroe after they divorced she did a Playboy Playmate sprint yeah and so dad got the poster and taped it to the inside of the clubhouse door all right so Jody gets his thing he's doing a thing walking to his locker he starts undressing and he's used to most of the guys staring at him all the time but not everybody in the room looking at him so he glances around he sees it walks over grabs the poster crumples it up throws it in the trash can looks at my father just shakes his head because he knew exactly who did it and you know he's like playing practical jokes on me I couldn't even talk to him I would just get tongue-tied because was Joe DiMaggio and unless that really been what I mean what a neat time to be a Yankee but Joe Joe and dad were very close and even later in in dance managerial career Joe would just come hang out in the clubhouse with that and literally sit there for couple hours just chitchat about the family sometimes even with that just uncomfortable silence or its comfortable silence because they were so close and Philly that like just there and while dad's making up the lineup and Odie would sit on the couch next to me it was it was neat well that's a great testament to you to your dad that your dad had great people skills first of all no one could have got I don't think anyone else in that Clubhouse I didn't know that story but I don't think anybody in that Clubhouse could have got away were putting up that picture and not getting ahead copy knew you knew it was your dad it's uh it was a neat bond they had and you know what a great player and and what a great guy and you know now me will never see some of the things he did again right no never absolutely never 50-game 56-game hitting streak etc everything I mean the men rightly eg hit as many home runs as he struck out I mean it's it's ridiculous by today's standards drives me nuts that you know that they don't put any premium on putting the bat on the ball you know as a whole strikeouts don't matter you know suppose when you get into the postseason they do matter gonna be able to put the bat on the ball bill let me let me ask you because we you know just as as you're talking I'm talking I'm saying you know your dad was Italian DiMaggio we had Rizzuto you got Berra and everything like that was your dad proud of his Italian heritage did you ever go back to Italy talk about Italy talk about his you know roots yes he was ridiculously proud of his Italian heritage em and and didn't go to Italy a lot I know he went and my mother went uh in he was but you know was a baseball mean you don't get to travel a lot especially when you're in management and and as a player there's never a big-money guy you know he played in the era try to wrap your head around this yeah you got $10,000 a year playing for the New York Yankees so if they won the World Series he got another check for $6,700 he almost 70% of his total income that check meant he could sustain himself in New York until spring training rolled around if not he was going back to California to work in the penicillin plant or sell cars or both so that he could keep his head above water until spring training started and you know try to wrap your head around that compared to what today's player makes and one of the things that created back then Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel he didn't have to yell at you if you didn't run out a ground ball or a few dog did on a play in right field you know I teammates were waiting for you at the dugout right hey dude you're jacking with our World Series money right that's just the game when the players are holding you accountable as opposed to the coach that you're used to barking at you all the time you know I remember doing something on my show just did a little back of the envelope math and I'm saying to my audience I'm saying a rod I figured he had signed the after he opted out and he signed the contract with the Yankees he was making one hundred and fifty six thousand dollars a game and I said that's more than Mickey Mantle made in a year in his best year it's just it's just absolutely staggering but you know you're speaking of money I mean it's you know it the dollars were big enough but your dad was handsome we paid he was the highest-paid manager you know in his day correct yes he was he was absolutely and he put faint mints in the seats Billy that's part of the reason why I mean he was a great manager people I mean talking I I mean you know I'm very Yankee centric but would you think about what he did for the Bay Area after you know he you know he passed around and went back to like was it yeah whatever it was but Billy Boyle I mean he was bigger bigger than the T well okay there's a new book that just now come out about Billy ball and it's called the resurrection of the Oakland A's Billy ball is written by a guy named Dale Tafoya and the year before my father managed in Oakland that team only drew 300 thousand people for the whole season okay and Finley hired my father so that he could sell that him and because of what happened because dad resurrected that team because it was Billy ball and that's what the Billboard said back then they just said Billy ball catch it and wouldn't you ever see that with a manager where he's the top build celebrity the star of the of the team it and obviously it was his hometown and you know a kind of Renaissance there but um you know as much as he loved it and he was the Pope while he was there he still won't be a Yankee but he because of that awesome seasons the awesome seasons he had there that team was able to stay there and the Haas family bought it and you know otherwise that team would have probably moved to Colorado and been the Denver Athletics you know when you when you bring that up and you mention that again that proves that your dad just wanted to win it didn't matter how it could have been Reggie hitting the ball over the fence or it could have been Rickey Henderson I mean he I think Rickey Henderson goes a long way in giving your dad all kinds of kudos and credit for his career correct oh absolutely when when Rickey won the stolen-base title he credited three people as having the most influence on his career and it was kind of sad that night Sports Illustrated kind of did him wrong they showed a picture of him holding up the base saying today I'm the greatest and then they showed Nolan Ryan it was also the same night Nolan Ryan pitched his six no-hitter and Nolan the diplomat that he was at all aw shucks I didn't mean to spoil Ricky's parade and it made no one look so good and kind of made Ricki look kind of bad oli ish I want to say if you really heard what Ricky was saying he wasn't saying I'm the greatest what he was saying he was talking to his mother in that statement coz what he'd said the three most influential people in his life or my father his mother and his high school football coach and and he talked a little bit about why with each one but he he said I grew up my whole life telling my mom Lou Brock's the greatest Lou Brock's the greatest player mom he's the greatest and that's that's who had the stolen base record and that's who Ricky passed and and and so he said hey mom today I'm the greatest he was talking to his mom Eames he wasn't saying I think I'm the greatest player ever he was saying I was able to surpass my idols accomplishment you know think how that makes me feel and and you know Ricky was awesome I he was a one-man gang I don't know that I've watched his met very many players that could single-handedly just take over a game the way he did we mentioned Thurman's name number of times and that's number one on his list let's face it he was the heart and soul of your dad's team that year I mean you know they knocked on the door in 76 they kicked it down in 77 79 how tough was that and do you have any personal memories of it and how much of a toll did that take on your dad Thurmond aye I was with that when he picked it out really we were fishing in New Jersey it was an off day they actually had a practice that day does the team wasn't playing good and when that happened dad would dad and Thurman were hanging out together dad was letting Thurman rest obviously he's a catcher it's a little bit of a demanding position and and one of the coaches was hitting me ground balls second base and Thurman looked at my father and said I can't wait to see me and my son the way I see you in Little Billy and the next day dad and I are fishing or that very evening Adam and we're not catching anything and dad's giving this guy a hard time about this place it's terrible all of a sudden a police officer with a bullhorn Billy Martin come to the dock Billy Martin to the dock and of course dad looking looks at me jokingly you know what I do now pal we we take the boat over to the dock and there are two police cars there and they asked dad to get in one and I'm to get in the other and I helped him load the boat up and I jump in the other one and I asked the police officer you know what's going on and he said your father's about to get a phone call from Diane Munson and find out that Thurman died in a plane crash you know he had that he bought a plane so that on off days he could go home and see his family and spend time with them and I was working on touch-and-go landings and when the other guys got out and they weren't able to get Thurman out which still flies on me a little bit but I hung with there that night we we went back to his condo and he he cooked steaks for us and he said parra I've got to go out I've got to go out and I said dad you can't go out tonight you know what if something happens I go the mood you're in something happen you don't want to bastardize Thurman's memory and he's like you're right you're right I made him a big tall scotch and soda and we watched about three John Wayne movies and he just cried and cried and he never even touched the drink and and I've not ever seen him in that kind of pain and it something I'll never forget because Thurman was really good to me to everything he would put play pranks on me if he was shagging balls in the outfield I always had to watch and see where he was because he had the ability of one hop and a baseball and hit me in the back of the knee right in the knee pit and would buckle me like I got hit by a truck and I always had to watch out for him but he was actually great to me I I used to shag balls with his catcher's mitt quite a bit and now I'm seeing dad that night was was a lesson something I'll never forget and then that emotional thanks for sharing up with his bill I know that's that stuff and that emotional game that they had a play that was against the Orioles with the Mercer Mercer had my goodness and with a heavy heart no less a he had or Thurman I mean everybody did I mean I the two most respected players by their peers I ever witnessed more Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly and Thurman was a guy that just they all that felt like they looked up to you says you were interviewed elsewhere and I found this interesting and and the question to you was well a moment that he was most proud of and it was a moment that I don't think you know most Yankee fans would think I when when they asked you that question I thought the answer would be catching that that windblown pop-up to win the World Series in 52 or the VP in 53 but it wasn't that 177 bringing the Yankees back after deep decline it wasn't any of those Billy those will share with us yeah I like you I absolutely thought it would be 53 um and and Mickey Mantle told me another story we'll have to say for later date but cuz he got he had another hit in that series that he didn't receive but um although as he was set an all-time record for that World Series but no his favorite day was was that the 78 or 79 all-star excuse me old-timers game when they announced that he would be coming back as Yankee manager and you know Bob Sheppard announced dead and now playing second base Winkies and next year's manager Billy Martin and the crowd went nuts and it was at all time standing ovation in Yankee history actually would have gotten it on Mickey Mantle day but the announcer stopped the standing ovation so I think they had got lucky on that deal but that meant so much to him it brought a tear tie as he was tipping his hat because it wasn't just being with his players he was with his former teammates he was there with Mickey and whitey in case East Engle and Jody I mean it was yogi was there it was it was you know all of his Yankee people in the same building together and it meant so much to him and uh that's kind of neat tell me about this one again and then we'll wind it down but speaking about your dad and how he was like playing chess when everybody else was playing checkers I think about the pine fog game and he knew that Brett had an illegal bat but he waited and he waited and he waited for an opportune moment oh my god I mean do you recall what your dad you know did he have any conversations with you about the pine tar game and everything like that okay one for the ages well you know he would actually pull out the rulebook every now and then and look of stuff and he found the pine tar thing he nettles were talking about it one day and so they started really paying attention to who on every team had pine tar beyond the width of home play and so they knew which two or three guys on every team had it and they wanted to wait for that opportune moment and obviously that game was a big game and you know metals hit so hold on I think with a thinning you know to put them ahead they they'd had him I believe it was from the past season they really come up with it and you know it was awesome I mean I loved watching that video because dad really liked George you know off the field and and George had lots of friends on the Yankees and I had you ever seen anybody so angry in your life Wesley he blew up there but again that speaks to you dad just as he looking at the rule book looking for and again that's a competitive edge that's a legal edge that's thinking the next guy and on top of top of that he has such an inherent understanding about the game he had an inherent understanding about people and you mentioned analytics before you're not gonna find this on a computer page anywhere he understood intimidation he did not want to be intimidated and if he had the opportunity to intimidate to to his advantage to win he was going to do it he pulled any tool out of the shed to get it done he was fearless we you know and again this is this is why Yankee fans loved him so much and as the years went on you know what build to be to be honest with you he just liked it just felt like to me that the losses were creating more of a weight on him etc and be off the field stuff we all felt bad for and it's something that you know for you as the site I had to be so difficult because you know it's just you feel kind of helpless a little bit you'd like to maybe rein him in a little bit or do something but that was not in the cards we did that no he was she was true to who he was and sometimes it was you know not what was best for his career but like his friend Frank Sinatra he was gonna do it his way and and he did feature did and he did you know what one of the who talked about Italians before but Tony LaRussa another Italian another great magic hole of Fame and one of the greatest managers of all time absolutely he gave your dad the best compliment he said there was no better manager ever between the lines then Billy Martin and what he's saying between the lines because what he's busy he's basically acknowledging what you and I are talking about you know that sometimes your dad was his own worst enemy your enemy in terms of never back down we'd never you know what whatever but once the game started between the lines no greater tactician no better manager me as a Yankee fan when I had him in the dugout I'm good you know and I mean I don't think anybody could give a better compliment than LaRussa of all people when he said that I'm sure I'm sure you've read that quote right oh yes sir and and they were such good friends really Oh dad Tony huh were very tight and would go out after games and off against each other and they'd go out and and would share things with each other and and help each other they were both inducted into the Bay Area Hall of Fame together and dad posthumously you know this is completely out of sequence and all of that but you told a funny story where you went five for five as a player for high school you know playing a high school game your dad comes down to the field and just you'll finish off that story if you can was the only game my father got to see me play in high school and I had one of those red ass coaches who screamed and yelled at us all the time him in I knew he wouldn't have the zach to do that with my father there and so I relaxed and I had a best game of my life and the funny part was my father always thought I was good because I played my best whenever he was there I fed off his and he didn't care about that I mean he thought it was cool don't get me wrong but he sat with a bunch of my football player friends that I played football with also and they told him that I'd got into a fight with the catcher on the other team a few weeks earlier in our parking lot and I think he was more excited about that because I guy was a lot bigger than I was and dad realized maybe I had a little little chip off the old block there and he was hacking on the guy when he got up to bat I hope you can hit better than you fight boy yeah I think he was trying to egg him on him to take him to another swing at me just so dad could watch me fight too but yeah that was that was pretty neat he was he was actually late to his own game versus the Texas Rangers that night to see me play my senior year Wow that's it that's an amazing story and you know what you're right I mean he did he did like an edge a toughness too he's his players you know Al Leiter tells a funny story I was you know he's it's his first full season with the Yankees he was petrified of you dead and he's a New Jersey guy and he was a great pitcher and dad loved but he wrote him a little bit because he was trying to toughen him up absolutely trying to toughen him up and art Fowler goes out to the mound and he goes he goes you bet you've got great stuff but you're not throwing a ball over the plate because I just know one thing you are pissing off Billy I would talk you know he's Spartanburg South Carolina he'd walk out there say sure buddy Billy is pissed off I'm gonna come out here and hang out with you for a little while cos if that dugout why he did that was just to loosen him up a little bit and take a little pressure off him in a way and you know but yeah art art was the pitching coach slash closure of the first team dad managed the 1968 Denver bears and he pretty much went with dad wherever he went after that how cool was it with all the retire that is a lot of retired numbers you're a dad number 1 what do you think of that did he ever talk about the number 1 how cool it was to have that uniform oh it's uh yeah you know it meant so much to him to be put in that monument to be there with those guys yeah because his Yankee pride it's hard to explain you know maybe it's best and I think one of his greatest quotes ever was I wasn't the greatest player in Yankee history but I was the proudest you

Channel: Mike Pinto

Views: 1,557

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: 5-23-20

Id: Rs7MlQLS-oA

Length: 58min 1sec (3481 seconds)

Published: Sun May 24 2020