Billy Martin died on December 25, 1989 in a car crash near his home. Twelve years have passed since his untimely death at the age of 61. Whether it is coincidence, synchronicity, or just a perception delayed by forty-four years, I just realized that a trade made by George Weiss, who was the Yankees General Manager in 1957, probably cost the Yankees the 1957 World Series. If the Yankees hadn't traded Billy Martin to Kansas City on June 15, 1957, they might have won the 1957 World Series.
Billy Martin was far from a great baseball player. He was average or even below average in the five "tools" (hit for average, hit with power, speed, arm strength, and fielding ability) scouts use to evaluate players, but those five "tools" alone are insufficient when assessing Billy Martin. There was a lot more to the brash, fearless second baseman who was banished to Kansas City because George Weiss needed a "fall guy" for a fight involving some Yankees who were celebrating Martin's birthday and a Bronx delicatessen owner at the infamous Copacabana night club.
Frank Lane, who was one of the great General Managers of all time and one of the Yankees' fiercest rivals, succinctly described Billy Martin's value when he stated simply that "He's the kind of guy you'd like to kill if he's playing for the other team, but you'd like ten of him on your side." Martin's worth must be measured by his fierce, almost maniacal desire to win regardless of cost.
The 1957 World Series matched the Yankees against the Milwaukee Braves, two teams that were even in almost all areas. The Yankees had a regular season team batting average of .268, hit 145 home runs, and had a team earned run average of 3.00. They scored 723 runs. The Braves had a regular season team batting average of .269, hit 199 home runs, and pitched to an earned run average of 3.47. They scored 772 runs.
The World Series opened in New York and the teams split the first two games, with the Yankees winning Game One, 3-1, and the Braves winning Game Two, 4-2. Moving to Milwaukee, the Yankees won Game 3 when rookie Tony Kubek hit two home runs, but despite a two out, three run ninth inning rally to tie Game 4, and despite having a 5-4 tenth inning lead, the Yankees lost when the Braves tied it on a Johnny Logan double that scored pinch runner Felix Mantilla, and then won it when Eddie Mathews hit a dramatic home run.
But Eddie Mathews would do more than just hit a game winning home run. Eddie Mathews could run. He was, according to teammate Lew Burdette, the second fastest man on the club, and it would be Mathews' speed that would be pivotal in the Braves' victory.
Game Five was scoreless until the Braves batted in the sixth inning. Whitey Ford was dueling the aforementioned Burdette, with the latter expressing the opinion that it was hard to tell how long the game would last the way the two aces were pitching. And it happened so innocently.
Ford retired the first two batters in the sixth, bringing up the dangerous left handed hitting Mathews. The Yankees' ace appeared to be out of the inning when he induced Mathews to hit a soft ground ball to the second base side of the infield, well within the range of Yankees' second baseman Jerry Coleman. It was on that ground ball that the World Series was lost.
Coleman didn't know that Mathews had excellent speed. Instead of charging the ball, Coleman backed up on it, waiting for the high hop, which is an easier and less risky play, but one that gives precious time to the man running to first base.
Mathews, running at full speed, beat Coleman's throw by an eyelash. That was the opening the Braves were looking for. Henry Aaron singled Mathews to third and Joe Adcock singled Mathews home with the only run of the game. Instead of Mathews being retired and the inning being over, Coleman's poor judgement extended the inning and allowed the Braves to score.
It is 1952. The Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers are tied at three games apiece in the World Series and they are playing Game 7. The Yankees hold a 4-2 seventh inning lead with the Dodgers batting. There are two outs but, as the great Red Barber often said, "The bases are loaded with Brooklyns."
Lefty Bob Kuzava was facing Jackie Robinson. Yankees' manager Casey Stengel was going against the "book" by allowing a left hander face the powerful right hand hitting Robinson in a home run hitters park, but that was one of the many things that made Stengel the greatest of all managers. He knew baseball and had guts. So did Billy Martin.
Kuzava delivered and Jackie Robinson swung with all his might, but his timing was off by a split second. All he could do was to hit a high pop fly near the first base side of the pitcher's mound. When Robinson hit the ball, it seemed as if the inning would end with either first baseman Joe Collins, third baseman Gil McDougald, or even pitcher Bob Kuzava making the play. None did.
The ball got caught in the wind, and it seemed, for a fleeting moment, that the only thing on the field that could catch the ball was the wind. Collins seemed to lose sight of the pop up. Kuzava and McDouglad were frozen at their positions.
The ball completed the first half of its parabolic arc and was on its way down. Three Brooklyns were racing around the bases with the runs that would give them the lead. Suddenly, on the television, the voice of Mel Allen screamed out, "Here comes Billy Martin. The ball is falling fast. And Martin makes a knee high, lunging catch to save three runs." How about that?
If Billy Martin had not been traded and were playing second base, do you think that he would have waited for the high hop on Eddie Mathews' ground ball? Do you think that he, like Burdette and unlike Coleman, would have known that the second fastest runner on the Braves was Mathews?
No one knows if the Yankees would have won Game 5 since Burdette pitched a complete game, seven hit shutout, but Ford also pitched a great game and would have shut out the Braves, at least until the eighth inning, when he was relieved by Bob Turley, who held the Braves scoreless in the eighth. The game would have gone to the Braves half of the ninth scoreless, and as quoted earlier, in commenting about Coleman's non-play, Burdette said that "If he doesn't back up on Mathews' ball to play it on the big hop, it's hard to tell how long it would have gone."
Many fans and writers have pointed out that Coleman should have charged Mathews' grounder. For forty-four years, the emphasis has been on Coleman not making the play. It never occurred to me that Coleman was playing second because Billy Martin had been traded.
Today I finally realized that if Billy Martin had been at second base that day, the results of the game and the 1957 World Series might have been different. Billy Martin never played it safe, and Billy Martin was never scared. Billy Martin would have charged the ground ball.
References
http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/worldseries/1957.html
http://baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1957ws.shtml
http://www.netpath.net/~bauer/players/martin.htm
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/corner/c042001b.shtml
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/1999/postseason/world_series/news/1999/10/24/fifties_series_ap/
http://www.cincypost.com/living/1999/barber081699.html
» Harold Friend is still a crazy Yankees fan who loves the team and loves to think and write about them.
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Posted January 24, 2002.
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