Title/Author:
“Billy Martin: Baseball’s
Flawed Genius” by Bill Pennington
Tags:
Baseball, history, biography,
Yankees, Twins, Tigers, Rangers, Athletics
Publish date:
April 7, 2015
Length:
565 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very good)
Review:
Billy Martin was one of
the more beloved men to ever have donned a New York Yankees uniform. Whether it was during his playing days as a
second baseman for the championship Yankee teams in the 1950’s or his five stints
as the Yankee manager, there was never a shortage of praise for him. Whether it
was the fans, teammates or players under his leadership, the stories about
Martin’s knowledge of the game and his generosity toward other people were
plentiful.
Those stories and so
much more about this complex man are captured here in this complete story of
Martin’s life written by Bill Pennington.
What really makes this work complete is how much of Martin’s off-field
life is captured as well, mainly from interviews with his three-ex wives, his
widow and his son from his second marriage. Most sports biographies that I have
read do a good job of painting the picture of the athlete’s life in the sport,
but varying degrees of the person’s life away from work. This one is certainly
one of the best in capturing that latter aspect of his life. All of the people interviewed very open on
their lives with Martin and did not appear to have any bitterness, even his
ex-wives.
There is the possibility
that these quotes, along with Pennington’s accounts of several of the brawls in
which Martin was famous for, will make the reader believe that the book is less
a complete picture of the man’s life and instead will be one that is intended
to evoke sympathy for Martin. I did believe that some of the accounts of his
fights, such as the one with marshmallow salesman Joe Cooper and the fight with
Yankee pitcher Ed Whitson, make Billy out to be a victim when he seemed to
actually be the instigator. Because
these incidents took place decades ago and many of the sources could only go on
memory of the accounts of the incidents, one shouldn’t criticize the accuracy
of the story. But added up, there is the possibility of one believing the book
isn’t being written with total objectivity.
The baseball stories,
both when Martin played and managed, are overall well researched and
written. The chapters when Martin
managed teams other than the Yankees were very good as well. His penchant for taking teams that are
struggling and turning them around into good teams with mostly the same players
is more than legend and the accounts of his managerial tenures with Minnesota,
Detroit, Texas and Oakland more than bear this out.
There are two flaws with
the baseball writing. One is that a few
facts are incorrect, such as stating that the first night game in World Series
history was played in 1976 between the Reds and Yankees. The first World Series night game was played
in 1971. It was the first Sunday night game to which the author was
referring. Another puzzling aspect for
me was when the author was trying to make the case that Martin’s style of
managing for the Oakland Athletics in 1980, popularly known as “Billy Ball” was
an earlier version of “Moneyball”, the strategy used by the same team in the
early 2000’s made popular by a book and movie of the same name. How the author came to the conclusion that
these strategies are similar was not clear to me while reading this.
But for the most part,
this book is fun to read. It is entertaining, tells many stories and new items
that many people may not know. This is
especially true for the chapter about the crash in upstate New York that ended
Martin’s life on Christmas Day 1989. It
is one that I believe many people will enjoy reading. I gave it a four star rating due to the outstanding
research and easy reading style with the only downside being the few factual
errors and the possibility of readers thinking the book is less than objective.
However, I didn’t believe that to be the case.
Did I skim?
No
Pace of the book:
I read the book at a
slower pace than usual, mainly because I wanted to carefully absorb all the information
presented. Since this was a fairly long
book, I felt it was better to read it in that manner to get a true feel of the
man’s life and his passion for the game and the Yankees.
Do I recommend?
Because Billy Martin was
a well-loved figure, not just in New York, but nearly everywhere he was a
player or manager, many readers will be interested in this biography. Even non-baseball fans will enjoy the
passages about his early life and life away from the ball park.
Book Format Read:
E-book (EPUB)
Buying links:
I think you were a bit tough on the book. I gave it 5 stars even if the author was not totally objective. But it's a well written review.
ReplyDeleteBilly Martin is the good sports book written by Bill Pennington.this book is best book i read ever in my life.
ReplyDeletesport books