The fiery New York Yankees manager fought and drank his way through life, so when the end came during a trip home from a bar on Christmas Day 1989, the only surprise was that a friend was behind the wheel of Martin’s truck. “For some, 61 is young,” Tom Boswell wrote a few days later for the Washington Post. “For Martin it was very old.”
Even in an abbreviated life, though, Martin might rank as one of the best managers in baseball history. While he couldn’t keep a job very long and had a knack for getting fired and re-hired by George Steinbrenner, Martin excelled wherever he went.