American baseball player and manager, famous for his gutsy all-out baseball playing style and barroom fighting brawls.
Martin’s father, a Portuguese farmhand, deserted the family a year after his birth. His mother was of Italian descent and his grandmother, who spoke no English, helped raise him. Martin played baseball and basketball at Berkeley High School, and while small in size, was recalled as emotional and aggressive. He signed a contract to play minor league baseball at age 17.
By the early 1950s, Martin was the regular second baseman for the Yankees and became a popular player with his boss, the players and the public. His major-league brawling began in 1952, during his third season, when he fought with St. Louis Browns catcher Clint Courtney after a play at the plate. His opponents included Boston outfielder Jimmy Piersall, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Brewer, Minnesota pitcher Dave Boswell, two of his Yankees players, outfielder Reggie Jackson and pitcher Ed Whitson as well as sportswriters, a marshmallow salesman, hotel bar patrons and three men in the restroom of an Arlington, Texas topless club in May 1988, less than two months before he was fired from his fifth term as Yankee manager. He batted .333 in five world Series (33 for 99), with five homeruns and 19 RBIs, won the Babe Ruth Award as outstanding player against Brooklyn by hitting .500 and setting a record with 12 hits in a six-game series. He served as manager for several teams, getting fired more often due to his fighting and secondarily for indiscretions. He was honored on 08/10/1986 at a designated Billy Martin Day, during which his uniform number was retired. He was remembered by those who knew him as a man with two sides: an aggressive, difficult man dubbed “Battlin’ Billy” or as a generous, thoughtful loyal friend who was wonderful with kids.
He married his high school girlfriend in 1950. A daughter was born in 1952. Following a divorce, Martin became depressed and underwent medical treatment for insomnia, hypertension and acute melancholia. He admitted to becoming addicted to sleeping pills. He had a second marriage; a son was born from this marriage. He married a third time following the 1982 season, and a fourth time to wife Jill.
Martin died in a car crash 12/25/1989, 5:45 PM, Fenton, NY when a truck in which he was a passenger skidded off an icy road near his upstate New York farm. His mother had died 15 days earlier in California. At that time, it was reported that he narrowly missed being hit by a bullet that discharged accidentally while sitting in a bar in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Link to Wikipedia biography