Trouble at the Nightclub

Martin, pictured here in 1955 with Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, had a long history of night club incidents, starting with his 29th birthday party at the Copacabana in May 1957. The celebration resulted in a physical altercation between outfielder Hank Bauer and another club patron. Yankees' GM George Weiss, who long-believed Martin was a bad influence on Mantle and Ford, shipped Martin off to Kansas City a month after the incident.

As manager, "Billy the Kid" had any number of other fisticuffs, including notoriously hitting a Minnesota marshmallow salesman in the face at a hotel bar in 1979. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner quickly fired him to bring an end to Martin's second stint as manager. Back with the Yankees for the fourth time as manager in 1985, Martin got into fights on consecutive nights at the bar of the Cross Keys Inn, one with the groom of a wedding, the other with one of his own starting pitchers, Eddie Lee Whiston, which resulted in a broken right arm and two cracked ribs for Martin. During his last stretch as manager of the Yanks, Martin was involved in a fight with three men in the bathroom of Lace, a topless club in Arlington, Texas. Martin required more than 40 stitches to his head, but was back in the dugout to manage the next day. Martin was let go for the final time one month later after a four-game losing streak that had the Yankees second in the AL East.