Fans Pay Tribute at Wake for Billy Martin

Baseball fans gathered outside a Manhattan funeral home Thursday for the wake of Billy Martin, the five-time manager of the New York Yankees who was killed in a pickup truck accident near his upstate New York farm on Christmas Day. Martin will be buried today at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., after a Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

Martin’s casket was under a four-foot Yankee logo made from tulips. To the right of the casket on a stand were a Yankee cap and his uniform, No. 1. Among those who sent floral displays were pitcher Dave Righetti, coaches Art Fowler and Billy Connors and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, Martin’s longtime buddy who will serve as a pallbearer at the funeral, said each time Martin was fired, the experience hurt deeply.

“Billy needed to be on the field,” Mantle said. “It was his need to be there. All the firings hurt him. It almost made him cry.”

Mantle said he last spoke to Martin the day before the accident.

“I can’t really realize that he’s gone yet, you know,” Mantle said. “It’s like you keep expecting him to pop in at any minute.”