Fans Wish Billy ‘Safe Slide Home’

Thousands of baseball fans, including former President Richard M. Nixon, packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral today for the funeral of five-time New York Yankees Manager Billy Martin.

“We gather here this morning not to celebrate Billy’s way of life but to pray that his is a safe slide into home plate,” the Most Rev. Edwin B. Broderick said in saying Mass.

Martin’s body, with a police escort, arrived at the church on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan at 10:07 a.m. EST for the 10:30 service, followed by a gold limousine with the license plate NYYBILLY. Police had to hold back spectators, and office workers watched from the windows of nearby skyscrapers.

One fan across the street held up a handmade sign saying, “Gone but not forgotten.”

Chants of “Bil-lee, Bil-lee” arose in the street as the coffin left the church an hour later, and fans broke into applause as the hearse pulled away from the church.

Honorary pallbearers included Yankees Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, team owner George Steinbrenner, former Yankees second baseman Willie Randolph and former Yankees publicist Mickey Morabito.

Ford, one of Martin’s closest friends, read one of the Scripture passages. Metropolitan Opera star Robert Merrill sang “The Lord’s Prayer.” A single candle burned next to the body.

Other baseball dignitaries attending the funeral included National League President Bill White, New York Yankees broadcaster and former Martin teammate Phil Rizzuto, Hall of Famer Yogi Berra and former Martin players Chris Chambliss and Ron Guidry.

Mourners filled most of the 2,500 seats in the church, and several hundred stood in the aisles. Some stood on pews for a better view of Martin’s coffin, draped with a white cloth in front of the altar. A floral piece with the Yankees emblem stood nearby.

Even as Martin was given his farewell, controversy swirled around the man who led the Yankees to a World Series title in 1977.

The Internal Revenue Service has filed a lien against Martin’s estate, saying he owed more than $85,000 in back taxes. Martin owed taxes for 1981, 1982 and 1988, said Laurie Ruffino, an IRS spokesman in Buffalo.

A New York Daily News story today quoted sources saying Martin was too drunk to drive home the day he died as a passenger in his pickup truck.

Martin, 61, was killed Christmas Day when a friend driving his light pickup slammed into a culvert on the fringe of his property in Upstate New York.

William Reedy, a longtime Martin friend, was charged with drunk driving. Driving while intoxicated in New York state is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine upon conviction.

Mantle said he hopes sports fans will recall Martin the way he will.

“I’m gonna’ remember him as my best friend,” Mantle said.

Mantle said his first memory of Martin was of a fresh-faced kid who differed with the infield instruction given by longtime Yankee Frank Crosetti. Martin played 11 years in the majors and went on to manage five teams.

Five times he managed the Yankees, leading them to a World Series title in 1977. But the job that gave Martin such pleasure also brought him the pain of five firings.

“It almost made me cry,” Mantle said of one of the dismissals. “It broke his heart, and it almost broke mine.”

After he finished speaking, Mantle bit his lip against tears.