Thousands Pay Final Respects to Martin : Baseball: Former manager is eulogized as mourners fill St. Patrick’s Cathedral and line Fifth Avenue in New York.

Billy Martin’s funeral Friday was like the most spectacular of his many managerial resurrections, the surprise announcement of his first return in July 1978, before a packed old-timers’ day crowd at Yankee Stadium--only five days after his emotional resignation as Billy I.

More than 3,000 relatives, friends, fans and members of the Yankee “family” filled St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Martin’s final goodby, while a crowd estimated at more than 1,000 stood outside behind police barricades on Fifth Avenue.

“They should have had it at Yankee Stadium,” said one of the faithful, Mary Beth Hogan of Union City, N.J. “Mark my words, he would have been back a sixth time. He did his best with everything he had.”

Martin, 61, died on Christmas Day when the pickup truck in which he was riding skidded off an icy road and crashed into a concrete culvert near Martin’s farm in Upstate Fenton, N.Y. The driver, William Reedy, a friend of Martin’s from Detroit, has been charged with driving while intoxicated.

Martin’s mourners included old Yankee pals Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, former President Richard Nixon, sportscaster Howard Cosell, National League President Bill White, Martin’s lawyer, Judge Eddie Sapir, and current and former Yankees Don Mattingly, Yogi Berra, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph, Rick Cerone, Chris Chambliss and Mike Pagliarulo.

“What can you say?” Berra said. “Sad, sad day.”

In front of Martin’s coffin, which was draped in a white funeral pall, burned a candle. To one side stood a wreath of red, white and blue carnations, depicting the Yankee insignia, created at the request of Martin’s widow, photographer Jill Guiver, according to a cathedral spokeswoman. Guiver sat in the cathedral’s front pew with Martin’s son and daughter from a previous marriage. Across the aisle sat Steinbrenner, Mantle and Nixon.

“At first blush, this cathedral is undoubtedly the last place you’d expect to find Billy,” said the Rev. Edwin Broderick, former bishop of Albany, “but since God’s ways are strange to us, this is the last place we find him.

“Billy gave us thrills and spills, ups and downs, but his was an interesting show with exciting and different endings.

“Despite all his bravado and bravura, Billy was a warm, sentimental, kind person, generous with his time and money. . . . Billy always wore his St. Christopher’s medal and carried a rumpled prayer card to St. Jude in his pocket. We pray that his is a safe slide into home plate. It seems a coincidence that Billy went home to God on Christmas Day.”

Cheers punctuated the end of Broderick’s eulogy, which concluded with a reference to Martin’s appearance one day in “the eternal World Series.”

The fans who filled the pews to capacity and stood in the aisles craning their necks for a view of the altar were willing to grant Martin forgiveness for his oft-chronicled off-the-field problems. Some held newspapers open to the sports pages on their laps; others were attired in Yankee jackets and caps. One woman wore a 1978 Yankee championship pin.

“Let me tell you why I’m here,” said a middle-aged, mustachioed man who declined to give his name. “I had an alcohol problem for 30 years, and I’ve been clean for seven now. I feel for Billy. I look at him and say, ‘Why not me? Why him?’ I feel so badly for his family.”

Fans overlooked the tales of Martin’s bar brawls and bouts with alcohol, concentrating on his managerial success.

Former players recalled their manager’s combative style.

“He was an aggressive fighter, someone who brought out the aggressive nature in others,” said former first baseman Chambliss, a tear in the corner of his right eye.

Added Randolph, who spent 13 years as a Yankee second baseman before moving to the Dodgers: “He was the leader. He gave me my shot as a rookie and taught me how to win, win with pride, and how to handle myself off the field--well, not always off the field.”

Outside, as police reopened the street in front of St. Patrick’s to traffic, and fans climbed the steps seeking to mingle with the celebrities leaving the cathedral, a sad-eyed, unshaven man shouted: “Billy gave New York light! He gave New York a championship!”