It’s Doubtful Billy Martin Will Make Hall of Fame

An unexpected visitor appeared at the Hall of Fame ceremonies in Cooperstown last summer. “It was interesting,” Hall of Fame secretary Bill Burdick said. “It was the first time I could recall him being at an induction ceremony.”

The visitor, who Burdick said purposely stayed in the background, was Billy Martin. Perhaps Martin was wondering what it would be like to be enshrined into baseball’s highest honor society.

Martin never was going to make the Hall on his playing ability--he received one vote when his name appeared on the ballot in 1967--and it appears that the former New York Yankee manager, who died Monday, will not have a great deal of support based on his managerial career.

It appears to be much easier to make the Hall as a player than as a manager. Only 14 managers have been elected since the Hall’s inception in 1936, and only one in the 1980s, longtime Dodger manager Walter Alston.

Four men who managed the Yankees are in the Hall--Miller Huggins, Joe McCarthy, Bucky Harris and Casey Stengel, Martin’s beloved mentor.

If winning percentage were all that mattered, Martin would rank favorably with some of the honored managers. His record was 1,258-1,018, a percentage of .553. Even though Martin managed fewer games than Stengel and Huggins, his percentage ranks ahead of Stengel (.508) and just behind Huggins (.555).

Of course, no Hall of Fame manager had his reputation maligned or enhanced the way Martin’s was with his battling style on and off the field. And no Hall of Famer had his managerial tenures cut short as often as Martin’s were.

Martin will be recalled more for his colorful style than for his team’s records. He was the dominant manager of his time, if not always for winning, then certainly for fan appeal and controversy.

“He is the only manager I ever saw who, if you needed an attendance boost, you would hire him,” former Yankee Tommy John said. “Oakland had no identity before him. Then the fans started coming out in droves.

“Usually on the pro level, the manager or coach takes the background. With Billy, it was always Billy Martin and the Yankees. Billy will go down in the annals of baseball history.”

Martin’s chances for entry in the Hall appear slim. Jack Lang, head of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America, doubts that Martin will be elected. “I don’t think he will ever be considered seriously,” said Lang, who is in the writers’ wing of the Hall. “He was a figure and a force in baseball, but he should not be a member of the Hall of Fame.”

Martin’s case will come before the Veterans Committee, an 18-member board of writers, broadcasters and former players. The panel meets annually to discuss candidates who have been passed over by Lang’s group or who served as managers, executives or umpires. Bob Broeg, former sports editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is an influential member of the Veterans Committee.