At Midseason, Billy Martin Is Happy Man

At 2:24 on the afternoon of April 8 in Boston with the temperature at 48 degrees and the Fenway Park sod soggy from an early-morning snow storm, the Yankees’ 1985 baseball season began. Omar Moreno was the first batter. (He would tap back to the box.) Phil Niekro was the Yankees’ starting pitcher, to be followed by a relief corps of Bob Shirley, Joe Cowley and Dale Murray. Yogi Berra was the manager.

Those items appeared then to be recorded only for posterity. Who could have figured posterity was just around the corner? “That seems like a very long time ago,” said shortstop Bobby Meacham, who tripped over second base in his first attempt at turning a double play, as if the bag had been misplaced in the manner that a child’s toy is carelessly left on the kitchen floor.

From such humble beginnings has emerged a half-season full of changes and surprises. Since Opening Day, the owner called the third game of the season “crucial”; the club hyped a rematch with the Red Sox in April as “war”; the manager was blamed for players deciding not to attend a workout they did not need to attend; a “tranquility coach” was hired; a game was protested because of insufficient lighting after a few pop-ups disappeared; two players were arrested for urinating in public; another game was protested because Dave Kingman didn’t walk a straight line to a base; a rookie was fined and farmed out for throwing a fastball instead of a curveball; the new manager blamed the old manager for an unproductive spring training; a player took exception to a mandatory workout, which drew the wrath of the owner, and the ace pitcher asked out of his start against the first-place team.

Oh, yes. George Steinbrenner fired Berra and hired Billy Martin for a fourth time. And the club is now one of the hottest teams in baseball. The correlation between those last two facts has been viewed as direct, coincidental and everything in between.

“It’s been a good first half,” said Don Mattingly, the player responsible for opposing public restrooms and mandatory workouts. “It’s been an inconsistent one. It’s been a little rocky and rough with the firing, the hiring, some changes around here and a few controversies.

“Basically, nothing new.”

There is nothing new in New York. Certainly Martin is an old story, not counting his unblemished and unbelievable record of having seen the finish of all 69 of his games; his spats with umpires have been rare and mild. Otherwise, you can’t change the pinstripes on this cat. Martin has been cantankerous, charming, lethargic, daring, friendly and aloof. And, many more times than not, victorious.

Martin’s team has the best record in the American League (43-26) since he assumed the manager’s job April 29. His winning percentage of .623 is better than in any of his 14 previous seasons, including 1977 when he won 100 games for the only time in his career.

“I’m happy,” Martin said when asked for a self-evaluation. “I didn’t know that’s what the record is. All I know is that it’s got me 15, 16 games above .500. I like our position very much.”

Martin took over a 6-10 club that was last in the standings, in home runs and runs batted in. After Martin lost his first two games, the Yankees owned the worst record in baseball. But since then the Yankees are 43-24. They are eighth in home runs and second in runs batted in. Most importantly, they are in second place in the East, where they trail the fading Blue Jays by 2 1-2 games, and only one game in the loss column.

Martin’s contribution to that turnaround is real, though it could easily be overrated. At the close of Berra’s sour 16, Rickey Henderson was hitting .120, Dave Winfield was hitting .258 and Mattingly was hitting .277. All three players and their batting averages were unhealthy because of injuries. None figured to continue to hit that poorly, nor did the Yankees figure to continue a pace in which they allowed 17 unearned runs. (They’ve surrendered only 19 in the 69 games since then.) “It had to happen sooner or later,” Henderson said of the improvement.

Martin, though, seemed to accelerate that inevitability. He is not likely ever to be voted most popular by his peers or his players. But he may win most likely to succeed.

“It was a struggle to begin with,” Martin said. “When Yogi was here he didn’t get the pitching or the hitting, Mattingly was hurt and Rickey was hurt. When I came everything began to fall into place. We’re healthy now, and if we stay healthy, we’re going to be tough.

“Our division is tougher than anything in baseball or anything in sports. You can take the sixth-place club and beat anyone in the National League. Why should I say one team is the team to beat? That will only make someone else mad at me and want to beat us. We’re not afraid of anybody. We’re a good team. We’ll stand up to anybody.”

One of Martin’s best moves was one of his first. He sent for Brian Fisher from Columbus, though he had never seen him pitch. The Yankees were talking with the Mariners at the time about a deal for Ken Phelps. Seattle kept insisting on Fisher. Martin, backed by strong reports on the rookie from pitching coach Mark Connor, figured Fisher must have something if a club wanted him so badly. Fisher has since compiled a 2-2 record, four saves and the lowest earned-run average on the staff (2.57).

Martin also has helped two of his favorite players whom he managed before, Henderson and Ron Guidry. Henderson, who is batting .381 since Martin took over, is having an MVP season (.357, 11 homers, 37 RBI, 41 stolen bases). Guidry, who was 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA under Berra, is having a Cy Young season (12-3, 2.58). Guidry’s comeback from a 10-11 season is the major reason why the pitching staff--the most questionable element in spring training--has developed into a team strength. Its ERA of 3.50 is fourth best in the league. Guidry has won 11 decisions in a row, Ed Whitson (5-6) has won four in a row and Joe Cowley (7-3) has won 7 of 8.

“We have three of us who are really pitching well,” Guidry said. “What you need on a good championship club is two or three guys who are really pitching well so that you don’t go into prolonged losing streaks.”

Are the Yankees a championship club?

“I questioned it myself whether we had the unit to go all the way,” Winfield said. “As of late, we’re playing better as a team.” Through 81 games--the halfway point--they won 45 games, a pace for a 90-win season. Most of the Yankees figured 90 is not enough. Martin thought “91 or 92” will win the division. Not since Martin’s 1972 Tigers, who won 86 games, has the American League East champion won fewer than 91 games.

The Yankees are playing like champions now (they’ve won 10 of 11), but their enthusiasm should be tempered by knowing that they are fattening up on the weak West. They are 24-3 against West clubs at Yankee Stadium. Their outlook and record are likely to continue to improve when they begin the second half with a four-city road trip against teams they are 23-8 against this season.

The Yankees are winning games they are supposed to win, as contrasted by last season when they went 41-43 against the West. But what the Yankees must do to win the division is to improve their records in games they need to win. They have losing records in several testing categories: in their division (17-20), on the road (17-23) and in extra-inning games (3-8).