I missed the big news story on Christmas Day, 1989. I got back to my Binghamton apartment late that night after spending the last day and a half with family in Oneonta. The telephone answering machine was blinking and had several messages. They were all from the radio station where I was news director at the time.
Five-time manager of the New York Yankees, Billy Martin, had died in a traffic accident that afternoon near his Potter Hill Road home in the town of Fenton. Radio stations and networks from throughout the United States had been calling my station, which was trying to reach me. There were next to no cell phones in the area then, nor was there such a thing as text messages. Being a holiday, I was a firm believer in not having an "electronic leash." A cross-town competitor got back to those inquiring radio networks.
One never knows when news will break, but I wouldn't have done it differently, if I could have a do-over. Not many of my family Christmases were remaining, as fate had it.
Billy Martin was considered by most as controversial but equally well-liked by many. Martin moved to Broome County in 1988 after his fifth firing from the Yankees that June.
It was no secret Martin had a reputation of drinking and brawling, but he apparently left the brawling behind him when he moved to the Binghamton area. Martin was known to frequent several taverns along Upper Front Street and north of the city.
A Press and Sun Bulletin writer visited several of these establishments after Martin's death, and bartenders said, "Martin was patient with the many autograph seekers and opinionated baseball fans he encountered. He was funny, charming, generous and, occasionally, quiet and thoughtful. But never feisty or violent, they said."
Earl Wagstaff then owned the Hillside Inn in Port Crane. One day, Wagstaff asked Martin to autograph a baseball for a friend's son who was hospitalized with cerebral palsy.
"He wanted to know what hospital he was in, and I told him," Wagstaff said. It was at Binghamton General Hospital. "He went over and saw him."
"How many guys would do that?" Wagstaff asked. "I get sick of reading stuff in the papers about how bad he was."
"His national reputation was not his local reputation," said Susan Snyder, then a bartender at Casey's Cantina.
Unfortunately, after visiting another establishment in that area on Christmas afternoon, Martin was riding in a pickup that skidded off the road in the town of Fenton at about 5:45 p.m. The driver was a friend of Martin's, William Reedy, of Detroit. Reedy was injured, and charged with driving while intoxicated.
Martin enjoyed some publicity while a Broome County resident. Martin narrated Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid" at a Binghamton Symphony Family Concert. The performance didn't earn rave reviews, but it gave many residents a different perspective of Martin.
At a sports dinner for the Binghamton Area Girls Softball Association, he took the occasion to "tell the world how much he loved the Southern Tier."
Albert "Sam" Nader, president of what was then the Oneonta Yankees, said Martin's loss was a blow to baseball.
"I saw him at the winter meetings, and he told me to call him after the holidays," Nader told The Daily Star.
"He was one of the best managers the New York Yankees ever had, Nader said. He was just chock full of ability. Some of the things he did didn't sit well with some people in the business, but no one could question his ability.
"He was a Yankee through and through. Anyone who knew him knew that was so. He was a pretty dedicated guy. Baseball has lost a real fine man."
Born Alfred Manuel Martin, he played second base for the Yankees from 1950-57, including five World Series championship teams. Martin was first hired to manage the team in 1975.
This weekend, Christmastime as it was in 1909.
___
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
