May 21, 1977 – Orioles 4, Yankees 3 (12)
- Sal Maiorana
- May 21, 2017
- 3 min read
NEW YORK – Earl Weaver saw the overcrowded scene inside the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium, and he immediately knew what was going on.
“Billy won’t talk so everyone’s over here, huh?” Weaver correctly surmised with that wise-cracking grin that often creased his face.
Martin was livid over his team’s extra-inning loss in the nationally-televised NBC Game of the Week. He hung a sign on the door to his office that read “No Interviews” and then he barked at a reporter who ventured into an off-limits area of the clubhouse seeking an interview from a player who wanted nothing to do with talking. Such was life covering the 1977 Yankees.
Martin was his own worst enemy, and once again, his inability to come to grips with the fact that Reggie Jackson was on his team got the best of him. For no good reason, Martin benched his slugging right fielder who was batting just .235.
What made this ridiculous is that Martin started Jimmy Wynn in Jackson’s place, the same Wynn who went 0-for-4 to extend his recent misery to 0-for-27, dropping his average to .167. And the coup de grace came in the seventh with the Yankees nursing a 2-0 lead for Mike Torrez. Al Bumbry hit a liner to right, Wynn slipped, and the ball skipped past him for a game-tying two-run double.
“You never say no to getting a Reggie Jackson because he can help the team,” Martin said. “I’d play Hitler and Mussolini if it would help us win. Reggie just has to understand the way I do things. On the field, I call the shots. I’m going to win or lose my way. I might bat Reggie fourth when he’s hot, but with our running game it’s best to have a fourth-place hitter who doesn’t strike out a lot.”
Tensions were continuing build between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin as Martin benched Jackson for the third time in the past week.
Former New York Post and the Journal-News sports writer never believed that. He once wrote of a conversation he had with Yankee coach Elston Howard about the Martin/Jackson dynamic, and Howard intimated that Martin was extremely jealous of Jackson and hated all the attention he received. Howard said, “I think Billy wanted Reggie to fail more than he wanted the Yankees to win.” If that was true, it makes what ultimately happened in 1977 even more remarkable.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, a tired controversy bubbled to the surface. Again. With Thurman Munson out after needing three stitches to close a cut on his glove hand suffered the previous night, Fran Healy had to catch. With Munson unavailable, there was no backup catcher, reigniting Martin’s week-old furor over the fact that Elrod Hendricks was still in Syracuse while spare outfielder Dell Alston was up with the Yankees.
Graig Nettles led off with a double, and Martin would have pinch-hit for Healy, who was up next, but he couldn’t. He asked Healy to bunt, but he fouled one off so Martin let him hit away and he ended up flying out, not advancing Nettles to third. Bucky Dent and Willie Randolph went down quietly to kill the threat.
The teams scored once each in the 11th before the Orioles won it in the 12th. Sparky Lyle, who had replaced Torrez in the 11th and given up Pat Kelly’s RBI single, retired the first two batters in the 12th, but Ken Singleton, Lee May, and Eddie Murray – the rookie who was mired in a 1-for-23 slump - all laced singles to produce the winning run.
While the Yankees sulked, following the lead of their manager, across the way, the Orioles - who inched into first place in the AL East ahead of the Yankees and Red Sox with their second win in this series - were the exact opposite of the uptight Yankees. Especially Singleton who loudly celebrated his victory in the team’s Kentucky Derby pool, having drawn Seattle Slew.
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