May 22 – Yankees 1-8, Orioles 5-2
- Sal Maiorana
- May 22, 2017
- 3 min read
NEW YORK – Earl Weaver was in his 10th season with the Orioles, the only major-league team he ever had, or ever would, manage on his way to 1,480 victories, four American League pennants, and one World Series title.
Billy Martin, meanwhile, was now managing the fourth of the five teams he would skipper – including five separate stints with the Yankees - on his way to 1,253 victories, two pennants, and one World Series.
No one would ever call Weaver a better manager than Martin, but Earl sure knew how to keep his job, and he said it really wasn’t all that complicated.
“Billy understands baseball, but he doesn’t understand life,” Weaver told Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post after the Yankees and Orioles split a doubleheader, giving the Orioles a three-games-to-two victory in this long series. “(Owners) want to hear people say how smart they are for the moves the team makes. They want to be in the papers. Above all they want to be loved in their city. You got to do what the owner says. That’s not baseball; that’s life. That’s always Billy’s undoing.”
Future Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson saw it the same way. “There is a way to simplify most situations and a way to make them more complicated,” Robinson said. “Martin seems to be able to make things more complicated every time.”
The Orioles had just witnessed first-hand the circus that was the Yankees, and to a man, their read on the situation was that Martin was toxic. The silly treatment of Jackson; the carping over not having 36-year-old over-the-hill Elrod Hendricks on the roster; his incessant bickering with George Steinbrenner because he simply hated to be told what to do. None of it was good for a ballclub.
“I think the Yankees get along with each other,” said Weaver. “The only problem I see on that club is Billy and Steinbrenner. Billy told the owner in Texas, ‘You sell pipes and I’ll run the ballclub.’ Well, you don’t tell the owner and the general manager what to do. You make suggestions.”
Baltimore won the first game behind Rudy May, the same May who New York had traded to Baltimore the year before, a deal that was one of the worst in Yankees history. The Yankees sent Rick Dempsey, Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor and Dave Pagan to the Orioles in exchange for Hendricks, Doyle Alexander, Jimmy Freeman, Ken Holtzman and Grant Jackson.
May went the distance while Catfish Hunter was knocked around yet again, five hits and four runs in 5.1 innings for his third loss in four decisions. He gave up a home run to Ken Singleton and a two-run single to Eddie Murray before exiting in favor of Sparky Lyle.
In the nightcap, the Yankees ended their three-game losing streak as they pounded out five extra-base hits including a two-run homer by Graig Nettles off McGregor in the third that opened the scoring. Ron Guidry then made it hold up, improving to 3-0 as he pitched into the ninth inning before Dick Tidrow finished it off.
When the media walked into the Orioles clubhouse, they were greeted by a sign that read “Press-Media Is Welcome at ALL Times,” Weaver’s dig at Martin for his “no interviews” sign from the day before.
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