June 3, 1977 – White Sox 9, Yankees 5
- Sal Maiorana
- Jun 3, 2017
- 2 min read
CHICAGO – Billy Martin wasn’t around to see the conclusion of this game at Comiskey Park. He got tossed by home plate umpire Terry Cooney for arguing balls and strikes during a calamitous seven-run fourth-inning that ended all suspense regarding the outcome.
Incredibly for Martin, despite all the turmoil that had surrounded the Yankees in the first two months of the season, this was his first heave-ho.
Martin, of course, was no friend of the umpires. He was a constant burr in their saddle, and his tirades rank him as one of the most cantankerous managers in the history of the game.
Jim McKean, who was a young umpire climbing the ladder in 1977, recalled that “If Billy Martin did some of the things off the field that he does on, he’d be thrown in jail. Either that or an insane asylum. One time when Martin was in Texas, he was so hoarse from yelling at me he accused me of trying to put him in the hospital. I said it was a good place for him.”
The way the Yankees played the fourth inning, there’s a good chance Martin was trying to get tossed just so he wouldn’t have to watch. The White Sox sent 12 men to the plate and produced the seven runs on seven hits, a walk and a wild pitch.
Jim Essian’s two-run single made it 4-1 and finished Torrez. Ken Holtzman entered and allowed both runners he inherited on base to score as he gave up a fielders’ choice RBI grounder, and a two-run triple by Alan Bannister, who then scored when Holtzman threw one back to the screen past Thurman Munson.
There was further proof on this night that, as long-time Yankee radio broadcaster John Sterling says way too often, “You can’t predict baseball.” It pains me to say it because I’m not a fan of his style, but he’s right.
Less than a week earlier, White Sox lefty Ken Kravec made his season debut against the Yankees and pitched nearly flawless for five innings before a stunning five-pitch sequence turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit which resulted in a loss.
This time, the Yankees had traffic on the bases early and often against Kravec, but he battled through it, and when the White Sox went wild in the fourth, he was able to cruise to the second victory of his major-league career.
Afterward, Martin didn’t have much to say about the game, but he had plenty to say about Cooney and the rest of the umpires.
“He asked me if I was questioning his calls on pitches,” said Martin, who had the confrontation with Cooney while he was changing pitchers. “I said to him ‘You go back and do your job and I’ll do mine.’ Then I asked the first base ump to call in Holtzman and Cooney told me I was gone. He said something about how I was on him in Boston this week. He was calling a lot of bad pitches on Torrez. We’ve seen this umpiring crew too much, to be honest with you.”
I’d venture a guess that the crew – Cooney, Greg Kosc, Russ Goetz, and George Maloney – had seen more than enough of Martin.
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