Oct. 17 – The storm before the storm
- Sal Maiorana
- Oct 17, 2017
- 3 min read
NEW YORK – Right to the very end, the Yankees fought. Not necessarily the Dodgers, mind you, but themselves.
On the eve of Game 6, the game that would deliver the first World Series title to the Bronx since 1962, the doors to the Bronx Zoo flew open once again and the animals got all frenzied, though this time it came from a somewhat unlikely source: Ed Figueroa.
The right-hander had been bothered at the end of the season by a muscle pull in his side, and he was also dealing with tendinitis in his right index finger. He had started only once in the postseason, Game 4 of the ALCS in Kansas City, the game Sparky Lyle pitched 5.1 brilliant, season-saving innings, needing to do so because Figueroa lasted just 3.1 while allowing four runs.
Billy Martin was considering sending Figueroa to the mound for Game 6 against the Dodgers, and according to Figueroa, in an exclusive interview with The New York Times by phone from his hotel residence in New Jersey, the manager had told him, “If we lost Sunday’s game, I’d pitch Tuesday. I said, ‘OK, I’ll be ready.’ And I am ready to pitch.”
But on the return flight from Los Angeles, after consulting with the medical staff, Martin changed his mind and decided that Game 3 winner Mike Torrez was the better option. Naturally, Figueroa was pissed.
“I want to get out of here (meaning out of the Yankee organization),” Figueroa said. “If we win I’m going to take the plane to Puerto Rico and then during the winter I’ll wait to be traded. I was very close to leaving today.”
He didn’t leave for Puerto Rico that day, but he did go to the stadium and pack up his locker, then left before reporters arrived in the clubhouse prior to the Yankees’ scheduled afternoon off-day workout.
Calm and cool, Tommy Lasorda could only laugh at the Yankees' constant state of discontent.
“Figueroa has left the team,” Martin said. “He packed his bags and left the stadium. The guy just feels bad. He probably wanted to pitch. He’s a proud Puerto Rican and I love the guy for wanting to pitch. I can understand how he feels.”
Naturally, that wasn’t enough of a distraction for this team. A story in Time magazine hit the newsstands, dredging up all the in-season bickering, and made new claims – which Reggie Jackson denied – that Jackson had said at some point that he and Martin could not co-exist for another year in Yankee land. “Outright lies,” Jackson screamed. Also, the story indicated that George Steinbrenner was still plotting to fire Martin, win or lose, after the series.
Thurman Munson, who had never backed down from his desire for a trade, preferably to Cleveland at the end of the year, said when apprised of the latest journalistic bomb, “I’m so sick of all this I can’t stand it ... if Steinbrenner wants help in firing Billy, he won’t get it from me.”
Not surprisingly, Martin charged Steinbrenner with planting the story, “Because George is building a case against me so he can fire me.” That charge was flatly denied by the boss who continued to maintain that any decision on Martin would be made by general manager Gabe Paul. “It’s Gabe’s decision; he’s a brilliant man on baseball, brilliant.”
Steinbrenner then said of his tumultuous existence with Martin, “Maybe Billy Martin never could have made it without me, and maybe I never would have made it without him. We’re much alike. We’re both competitors. When we’re sitting around and talking in a bar or a locker room, we have a terrific relationship. I’m at my best then, and so is he. The problems happen when we’re not communicating often. He managed a brilliant playoff series and he’s managed a brilliant World Series so far. He hung tough, he’s tougher and stronger.”
Lou Piniella was referenced in the story as someone, along with Munson, who had gone to Steinbrenner earlier in the season to tell him that Martin’s managing was ruining the team. “I’m through with all this Martin-Steinbrenner stuff,” Piniella barked. “It just never ends. The repercussions? I think the club will break up before next year. Several guys will be leaving.”
In the other clubhouse, the Dodgers – the team that was actually in real trouble being down three games to two - could only chuckle at the soap opera across the way.
“Watching the Yankees is like watching a marriage end up in divorce in the house next door,” said Tommy Lasorda. “All you can do is be thankful it isn’t happening to you.”
Original Yankee Stadium was once known as The House That Ruth Built. The Washington Post dubbed the renovated place, the Theatre of the Absurd That Steinbrenner Built. It wasn’t far off from the truth in this 1977 season.
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