Billy Ball

April 15, 2020
Billy Martin was a dynamic presence as a player for the New York Yankees in the 1950s. As a manager, he became known as a turnaround specialist, taking mediocre or lousy teams and leading them to quick, sometimes stunning improvements. He tended to wear out his welcome, however, often through alcohol-fueled fisticuffs with players and journalists. His crowning achievement, as Bay Area journalist Tafoya recounts, was with the Oakland A's of the early 1980s. The A's and controversial team owner Charlie Finley had built a championship team in the 1970s, but the loss of the team's best players through free agency had led to hard times. Enter Martin. In 1979, the A's won 54 games. In 1980, under Martin, they won 83, an almost unheard of improvement. The next year they reached the league championship series. But, as he always did, Martin burned out. His relentless, driving style became too much, and players tuned him out. Tafoya does an excellent job of re-creating Martin's rise and fall in Oakland and his epic battles with Finley. Fine baseball history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)