New York Yankees: The fateful 1988 series that officially ended Billy Martin’s career

Billy Martin’s volatile managerial career with the New York Yankees began in 1975. His final stint came to an abrupt end after a fateful 1988 series with the Detroit Tigers.

Billy Martin‘s career as a player spanned 11-years on seven different teams. Mostly, however, he played for the New York Yankees, where in seven seasons he was a part of four World Series championship teams.

As a manager, Martin extended his career by another 16 years, leading the charge for five different organizations. Again, mostly, he managed the Yankees. In fact, his managerial career with the team spanned 8-years across five separate stints.

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His baseball career came to a crashing end, however, after one fateful 1988 series against the then-division rival Detroit Tigers.

Entering the series, Martin and the Yankees (40-26) held possession of 1st place in the division by 0.5 of a game. By the end of the series, after being swept, the Yanks were reduced to 2nd place, trailing the Tigers in the AL East by 2.5 games.

It all started on Monday, June 20th. It was the first game in a mid-season series between New York and Detroit. Yankee starter Tommy John faced off against Tigers pitcher Jeff Robinson in a tremendous pitcher’s duel.

Trailing the Tigers 1-0 in the top of the 9th inning, the Yankees made things interesting when a 2-out Dave Winfield double drove in New York’s only run, forcing extra innings. The tie wouldn’t last long, however, as Tom Brookens drilled a Cecilio Guantes pitch deep to left field for a walk-off win in the bottom of the 10th.

Detroit officially overtakes New York in the standings by 0.5 of a game.

The following night was more of the same.

Entering the 9th inning, the Yankees led the Tigers 6-1. With a 1% chance of winning the game, the Tigers did the near-impossible by charging back and sealing the deal with an Alan Trammel grand slam off of — you guessed it! — Guantes… again!

As if those two walk-off defeats weren’t bad enough for Billy Martin and the New York Yankees, the final game of the series pretty much sealed the deal.

With the game tied and entering extra-innings for the second time in the series, Detroit Tigers hitter Luis Salazar came up to the plate with a runner on second. Then on the 5th pitch of the at-bat, Salazar delivered a walk-off single to center field, driving in Tom Brookens for the win.

Three games; three heart wrenching walk-off losses for the Yanks.

According to ESPN New York’s Michael Kay, who is also the Yankees play-by-play announcer on the YES Network, the writing was on the wall. Immediately after the game, Martin called Kay into his office to inform him that he would be fired.

Kay, to his credit, didn’t report on the story, but sure enough, it happened. The remainder of the season would be managed by Lou Piniella.

Billy Martin would never manage an MLB game again. Then, one year later, on Christmas day, 1989, Martin would die in a traffic accident.

He will always be remembered as a 5-time champion with the New York Yankees. And though his relationship with owner George Steinbrenner was volatile, there was no love lost between the two.