By A.J. Hayes
Somewhere, maybe in a moldy gym locker or a clandestine liquor cabinet, a brilliant game plan for big league success has sat untouched for more than a quarter century.
Were talking about "Billy Ball," the late Billy Martin's blueprint for righting the ship of moribund baseball franchises. It was last used in Oakland in the early 1980s.
The A's were the last team of dubious talent that Martin managed to meld into winners. He took an Oakland club that had lost 109 games in 1979 and led them to the American League Championship Series within two seasons with essentially the same personnel.
Martin may have been a kook of momentous proportions, a guy who drank and fought like a pirate - a real pirate, not the Pittsburgh variety. But he knew how to light a fire under a ball club and get it back on the winning track.
Billy took four major league clubs with losing records (Minnesota, Detroit, Texas and Oakland) and turned them instantly into winners. He also increased attendance by his presence alone - and what percentage of ticket sales do you think current A's manager Bob Geren and Giants skipper Bruce Bochy are responsible for?
Employing a ramped up style that resembled sand-lot ball (some would prefer the term "bush league") Martin led clubs would blitz opponents by using everything from double steals and hidden ball tricks to literally falling down on the job.
"My favorite was the 'first and third play," recalled Shooty Babitt, an infielder on Martin's 1981 Oakland club. "Billy loved to steal home. So if he had runners on first and third would have a guy like Wayne Gross, who was probably the least athletic guy on the club, take a good lead off first and then suddenly fall down. Right, away and the pitcher would throw to first base and the guy at third would walk right in. We thought he was crazy when he told us to do that, but lo and behold we scored a few runs by doing that."
Once a particular recipe for success has worked in professional sports - Bill Walsh's West Coast offense, for example - other teams desperate for a winner will run it into the ground. So why it is that no one has adopted Martin's strategies?
One word: fear.
Martin required total authority over all matters on the diamond. Current general managers have their fingers all over what happens on the field. They would be petrified to give a field manager total autonomy to do what he pleased.
In 1980, the A's were downright suicidal on the base-paths and on the mound. Starting pitchers hurled 94 complete games, including 22 straight by Rick Langford. How cavalier was that? Last season Oakland starters went the distance all of four times.
The club stole home seven times, as well as pulling off 14 double steals and one triple steal.
"We spent a lot of time drilling on those plays, finding any way get that extra run, I say we won at least 5-6 games a year just by pulling some of the "Billy Ball'' stunts; that can win you a pennant," said Dave McKay, a infielder on Martin's Oakland clubs from 1980-82.
If a manager attempted some of Billy's stunts today, everyone from the G.M. to the scouting director to player agents would be lined up on the dugout's steps taking turns wringing his neck. Plus, he'd be accused of "showing up" the other clubs.
But Martin never let outside influences get in the way of winning.
Of course, Martin could be as vicious as a snake and many of his players loathed him. Martin once said his secret to success was "too keep the five players who hate you away from the four who are undecided."
But he saw results in the standings. After going a baseball worst 54-106 in 1979, Oakland brought in Martin. In his first season on the job the A's went 83-79 with much the same personnel. In 1981, the A's made the playoffs.
"He was fun to play for. Billy wanted guys that played hard and didn't make mistakes. He was a motivator. He pushed hard, real hard and some guys resented that," said McKay.
Added Babitt: "Billy was all about competition, on the field, in the clubhouse, on the airplane. Guys were constantly fighting for playing time, but [that] kept you hungry. Billy had that had the type of presence that whatever he required on the field from his players he normally received it. This was a club that had lost a bunch of games, franchise-record type losses, and when Billy he brought a different approach and attitude and it was enough. Yeah we bought into it."
Twenty-five years after the fact, some of the players recall "Billy Ball" as some of the best ball of their careers. Even those who played against the A's.
"It's was always fun and entertaining when we got to play oak it always kept you on your toes," said former Baltimore outfielder Gary Roenicke. "You had to pay attention, because if you weren't you would be embarrassed. When you got caught by Billy it was something you would remember for awhile."
digg •
del.icio.us •
sphere •
google
•
