Chris
11-28-01, 08:06 AM
This makes me sad
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-133436.asp
Skipper's Last Stand
Billy Martin auction
By RALPH R. ORTEGA
Daily News Staff Writer
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/billy_Mickey.JPG
he estate of the beloved and fiery Billy Martin is opening its doors to the highest bidder, offering up more than 150 of his personal Yankees mementos — including the driver's license he was carrying the night he died.
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/martin_dl.JPG
The estate of Billy Martin being put up for auction includes his driver's license which lists Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as his address ...
Among the other items being put on the auction block by Jill Martin, widow of the five-time Yankee manager, to pay off creditors: memorabilia from his playing days for the 1950s dynasty Yankees, his final Yankee contract as an adviser and his pinstriped uniform — No. 1, which has been retired.
Martin's T-shirts are the cheapest items for sale, expected to draw bids of up to $50 each, while his 1977 World Series trophy may go for as much as $30,000.
Other personal belongings being offered include a pair of well-worn cowboy boots, Martin's eyeglasses, wedding tuxedo and golf clubs.
But the one item that will surely generate sparks — just as Martin did throughout his playing and managerial careers — is the driver's license he carried when he was killed in an alcohol-related crash on a snowy Christmas night 12 years ago outside his home near upstate Binghamton.
"I wish I could have kept it," Jill Martin said of the license, which listed her husband's address as Yankee Stadium.
... one of his World Series rings that was made into a pin and ....
A spokeswoman for the Sotheby's auction house, which is conducting the sale, said it expects the license to fetch $700 to $900. Bidding on the items closes Dec. 11.
Not all of Martin's fans are comfortable with the auction. Some called the sale of the license insensitive and grotesque.
"Who would want it?" asked Brian Gibbs, 39, of Brooklyn, who said he had attended Martin's viewing. "I could see having his glove, or bat. But his driver's license? After the way he died? That seems kind of crazy."
Martin's debts have to be paid under a judge's order.
"Unfortunately, Billy wasn't a rich man," said Jill Martin, his fourth wife and executor of his estate.
Martin, a drinker who often brawled on and off the diamond, played for the Yankees when they were perennial champs.
... a photograph of the late Yankee manager standing with Mickey Mantle outside hotel in midtown.
As a highly successful manager, he developed a love-hate relationship with owner George Steinbrenner, who hired and fired him four times before his death.
Martin left once on his own, in 1978, after he said rightfielder Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner "deserve each other. One's a born liar — the other's convicted." Martin made the comment after fierce feuding with the star slugger and the owner, who pleaded guilty in connection with illegal political campaign contributions.
When Martin's pickup truck ran off the slippery hilly road the evening of Dec. 25, 1989, he was hoping to return for a sixth run as Yankee skipper.
Bill Reedy, Martin's friend and drinking buddy, originally told authorities that he had been driving, later contending he had said that to save Martin from a DWI charge.
When Reedy changed his story, he said he had been trying to cover for the combative Martin to protect his chances at getting the manager's job back.
Jill Martin, who battled over her husband's estate with his son from another marriage, said she was reluctant to let go of the belongings.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and one person will buy up a lot of those things and keep them together," she said.
The son, Billy Joe, could not be reached for comment.
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/martin_rings.JPG
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/a-133436.asp
Skipper's Last Stand
Billy Martin auction
By RALPH R. ORTEGA
Daily News Staff Writer
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/billy_Mickey.JPG
he estate of the beloved and fiery Billy Martin is opening its doors to the highest bidder, offering up more than 150 of his personal Yankees mementos — including the driver's license he was carrying the night he died.
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/martin_dl.JPG
The estate of Billy Martin being put up for auction includes his driver's license which lists Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as his address ...
Among the other items being put on the auction block by Jill Martin, widow of the five-time Yankee manager, to pay off creditors: memorabilia from his playing days for the 1950s dynasty Yankees, his final Yankee contract as an adviser and his pinstriped uniform — No. 1, which has been retired.
Martin's T-shirts are the cheapest items for sale, expected to draw bids of up to $50 each, while his 1977 World Series trophy may go for as much as $30,000.
Other personal belongings being offered include a pair of well-worn cowboy boots, Martin's eyeglasses, wedding tuxedo and golf clubs.
But the one item that will surely generate sparks — just as Martin did throughout his playing and managerial careers — is the driver's license he carried when he was killed in an alcohol-related crash on a snowy Christmas night 12 years ago outside his home near upstate Binghamton.
"I wish I could have kept it," Jill Martin said of the license, which listed her husband's address as Yankee Stadium.
... one of his World Series rings that was made into a pin and ....
A spokeswoman for the Sotheby's auction house, which is conducting the sale, said it expects the license to fetch $700 to $900. Bidding on the items closes Dec. 11.
Not all of Martin's fans are comfortable with the auction. Some called the sale of the license insensitive and grotesque.
"Who would want it?" asked Brian Gibbs, 39, of Brooklyn, who said he had attended Martin's viewing. "I could see having his glove, or bat. But his driver's license? After the way he died? That seems kind of crazy."
Martin's debts have to be paid under a judge's order.
"Unfortunately, Billy wasn't a rich man," said Jill Martin, his fourth wife and executor of his estate.
Martin, a drinker who often brawled on and off the diamond, played for the Yankees when they were perennial champs.
... a photograph of the late Yankee manager standing with Mickey Mantle outside hotel in midtown.
As a highly successful manager, he developed a love-hate relationship with owner George Steinbrenner, who hired and fired him four times before his death.
Martin left once on his own, in 1978, after he said rightfielder Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner "deserve each other. One's a born liar — the other's convicted." Martin made the comment after fierce feuding with the star slugger and the owner, who pleaded guilty in connection with illegal political campaign contributions.
When Martin's pickup truck ran off the slippery hilly road the evening of Dec. 25, 1989, he was hoping to return for a sixth run as Yankee skipper.
Bill Reedy, Martin's friend and drinking buddy, originally told authorities that he had been driving, later contending he had said that to save Martin from a DWI charge.
When Reedy changed his story, he said he had been trying to cover for the combative Martin to protect his chances at getting the manager's job back.
Jill Martin, who battled over her husband's estate with his son from another marriage, said she was reluctant to let go of the belongings.
"Maybe we'll get lucky and one person will buy up a lot of those things and keep them together," she said.
The son, Billy Joe, could not be reached for comment.
http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-11-28/News_and_Views/City_Beat/martin_rings.JPG