The Proudest Yankee





                                            In honor of opening day at Yankee Stadium.

Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin had a distinguished career in baseball. The second baseman for the Yankees was a contemporary of Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra, and later became the team's manager. In that role, he led the team to a number of victories. The outspoken Martin's public feuds, most notably with team owner, George Steinbrenner, were legendary. Martin was killed in a car accident on Christmas day in 1989. After a funeral Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral, attended by many former teammates, he was buried in New York's Gate of Heaven Cemetery, nearby the grave of Babe Ruth. These words are etched upon his monument: "I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform, but I was the proudest.

Comments