Billy Martin

the long version

"Martin is a story of contrasts. He was the clutch second baseman for the dominant New York Yankees of the 1950s. He then spent sixteen seasons managing in the big leagues, and is considered ... to have been a true baseball genius, a field manager without peer. Yet he's remembered more for his habit of kicking dirt on umpires, for being hired and fired by George Steinbrenner five times, and for his rabble rousing and public brawls ... Pennington finally erases the caricature of Martin, drawing on exhaustive interviews with friends, family, teammates, and countless adversaries [and painting] an indelible portrait of a man who never backed down for the game he loved"--