July 24, 1979. Exactly one year -- to the day -- since George Steinbrenner had fired Billy Martin the first time. Now he was firing Bob Lemon and handing the New York Yankees back to Billy. The club was 34-31, three freakin' games over .500, and that was enough for Steinbrenner to blow the whole thing up. Again.
The Setup
Lemon hadn't done anything wrong, which was sort of the problem. He'd inherited a mess in July 1978 -- a team 14 games back, a clubhouse on fire -- and calmly managed his way to a World Series title. His trick was simple: he told everyone to relax. Where Martin ran the dugout like a bar fight waiting to happen, Lemon managed like a guy who'd seen enough baseball to know that panic was the enemy.
But 1979 started ugly. Goose Gossage tore up his pitching hand in a clubhouse fight with Cliff Johnson in mid-April, and the bullpen bled leads for two months. The roster was talented -- Reggie Jackson, Guidry, Nettles, Munson -- but the team couldn't separate from the pack without its closer. At 34-31, Lemon was technically winning. Steinbrenner didn't care about technicalities.
Steinbrenner's Impatience
Here's the thing about Steinbrenner: three games over .500 with a defending champion wasn't a speed bump for him. It was an affront. He'd already set up the exit -- Martin had been publicly announced as the 1980 manager, which meant every day Lemon filled out a lineup card, he did it knowing his replacement was waiting in the wings. The whole arrangement was designed to fail, and it worked exactly as designed.
Steinbrenner pulled the trigger on July 24, promoting Martin six months early. No grace period. No "let's see how August goes." The owner wanted his guy, and patience had never been one of George's stronger qualities. (You could argue it wasn't one of his qualities at all.)
Billy II: Electric Boogaloo
Martin took the reins and the team responded -- 55-40 the rest of the way, a .579 clip that would've meant something if the first half hadn't been such a slog. Billy's style was exactly what you'd expect: aggressive baserunning, confrontational attitude, and a clubhouse energy that ran somewhere between intensity and chaos. The players woke up. The standings didn't budge enough.
The math was brutal. Baltimore ran away with the AL East, finishing 102-57. The Yankees' 89-71 wasn't bad -- in most years, that gets you a conversation about October. In 1979, it got you fourth place and 13.5 games back. Martin could manage, but he couldn't undo two months of a gutted bullpen and six months of organizational dysfunction.
Nine Days Later
Martin had been back nine days when everything changed. On August 2, Thurman Munson -- the captain, the emotional core, the one guy everybody respected -- died in a plane crash at Akron-Canton Regional Airport. He was thirty-two years old.
Whatever Martin's second stint was supposed to be, it became something else entirely after that. Managing through grief. Playing out the string. Trying to hold together a team that had lost its center.
Martin would go on to manage the Yankees five times total -- hired, fired, hired, fired, in a cycle that became one of baseball's strangest recurring bits. But this particular chapter, Billy II, was defined less by what he did and more by what happened around him. The closer was hurt. The manager before him got a raw deal. The captain died. Martin went 55-40, and none of it mattered.
| 1979 Managerial Split | |
| Bob Lemon Record | 34-31 (.523) |
| Billy Martin Record | 55-40 (.579) |
| Combined Record | 89-71 (.556) |
| Final Standings | 4th, AL East, 13.5 GB |
| Games Under Lemon | 65 |
| Games Under Martin | 95 |
Martin Fired the First Time
Billy Martin's "one's a born liar, the other's convicted" comment about Jackson and Steinbrenner ends his first stint as manager. Bob Lemon takes over with the team 10.5 games back.
Martin Announced as 1980 Manager
Five days after firing him, Steinbrenner announces at Old Timers' Day that Martin will return in 1980. Lemon finds out at the same time as everyone else.
Lemon Wins World Series
Bob Lemon's Yankees beat the Dodgers in six games to clinch back-to-back titles. The calm, low-key Lemon did what Martin couldn't finish.
Lemon Fired, Martin Promoted
Steinbrenner fires Lemon at 34-31 and brings Martin back six months early. Exactly one year to the day since Martin's first firing.
Munson's Death
Nine days into Martin's second stint, Thurman Munson is killed in a plane crash. The season's purpose shifts from contention to survival.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Yankees fire Bob Lemon in 1979?
George Steinbrenner fired Lemon on July 24, 1979, with the Yankees at 34-31 -- three games over .500. Despite Lemon having won the 1978 World Series, Steinbrenner considered the pace unacceptable for a defending champion. Billy Martin, already under contract for 1980, was promoted immediately. The decision reflected Steinbrenner's well-documented impatience more than any real managerial failure on Lemon's part.
How many times did Billy Martin manage the Yankees?
Five times total. His stints ran from 1975 to 1978 (fired after "born liar" comment), mid-1979 through 1979 (promoted early from scheduled 1980 start), then three more brief tenures in the 1980s. The revolving door between Martin and Steinbrenner became one of baseball's most famous -- and strangest -- relationships.
What was Billy Martin's record after replacing Bob Lemon?
Martin went 55-40 (.579) over the final 95 games of the 1979 season, a clear improvement over Lemon's 34-31 (.523) pace. The better record wasn't enough to overcome the early-season deficit -- the Yankees finished 89-71, fourth in the AL East, 13.5 games behind Baltimore's 102-win juggernaut.
Steinbrenner fired five managers in his first seven years of ownership. Lemon might've been the least deserving of the bunch -- a World Series winner let go at three games above .500 because the owner couldn't sit still. Billy came back, won more than he lost, and watched the season dissolve around him anyway. One year to the day. Only Steinbrenner could make that kind of symmetry feel like chaos.