Everyone is probably exhausted from all the Hall of Fame talk, however, Peter Golenbock joined me on Sunday’s NYBD on WGBB to talk about former Yankees manager Billy Martin. During the conversation we talked about whether Martin deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. For the record, Golenbock believes he does.

Martin didn’t come close to election this year. He received less than 3 votes from the Veterans Committee. Although Whitey Herzog was a deserving candidate, Martin’s managerial career stacks up favorably as well.

Many remember the controversial life, and death, of Martin. If that is what you base your vote on, then he will never gain election. Through all the drinking, and multiple dismissals from the Yankees, Billy Martin developed a reputation of building teams into winners. In addition to his success with the Yankees, he piloted Minnesota, Detroit, and Oakland to division titles. The Texas Rangers had lost over 100 games the year before he led them to 84 wins. Many forget that Martin had the Yankees just 2.5 games behind first place when he was fired in 1988.

As Golenbock pointed out, Martin was going to return as the Yankees manager for the 1990 season if not for his death on Christmas Eve, 1989. Who knows what would have happened, but I suspect he wouldn’t have made a difference with what turned out to be a very bad Yankees team. Knowing how much George loved Billy, is it inconceivable to think he would have been rehired after Buck Showalter’s dismissal in 1995? He would have been 67 years old and probably still full of fire. Maybe Martin, not Joe Torre, leads the 96′ Yankees to the promised land. In any event, Martin would always be lurking over whoever managed the Yankees.

As for the Hall of Fame credentials, Martin has a higher winning percentage than recently inducted Whitey Herzog who, by the way, I support as well. His penchant for turning around moribund franchises was every bit the equal of some of the best skippers in the history of the game. Did he wear out pitchers? Obviously that is up for debate since he managed during a different era of the game.

Rob Neyer recently supported Martin’s Hall candidacy and received an email from one of his readers that pointed out the aforementioned pitcher abuse, his short shelf life, and the fact he deserved to be fired in most situations. Great points, certainly debatable, but none of that should take away from his track record of success. He didn’t always have the most talented teams, but he seemed to get the most out of what he had. His personal demons aside, Martin was a good baseball man and should be given more consideration. Personally, I agree with Neyer and would have voted for him.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. Check out his official website, www.mikesilvamedia.com

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Tags: Billy Martin, Buck Showalter, Hall of Fame, Joe Torre, New York Yankees, Peter Golenbock, Rob Neyer, Whitey Herzog