Baseball legend Billy Martin built a reputation of resurrecting losing clubs throughout his career. In Dale Tafoya's new book, "Billy Ball", he details the three seasons when Martin returned to his hometown of Oakland and led the Athletics and their fans on a magical ride.
On this episode of the Silvi Knows podcast, Tafoya describes the lengths A's owner Charlie Finley would go to save money (2:00) and covers the heated rivalry between the A's and Angels, which was fueled by a fiery Martin (10:20).
Other topics include the time Martin destroyed his office on a day the A's set an all time attendance mark (19:30).
Martin had unique ways of motivating his players, either by angering them or threatening to send them to Seattle (17:00).
He also had a way of angering opponents, like calling a successful triple steal against the Tigers that sent a few of their players into a rage in the dugout (15:30).
Martin even had a few of his own players beat him up in the shower (22:00). It's all on this week's Silvi Knows podcast.