The Minnesota had just completed a 97-65 season winning the AL West Division but lost three games to zip in the 1969 ALCS to the Baltimore Orioles. On the morning of October 13th Twins owner Calvin Griffith called his manager and told him that he would not be returning to manage the club in 1970.
Twins fans loved Billy Martin and were very unhappy when Griffith fired Martin and I was one of those fans who didn’t attend any games for two season after Martin was sent packing.
The 1969 Minnesota Twins were the first major league team that Billy Martin managed but they would not be his last. Martin went on to manage the Detroit Tigers from 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers from 1973-1975, The New York Yankees in 1975 through 1978, again in 1979, before moving to Oakland from 1980-1982 and returned to manage the Yankees in 1983, 1985 and again in 1988.
When he hung up his spikes for the final time he had managed for 16 seasons winning 1,253 games and losing 1,013 and winning one World Series (1977) and winning two )1976 and 1977) pennants.
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