Born 96 years ago today in Berkeley, California, Alfred Manuel BILLY Martin. On the occasion of his 29th birthday, Wednesday, May 16, 1957, Billy and some of his Yankees teammates, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer, and Johnny Kucks, along with their respective wives, had themselves a night on the town. They started out with dinner and drinks at Danny’s Hide-A-Way on East 45th Street, then headed over to the Waldorf-Astoria for birthday cake and more drinks. It was a little before 10p at this point, just a few minutes before show time at the Copacabana, at 10 East 60th Street, where Sammy Davis Jr. was headlining. The well-oiled party left the Waldorf and headed to the Copa, and were seated right near the stage. Two teams of bowlers arrived, fresh from a championship match, well-oiled themselves, and ready to continue the celebration. They were given seats adjacent to the Yankees’ table. In general, a group like this would have been seated on “Burma Road,” the Copa slang for the section furthest from the stage. But the usual doorman didn’t work on Wednesday’s, and up front they were taken. When Sammy hit the stage, the bowlers began taunting him with racial slurs and vulgarities. Billy and Bauer told them to stop. They didn’t, and the arguing began. Hank Bauer later told The Washington Times, “A big, fat guy walked by and said, ‘Don’t trust your luck too far tonight, Yankee.’ I told him to [perform an anatomically impossible act].” Martin backed up Bauer, at which point the bowler asked Billy if he’d like to take it outside. As Mickey Mantle put it, “you only have to ask Billy once.” They began making their way to the service entrance. By the time it was over, the bowler, Edwin Jones, a deli owner and Yankees fan, would have a broken jaw and end up in Roosevelt Hospital. The story made the next day’s edition of the Daily News.

Yogi Berra said of the incident “nobody did nothin’ to nobody.” Yankees manager Casey Stengel benched Yogi and Bauer, but kept Mantle in the lineup, saying he wasn’t angry enough to potentially lose a game. Yankees general manager George Weis, already looking for a way to get rid of Billy Martin, thinking he was too loose a cannon and a bad influence on Mantle, traded Billy to the Kansas City A’s one hour before the trade deadline expired on June 15th. Hank Bauer would be cleared of any wrongdoing. It wasn’t until 2020 when the truth of who decked the bowler emerged. Copa doorman Joey Silvestri, there on his off night to watch Sammy perform, admitted to throwing the punches that sent Jones to the hospital when he saw him about to sucker punch the doorman on duty. Joey’s full story and the background to the event was reported in The New York Times on June 19, 2020:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/nyregion/1957-yankees-brawl-copacabana-silvestri.html

33 years later to the day, May 16, 1990, we lost the tremendous Sammy Davis Jr. He had a 63 year career, making his stage debut at 3-1/2 years old. He could do it all; acting, dancing, singing, impressions, and was also a multi-instrumentalist. Sammy even guest starred in two 1962 episodes of The Rifleman, ‘Two Ounces of Tin’ and ‘The Most Amazing Man.’

He was also a great talk show guest. I used to love his Tonight Show appearances. Johnny Carson would introduce him, he’d come out totally cool, give the peace sign and a fist clench, do a song, then head over to the couch for a little banter with Johnny. After the commercial break, Johnny would say (as if it weren’t planned) “hey Sam, what do you think about doing another song for us?,” at which point Sammy would look at the crowd quizzically and deliver the old applause bait: “I will…if the audience would like me to?” The roar would start and off he’d go to join Doc and the orchestra. He made a fantastic appearance in 1985 with David Letterman, just an interview, but he recounted his career, told a few stories, shared some opinions, and was totally Sammy. The full appearance, September 16, 1985, it is well worth your time:

Sammy was idolized by other performers, one of whom was the great Gregory Hines, also a lifelong entertainer beginning in childhood. Check this out, Hines paying tribute at Sammy’s final appearance, a televised 60th anniversary celebration, not long before he earned his rainbow:

Sammy was a great singer, and had a long recording career beginning in 1957, recording 15 albums for Decca Records before moving to his pal Frank Sinatra’s Reprise label, where he released 25 albums from ’61-’70. He recorded eight more times for various labels, culminating in Closest of Friends, a 1982 country album for the indie label Applause Records. Today’s Playlist celebrates Sammy with a compendium of cuts from his Reprise albums. I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff:

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