Editing Billy Martin (section)

==Early life==
Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. was born on May 16, 1928, in [[Berkeley, California]].<ref name = "times obit">{{cite news|last=Chass|first=Murray|author-link=Murray Chass|title=Billy Martin of the Yankees killed in crash|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 26, 1989|page=A1|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/26/obituaries/billy-martin-of-the-yankees-killed-in-crash-on-icy-road.html|access-date=February 6, 2017|archive-date=March 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324010734/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/26/obituaries/billy-martin-of-the-yankees-killed-in-crash-on-icy-road.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was given his father's name; the elder Martin, usually nicknamed Al, was a truck driver for the city of Berkeley. Al Martin had been born in [[Kauai]], [[Hawaii]], the son of [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] immigrants, and had moved to [[Oakland, California|Oakland]].{{sfn|Falkner|p=17}} Billy Martin's mother's birth name was Juvan Salvini, but she went by the first name Jenny for most of her life. The daughter of Italian immigrants who had lived in San Francisco, but who moved across [[San Francisco Bay|the Bay]] about the time of the [[San Francisco Earthquake of 1906|1906 earthquake]], she also changed her last name, first when she married Donato Pisani around 1918, by whom she had a son, Frank, nicknamed Tudo, before the marriage broke up (Jenny later claimed that Donato had been unfaithful).{{sfn|Pennington|pp=6–7}} There is some doubt that Jenny and Al ever married, but they [[Common-law marriage in the United States|lived together as a wedded couple]] for a time, during which Billy Martin was born at his maternal grandmother's house in [[West Berkeley]].{{sfn|Falkner|pp=17–18}}

Martin acquired the name "Billy" as a result of his grandmother, who never mastered English, saying ''bello'' ("beautiful") repeatedly over the baby, who learned his birth name only when a teacher used it at school. The Martin couple broke up soon after Billy was born, and each later accused the other of infidelity.{{sfn|Falkner|pp=17–20}}{{sfn|Pennington|p=7}} Martin would have no further contact with his father until he was in his thirties,{{sfn|Pennington|p=144}} and the conflict between his parents likely left him with emotional wounds.{{sfn|Falkner|pp=20–21}}

With Al Martin having returned to his native Hawaii Territory, Jenny no longer used his name, either in conversation{{efn|To the end of her life, she called him "that jackass". See {{harvnb|Pennington|p=8}}.}} or as part of hers, and before Billy's first birthday, she had met John "Jack" Downey, a laborer and [[jack of all trades, master of none|jack-of-all-trades]], whom she married in late 1929, and whose name she took for herself, but not for her sons. Billy Martin later called his stepfather a "great guy".{{sfn|Pennington|pp=8–11}} Jenny always regretted that fame came to her son under the name Billy Martin, not Billy Downey.{{sfn|Golenbock|loc=480}}

Martin was an indifferent student and, from the age of about 12, he was often in trouble with teachers or the principal. His unusual home situation, his small size and large nose, and his residence in poverty-stricken West Berkeley caused other children to mock him, leading to conflict. Intensely competitive and thin-skinned, he quickly gained a reputation as a street fighter who would do almost anything to win.{{sfn|Falkner|pp=26–30}}

Sports proved an outlet for Martin's competitiveness. He boxed at an amateur level,{{sfn|Pennington|pp=21–23}} but it was baseball that proved to be his calling. His older brother Tudo, 10 years his senior, had grown up with [[Augie Galan]], an outfielder for the [[Chicago Cubs]] from 1934 to 1941 who continued in the major leagues until his retirement in 1949.{{sfn|Golenbock|loc=524}} Galan, like other professional ballplayers, made James Kenney Park in Berkeley his off-season training ground, for there was a well-maintained baseball field there. Tudo was a good enough ballplayer that he was often invited to play, and Billy would follow along. As the boy got to play more and more as he grew, Galan took a special interest in tutoring Martin in the art of baseball.{{sfn|Pennington|pp=14–15}}

When Martin reached [[Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California)|Berkeley High School]], which he attended from 1942 to 1946, he was dressed worse than many students from the more upscale housing east of [[San Pablo Avenue]], but gained acceptance through sports, especially baseball, raising his [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] from a poor .210 as a [[sophomore]] to an outstanding .450 as a [[senior (education)|senior]]. He was an aggressive player, and was involved in fights both in and out of baseball uniform. One such on-field incident his senior year led to his dismissal from the team and concerned the professional baseball teams considering signing him. He was given a workout by the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]], but was not offered a contract by the team.{{sfn|Pennington|pp=26–35}}

The [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]], a [[Pacific Coast League]] team, had been quietly scouting Martin for years, impressed with everything but his temper. Soon after Martin's high school graduation, Oaks trainer [[Red Adams]] persuaded the team's new manager, [[Casey Stengel]], to give Martin a tryout. Stengel had seen Martin play in a high school all-star game, and though Martin did not play well, Stengel had told him that he had a future in baseball.{{sfn|Falkner|pp=43–44}} Within weeks of the tryout, an infielder for the Oaks' [[Class D (baseball)|Class D]] affiliate, the [[Idaho Falls Russets]], was injured, and Stengel recommended that team owner Brick Laws sign Martin. Laws did so but first attempted, without success, to put a clause in the contract that would have nullified it if Martin misbehaved in a way similar to the fight that had ended his high school career.{{sfn|Pennington|pp=35–37}}