This excerpt from Yankees, Typewriters, Scandals, and Cooperstown: A Baseball Memoir by Bill Madden (On-sale: April 1, 2025) is printed with the permission of Triumph Books. For more information and to order a copy, please visit TriumphBooks.com/BillMadden.
Excerpt from Chapter 6: ‘The Craziest Season of Them All’
An even more misguided trade on (George) Steinbrenner’s part in the spring of ’82 was the one he ordered for Doyle Alexander, a perpetually disgruntled right-handed starting pitcher who was embroiled in a nasty contract dispute with the San Francisco Giants and had sat out the entire spring.
The trade for Alexander was able to be consummated only after Steinbrenner agreed to sign him to a new four-year, $2.2 million contract. The day before the trade was announced, I was tipped off to it by acting Yankees general manager Bill Bergesch, who was not at all happy about having to give up a couple of top Yankees prospects for him.
But before I wrote my story, I needed to call (Bob) Lemon, who I knew was in his room at the Yankees spring training hotel, the Galt Ocean Mile, watching his favorite TV show, Barnaby Jones. “I hear you’ve got a new pitcher, Lem,” I said.
“Oh yeah?” he said. “Who am I getting? I’m always the last one to know around here.”
“Doyle Alexander,” I announced.
After a long pause and a sigh, Lem replied: “Just what I need: another hemorrhoid.”
There couldn’t have been a more appropriate description.
For that’s what Alexander was for the next year and a half with the Yankees, though, at least for his sake, Lemon was spared having anything to do with him. When spring training ended, it had become painfully obvious that (Birdie) Tebbetts’ assessment of the team to me was right. The ’82 Yankees were a total mess, and though Lemon had been promised a full year by Steinbrenner, he was already worn out by mid-April.
The first road trip of the season was to Texas, Detroit, and Chicago. The team was off our first night in Chicago, and Lem announced he wanted to take the writers and the coaches to Miller’s Pub for cocktails and ribs. On the way from the hotel to Miller’s, I wound up sharing a taxi with Lemon, who’d been delayed by another haranguing phone call from Steinbrenner. “I’ve had it, Meat,” Lem suddenly said.
“What do you, mean, Lem? I asked.
“I can’t take this anymore. I’ve had it with this guy. No matter what I do, I can’t please him. I’m going to quit.”
“You can’t be serious?” I said.
“As serious as I’ve ever been. I don’t need this aggravation.
Life is too short. I’m only telling you this because you’ve been a good friend. I just can’t take it anymore.”
As I pondered what he was telling me, I abandoned my role as a reporter and tried to reason with him. “Don’t quit, Lem,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because if you do, you’re liable not to get your money. If nothing else, all the aggravation he’s put you through has to be worth something, and I’d hate for that to happen to you. Play it out. Let him fire you, but don’t quit.”
We sat silent for a minute.
“Okay, I’ll think about it,” Lem finally said. “But right now I want to have some drinks with my friends.”
When we arrived at Miller’s, I thought of what had just transpired in the back of the taxi cab. I had just talked the manager of the New York Yankees out of quitting, but this would’ve been one scoop I wanted no part of. It would’ve been a betrayal of Lem’s confidence, and I knew if he saw it splashed all over the back page of the Daily News he would’ve regretted it the next day.
After the Yankees won both games against the White Sox in Chicago, they came home and lost three of four to the Tigers at Yankee Stadium, leaving them 6–8 on April 25th.
The next day, an off day for the Yankees, Steinbrenner fired Lemon and replaced him as manager with Gene “The Stick” Michael. Lemon was out of his misery, but at least he got his money, and I wasn’t sure who was more relieved: Lem or me.
As it had been for Lemon, this was also the second time around as Steinbrenner’s manager for Stick, who the year before agreed to step down as Yankees GM to replace Dick Howser as the manager. He then clashed daily with The Boss before being fired September 5 with about a month left in the regular season. As per his nature, Steinbrenner immediately felt remorse at firing Michael, whom he said he regarded as a “son.”
To which Michael retorted: “Then why did you fire me?”
“Oh c’mon, Stick,” Steinbrenner said. “Why would you have wanted to stay manager and be second-guessed by me every day when you can come upstairs and sit with me and be one of the second-guessers?”
It was actually good advice, but once Steinbrenner decided that the 61-year-old Lemon just wasn’t up to the job in ’82, he had nowhere to turn for a new manager. Billy Martin, his usual go-to guy, was now managing the A’s, and Stick was right there, serving as his top Yankees advisor. But it took just one game for Stick to realize the second time around with Steinbrenner was going to be no different than the first
Maybe even worse.
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