No. 137: BILLY MARTIN / The Yankees went to Detroit in 1st place in June '88, but Martin had already entered the downward spiral. I was there when he hit rock bottom & managed his last game.

I was an innocent bystander in Tiger Stadium's visiting clubhouse when the skipper flipped the banquet table and the post-game spread hit the wall. He knew the Boss would have his ass.

“TANK McNAMARA” is a sports-themed comic strip that’s coming up on its 50th anniversary. The titular character was a pinheaded NFL lineman who wound up as a gaffe-prone sportscaster—yeah, let the mayhem ensue. The comic strip wasn’t much of a character study in its early days, but rather a platform for commentary of the sports issues in the headlines.

I’ve included one sample below: a strip in the Detroit Free Press’s sports section that I read over breakfast at the downtown Courtyard Marriott on the morning of (as the screen grab indicates) Wednesday, June 22, 1988. That day’s “Tank” strip would pass for prophecy—that evening I’d witness Billy Martin’s last game in a Yankees’ uniform, his last game as a major-league manager. And by witness, I don’t mean watching on TV with an audience of millions. No, I’d watch the game from the second row behind home plate at Tiger Stadium, right where I had sat the two previous nights. And afterwards I’d again land in Yankees clubhouse. It doesn’t …