Martin’s Dirt-Kicking Incident Will Cost Him

Kicking dirt on umpire Tim Welke--a warm-up for his nightclub altercation later the same night--will cost Manager Billy Martin of the New York Yankees a fine but not a suspension from the American League, the club said Wednesday.

Amount of the fine was not disclosed, but in April 1983 then-American League President Lee MacPhail fined Martin a reported $5,000 for remarks directed at umpire Dan Morrison.

After the May 6 game at Arlington, Tex., Martin got into a row in a topless bar near Arlington Stadium and suffered head injuries.

Before the dispute in the bar and shortly after being thrown out of the game--his first ejection this season--Martin said, “The first thing the umpire is going to say is that I swore. I did no such thing. If he says that, I’ll take a lie detector test, and I’ll pass it. I’m not going to pay this fine.”