Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Reggie at 75

 
The man, as I knew of him when I was a boy

May 18, 1946, 75 years ago: Reginald Martinez Jackson is born at Abington Memorial Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania. He shares his birthday with another member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Baltimore Orioles 3rd base legend Brooks Robinson, who turns 84 today.

Also born on May 18:

* From baseball: Pittsburgh Pirates pitching star Babe Adams in 1882, San Francisco Giants pitcher Jack Sanford in 1929, Texas Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg in 1951, and Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Joakim Soria in 1984.

* From other sports: British tennis star Fred Perry in 1909, sportscaster Jack Whitaker in 1924, English soccer legend Nobby Stiles in 1942, Finnish hockey star Jari Kurri and French tennis star Yannick Noah in 1960, American soccer goalkeeper Brad Friedel in 1971, New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup winner Turner Stevenson in 1972, basketball stars Donyell Marshall in 1973 and Ron Mercer in 1976, Portuguese soccer star Ricardo Carvalho in 1978, football quarterback Vince Young in 1983, and English soccer twins Ryan and Steven Sessegnon in 2000.

* From music: Singer Ezio Pinza in 1892, songwriter Meredith Willson in 1902, blues singer Big Joe Turner in 1911, Big Band singer Perry Como in 1912, jazz trombonist Kai Winding in 1922, guitarist and music producer Albert Hammond in 1944, Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman in 1949, Devo lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh in 1950, country singer George Strait in 1952, and singer Martika in 1969.

* From other arts: Persian poet Omar Khayyam in AD 1048, photographer Mathew Brady in 1822, author Francis Bellamy in 1855, philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1872, Pan Am Building architect Walter Gropius in 1883, director Frank Capra in 1897, ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn in 1919, actor Bill Macy in 1922, actress Priscilla Pointer in 1924, actor Pernell Roberts in 1928, cartoonist Don Martin and actor Robert Morse in 1931, actor Dwayne Hickman in 1934, professional wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka in 1942, science fiction author Diane Duane in 1952, actor Chow Yun-fat in 1955, and actress and screenwriter Tina Fey in 1970.

* From politics: U.S. Secertary of the Navy Josephus Daniels in 1862, last Czar of Russia Nicholas II in 1868, Senator Jacob Javits of New York in 1904, Pope John Paul II in 1920, Senator Warren Rudman of New Hampshire in 1930, and Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico in 1948.

*

Reggie Jackson's parents split up when he was young, and he grew up with his father in nearby Wyncote, just north of the Philadelphia City Line. Martinez Jackson was already 41 when Reggie was born, and had played 2nd base for the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues, before opening a tailor's shop. Eventually, he would print business cards reading, "Marty the Tailor, father of baseball's famous Reggie Jackson."

But baseball would not be the first sport at which Reggie gained attention. He attended Cheltenham High School, and was a 1964 classmate of Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, who became an Israeli commando, and died during the rain on Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4, 1976, America's Bicentennial Day. His brother, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Class of '67, became Israel's Prime Minister, and, for the moment, still is.

Other Cheltenham graduates include Ronald Perelman '60, investment banker and former chairman of Revlon; Craig Littlepage '69, former basketball coach at Rutgers and athletic director at the University of Virginia; Mark Levin '75, right-wing radio talk show host; and Brandon Bing '07, a cornerback with the Giants' Super Bowl XLVI winners.

Most of Reggie's classmates were white, and many of them were Jewish. He said it helped him to understand people better, but it didn't prepare him for the prejudice he would later face. He played basketball, ran track, and hit .550 and pitched several no-hitters in baseball. His hometown Philadelphia Phillies gave him a tryout, but weren't impressed by his hitting. The San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins also made offers.
Cheltenham High School, Spring 1963. Looks like a ground ball.

But it was as a fullback in football that got the attention of the universities of Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma, all of whom seemed to be willing to break their respective color barriers for him. He didn't go to any of those schools: He was too nervous about living in the South; and while Oklahoma is Southern, he was advised that he shouldn't date outside his race, so he turned them down.

Outside his race? Black and Native American on his mother's side, black and Cuban on his father's side? As Reggie himself put it a few years ago, "When I was a boy, I was colored. When I was a teenager, I was a Negro. When I was a young man, I was black. When I was middle-aged, I was African-American. Now that I'm an old man, I'm multicultural."

The coach at Cheltenham knew Frank Kush, the head coach at Arizona State University. Kush was a tough guy. How tough was he? So tough, he scared John Elway away from signing with the Baltimore Colts when Kush drafted him in 1983. But Kush was willing to let Reggie play baseball at ASU, as long as he worked hard in football.

Arizona State won the College World Series for the 1st time in 1965, with Reggie as a sophomore. That team also had Sal Bando, Rick Monday and Duffy Dyer. All 4 of them would go on to play in the 1973 World Series: Dyer with the Mets, the other 3 with the A's.

The Sun Devils have since won the College World Series again in 1967, 1969, 1977 and 1981, and reached it as recently as 2010. In addition to the preceding, notable Arizona State baseball players include Gary Gentry, Lerrin LaGrow, Lenny Randle, Larry Gura, Alan Bannister, Floyd Bannister (no relation), Bump Wills, Craig Swan, Bob Horner, Ken Landreaux, Sal's brother Chris Bando, Hubie Brooks, Alvin Davis, Marty Barrett, Mike Devereaux, Oddibe McDowell, Ken Phelps, Pat Listach, Barry Bonds, Paul Lo Duca, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Jason Kipnis, Ike Davis (no relation to Alvin, but son of Ron Davis), and Bo Bichette.

In the Fall of 1965, Kush wanted to switch Reggie to defensive back. He didn't want to switch, and he had already impressed baseball coach Bobby Winkles, who would later become the 1st college coach to manage in the major leagues, with the Oakland Athletics -- but after Reggie left them.

Tom Greenwade, who had signed Mickey Mantle for the Yankees, got interested in him. The Mets were also interested. So were the Kansas City Athletics.

On June 7, 1966, the Mets had the 1st pick in the MLB Draft, and the A's had the 2nd. The Mets drafted Steve Chilcott, a high school catcher from the suburbs of Los Angeles. The A's, having already taken Monday with the 1st pick in the 1st-ever MLB Draft the year before, drafted Reggie.

Winkles told Reggie that the Mets were concerned that he was a black man with a white girlfriend. In fact, Reggie's girlfriend, Jennie Campos, was a Mexican-American who faced prejudice as well. Reggie and Jennie married, but it didn't last, as Reggie's wandering eye has been as active as his batting eye. But he has managed to keep his private life mostly private. There have been no public stories about him mistreating women. 

And what happened to Steve Chilcott? A baserunning blunder wrecked his throwing shoulder. He never reached the major leagues, and he played his last professional game in 1972, only 24 years old. He moved to Santa Barbara, and became a firefighter and a contractor. He is now 72 years old, and in a 2005 interview, said, "I've had a good life, although, at first, it was hard for me to find things to do, because I had such a desire to be a professional athlete. I had to find my place in the world."

Reggie signed with the A's, receiving a bonus of $95,000 from their owner, insurance executive Charles O. Finley. He reported to the Lewis-Clark Broncs of Lewiston, Idaho, in the Class A Northwest League. He was with them for 12 games, and was then sent to the Modesto Reds of the Class A California League for the rest of the season.

In 1967, he was promoted to Class AA -- but that meant going to the Birmingham A's, in Alabama. (Finley was a friend of University of Alabama football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who gave Finley one of his trademark houndstooth hats.) The racism Reggie faced with that team was intense, and he says their manager, John McNamara, helped him get through it.

*

On June 9, 1967, Reggie made his major league debut. He wore Number 31, played right field and batted 2nd for the Kansas City Athletics against the Cleveland Indians at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Batting against Steve Hargan, he flew out to center field in the 1st inning, struck out in the 4th, grounded to 3rd base in the 6th, and was set to be the 1st batter in the bottom of the 9th. There was none, as Chuck Dobson pitched a shutout, and a home run in the 7th by Jim Gosger gave the A's a 2-0 win.

That was the 1st game of a doubleheader. In the 2nd game, the A's won 6-0, and Reggie got his 1st major league hit, a 5th inning triple against Orlando Peña. He played in 35 major league games that season, including on September 17, at Anaheim Stadium, when he hit his 1st major league home run, off Jim Weaver of the California Angels.

In 1968, angry over being stuck at the 1923-built, 35,020-seat Municipal Stadium, and not getting the city to build him a new ballpark, Finley moved the A's to Oakland, where the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was less than 2 years old and seated around 50,000, and was considered a huge improvement. (Those of you only old enough to remember the 1995-onward "Mount Davis" version of the Coliseum, stop laughing.)

In his 1st full season, having switched to wearing Number 9, Reggie hit 29 home runs. In 1969, he hit 30 home runs before the All-Star Break. Soon, the sportswriters said he "was dating a lady named Ruth Maris." But he ran out of steam, and finished with 47 -- and didn't even win the American League home run title, as Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins finished with 49.
A young Reggie Jackson,
at the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium.
A photo dripping with foreshadowing.

He did, however, make the 1st of 14 All-Star Games. In 1971, he made it again, and was 1 of 6 players, all future Hall-of-Famers, to hit a home run in the All-Star Game. Against Dock Ellis of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he hit a blast that hit the transformer on a light standard on the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium. The American League won, 6-4. The A's won 101 games, to win the AL Western Division title, their 1st 1st-place finish since 1931, when they were in Philadelphia. But they lost the AL Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles.

Reggie showed up for Spring Training in 1972, in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa, Arizona, with a mustache. At that point in baseball history, the only player in the game with a mustache was Dick Allen. Frenchy Bordagaray had briefly had one in 1936. Before that, the last one was Wally Schang in 1914. It was widely believed that Finley would punish Reggie for it.

Instead, Finley told his players, whom he was already greatly underpaying, that he would pay them $300 to grow their own. Most of them did. (With inflation, that's about $1,900 today. This shows how cheap Finley was.)

The A's were Division Champions again, and faced the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. In Game 5, Reggie scored what turned out to be the Pennant-winning run on a double steal, but tore his hamstring in the process. He would not get to play in the World Series, as the A's beat the Cincinnati Reds, in a Series that was billed as "Hairs vs. Squares."

(Whenever anybody says the Big Red Machine was the best team of the 1970s, remind them that they played the other contender for the title, the A's, in one World Series, and the A's beat them, clinching in Cincinnati, without their best player.)

Not having played in that Series, Reggie seemed to be a man on a mission in 1973, batting a career-high (so far) .293, and leading the AL in home runs (32), runs batted in (117), runs scored and slugging percentage. The A's won the Pennant by beating the Orioles. In the World Series against the Mets, Reggie had an RBI double in Game 6, and a home run in Game 7. He was named the Most Valuable Player of both the AL regular season and the World Series.
Reggie says most of the photos showing him
swinging are actually of him missing.

Reggie led the A's to a 3rd straight World Series win in 1974. In 1975, he hit 36 homers, leading the AL, but the A's lost the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox. But Finley was so cheap! (How cheap was he?) He was so cheap, he wasn't willing to spend what it would take to keep his great team together. He had already defaulted on a clause in the contract of pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter, who was declared a free agent, and signed with the Yankees. His absence may have been why the A's lost the 1975 ALCS.

So, with free agency instituted, to take effect after the 1976 season, the Oakland dynasty was broken up. Team Captain and 3rd baseman Sal Bando signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. Relief ace Rollie Fingers and 1st baseman Gene Tenace signed with the San Diego Padres. Left fielder Joe Rudi signed with the California Angels. Shortstop Bert Campaneris signed with the Texas Rangers. All of those guys played out the '76 season, and signed elsewhere. Finley didn't lift a finger to sign any of them.

Before any of that, on April 2, Finley traded Reggie, and starting pitchers Ken Holtzman and Bill VanBommel (the former would join Reggie and Catfish on the Yankees, the latter never reached the major leagues), to the Orioles for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez and Paul Mitchell. (Finley wouldn't keep Baylor or Torrez, either: Baylor would join Rudi on the Angels, and Torrez would join Reggie, Catfish and Holtzman on the Yankees.)

Reggie still wanted more money, and held out the 1st month of the season. Finally, the Orioles caved in. Both his old team, the A's, and his new team, the O's, finished 2nd. Again, Reggie led the AL in slugging percentage. Free agency came, and while he didn't mind playing in Baltimore, the O's didn't try to re-sign him. Nor did the A's.

The New York Yankees did, after having won the AL Pennant, but lost the World Series to the Reds. The San Diego Padres also tried to sign him. So did the Montreal Expos. Reggie was intrigued by the idea of playing in an international city like Montreal, but thought he wouldn't have the endorsement opportunities that he would have in New York.

And Yankee owner George Steinbrenner reminded Reggie of this, when he took him out to the famed 21 Club restaurant at 21 West 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. When Reggie said that Padres owner Ray Kroc, the chairman of McDonald's, was offering him more money, George said, "Kroc's offering you more salary to come to San Diego. But, Reggie, this is New York. Madison Avenue is a block away."

Reggie took the hint, and, on November 29, 1976, Reggie signed a contract worth $2,960,000 over 5 years, with an option for a 6th year. Reggie's estranged parents joined him at the introductory press conference. He also posed for a picture with the 2 most veteran Yankees, team Captain Thurman Munson and Roy White.

And, 30 years old, already having 3 World Series rings, 6 All-Star berths and 2 home run titles to his name, he said, "I didn't come to New York to be a star. I'm bringing my star with me." He was right: He was the first in-his-prime star to come to the Yankees from elsewhere since Babe Ruth.

*

You never forget your first sports hero. Growing up in a New York suburb in Central New Jersey in the 1970s and 1980s, Reggie Jackson was the right guy, doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time.

No, he's not perfect. He knew it then, and he knows it now. But he has a better handle on it than a lot of other people do, including most of his critics. And he got the job done. Or, as somebody once put it, "It's funny how these winning teams keep following him around." But the road to get there was twisty and bumpy.

With his usual 9 worn by Graig Nettles, and his next choice, Jackie Robinson's 42, also already taken, Reggie took Number 44 as a tribute to the recently-retired Hank Aaron. This led to a dopey scene in Spike Lee's film about the Summer of '77 in New York, Summer of Sam: One of the white Italian guys in The Bronx suggested that Reggie was the Son of Sam, who, before the letter with that signature, was called "the .44-Caliber Killer" in the press, because of his gun. This moron forgot that the killings began in July 1976, while Reggie was still in Baltimore.

Yankee manager Billy Martin wanted Joe Rudi, not Reggie. But George wanted Reggie because he was a bigger name, who hit big home runs, and would raise attendance. Billy didn't like Reggie's fielding, and thought he didn't hustle enough, and thought he struck out too much. In each case, Billy had a point, but not as much as he thought he did. But George was The Boss, and Reggie was brought in.

During his 1st Spring Training with the Yankees, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, George was the only one welcoming Reggie to the team, except for Catfish. Munson, the previous year's AL MVP, didn't like that Reggie was making more money. Center fielder Mickey Rivers didn't like that a fellow black man was flaunting his wealth. And nobody was crazy about Reggie telling people what a good hitter he was, and how smart he was.

"You got an IQ of 160?" Rivers asked. "Out of what, 1,000?" Mick the Quick didn't understand how IQ ratings worked, and he didn't have a very high one himself, but he had some wit: "Reginald Martinez Jackson. You got a white man's first name, a Spanish man's middle name, and a black man's last name. No wonder you're so mixed up: You don't even know who you are."

Said John Milton Rivers, a man who, as sportswriter Roger Kahn, a student of the classics at NYU, said, was "maybe the only man named John Milton who had never heard of Paradise Lost."

A reporter from SPORT magazine, Robert Ward, wanted to interview him. Reggie had previously been burned by an article in SPORT, but Ward talked him into an interview at the Banana Boat bar in Fort Lauderdale.

When the article came out in May, Ward quoted Reggie as saying,

You know, this team... it all flows from me. I've got to keep it all going. I'm the straw that stirs the drink. Maybe I should say me and Munson... but really he doesn't enter into it. He's being so damned insecure about the whole thing...

Munson thinks he can be the straw that stirs the drink, but he can only stir it bad.

Munson read the article, and could barely contain his fury. He saw other quotes where Reggie "rips me." Lou Piniella tried to calm him down. Lou was an expert on losing one's temper, but he knew this could be bad. He said , "Maybe he was misquoted." Thurman almost bit Lou's head off: "For four fucking pages?"

In 2007, ESPN would produce a film version of Jonathan Mahler's book about New York City in 1977, The Bronx Is Burning. In it, Reggie is played by Daniel Sunjata, and they got Ward to play himself, 30 years later. They filmed it exactly as Ward described it. In addition, Dayn Perry of Fox Sports published a biography of Reggie in 2008, also taking Ward's word for what had happened.

Reggie was furious, and wrote his own memoir, titled Becoming Mr. October. It backed up what he'd said in his previous memoir, in 1984, titled simply Reggie: An Autobiography: He said he hadn't ripped Munson at all, and had described a team as being like a drink, with all its ingredients, and suggesting that he was the last ingredient that the Pennant-winning, but World Series-losing, Yankees needed -- and that it was Ward who suggested the straw analogy, not he.

It's been 44 years. Only those 2 men know what was really said. Both are still alive. Each is sticking to his story.

The night the article came out, everyone gave Reggie the cold shoulder. And they lost to the Red Sox at home. But Reggie hit a home run, with Thurman on base. When he came around to home plate, there was Thurman, offering to shake his hand. Reggie walked past him like he wasn't even there, and sat at the end of the dugout, not looking at any of his teammates.

He didn't like the hypocrisy: It was as if they were saying, "Two hours ago, you were a filthy son of a bitch who talked shit about our friend, our Captain, and we hate you. But now, you're a superstar, and we love you." Reginald Martinez Jackson was not having it. It was totally understandable.

But it may also have been a bigger mistake than granting the interview. If he'd let bygones be bygones, the article might have become a 3-day story, and been forgotten. But the team, with a few exceptions, took Thurman's side. About the only allies Reggie had were aging slugger Jimmy Wynn (black) and catcher Fran Healy (white -- and Munson's backup). Those resentments were still stewing on the afternoon of June 18.

The Yankees were playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Sox were leading 7-4 in the bottom of the 6th. Torrez was on the mound. Jim Rice hit a looper to short right. Reggie took too long to get to it, and Fred Lynn, already on 1st base, got to 3rd, and Rice, one of the hardest hitters but also one of the slowest runners in the game, got to 2nd.

Billy came out of the dugout, and called for Sparky Lyle to replace Torrez. Then he yelled back to the dugout, and sent Paul Blair, once a superb defensive outfielder and a decent hitter for Baltimore, now a role player, out to right field.

Reggie saw Blair coming in. Neither one knew why the change was being made. Reggie got back to the dugout -- and did not "come flying at Martin," as one broadcaster said -- and asked why he was being taken out.

Instead of doing the right thing, telling Reggie they would discuss it privately after the game, Billy wanted to chew Reggie out, right there, in the dugout, in front of his teammates. He was also doing this in front of NBC cameras sending this game to a nationwide audience.

Billy accused Reggie of loafing -- a defensible argument, but not one you make in front of the man's teammates. Reggie denied it. Certainly, he wasn't intentionally loafing. According to Reggie, Billy was not only cursing at him, but got so angry he was incoherent. Billy said he would kick Reggie's ass.

Billy was 49 years old, 5-foot-11, maybe 160 pounds soaking wet -- and if he was soaking in anything, it was whiskey. Reggie was 31 years old, 6 feet even, probably around 200 pounds, in as good a shape as any American athlete then was. To put it in football terms, Reggie was built like the fullback he had once been, and Billy was built like a placekicker. If Billy had started a fight with Reggie, and nobody intervened, Reggie would have beaten the hell out of him.

But Reggie also knew that if he got violent, even in self-defense, the media would paint him as the aggressor and the villain -- because he was black and had a big mouth, and Billy was white and a popular authority figure. Reggie says he knew he could win a fight with Billy, but not a popularity contest. But when Billy said he would kick his ass, Reggie called him an old man, and said, "I think all that alcohol you drink has gone to your brain."

"I'll show you who's an old man!" Billy shouted. How many legendary Yankee catchers turned coaches does it take to stop Billy Martin from starting a fight? Apparently, at least 2: Yogi Berra and Elston Howard. Meanwhile, Wynn was standing in front of Reggie, to keep him from charging.

Reggie went back to the clubhouse, flipped a couple of things over, and yelled, to no one in particular, that Billy didn't understand him at all, and that, if he wanted a fight, he'd get one, after the game. By this point, Healy had gotten in there, and told Reggie that was the last thing he wanted, and that the best thing Reggie could do was to just get dressed and go back to the hotel. Reggie calmed down enough to realize that Fran was right, and did so.

The game resumed, and here's the weird part: In spite of Reggie's fielding gaffe (Rice was credited with a double, not a single and Reggie assessed an error), no runs scored in that inning: Sparky got out of the jam. The Red Sox did win the game, 10-4. Blair ended up coming to the plate only once, grounding out to 3rd in the 7th. But neither did he record either a putout or an assist -- although that was mainly due to chance -- so his defense ended up not mattering a damn.

The next day, there was no confrontation between Reggie and Billy. Billy put Reggie in the lineup -- not 4th, as Reggie preferred, but 5th. All season long, Billy had been putting Reggie in 3rd, 5th or 6th, but not 4th. But he did put Reggie in, not suspending him as he did for an incident the next season. The Red Sox won, 11-1, completing a sweep. The Yanks were now 2 1/2 games behind the Sox, 4 in the loss column.

The Yankees flew on to Detroit. The rumor was that George Steinbrenner had seen Saturday's dugout contretemps on TV, and was coming to Detroit to fire Billy in person, because of how Billy had embarrassed the organization on national television. But everyone told him not to fire Billy, because it would create more problems than it would solve. General manager Gabe Paul told him that. Thurman Munson told him that. Even Reggie Jackson himself told him that, saying, "If you fire Billy now, it'll look like I'm running the team. I don't want that, and neither do you."

Things calmed down, but, for the next few weeks, the Yankees remained on the wrong side of a 3-way race for the AL East title with the Red Sox and Orioles. Reggie was hitting, including his 300th career home run in Seattle against the Mariners, but the Yankees just couldn't get back to 1st place.

On August 10 -- mere hours before the New York police finally discovered the real identity of the sSon of Sam, and arrested postal worker David Berkowitz for the 8 shootings that had wounded 13 people, killing 6 of them -- and with the Yankees 5 games behind the Red Sox, 6 in the loss column, with 53 games to play, George called Billy into his office, and, with Gabe also there, gave him an ultimatum: "Billy, bat Reggie 4th, or you're fired. Not just today, but every day, for the rest of the year."

Billy knew this was it: His job now depended on whether he batted Reggie 4th. In the last 53 games of the regular season, Reggie played in 51. He was given the day off in Detroit on August 18, and again at home to Seattle on August 31, but, both times, Billy used him as a pinch-hitter. He was given the day off in Minnesota on September 4, and was held out of the meaningless season finale at home to Detroit on October 2.

Other than that, given 49 chances, he was put into the 4th spot in the lineup 49 times. Usually, in right field, but, a few times, sending Paul Blair out late for defensive purposes. A few times, as the designated hitter. But, from the August 10 ultimatum onward, every time that Billy Martin put Reggie Jackson into the starting lineup, he put Reggie into the 4th position.

In those last 51 games, the Yankees went 38-13. On September 13 and 14 at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees took the 1st 2 of a 3-game series from the Sox, essentially deciding the Division title. The game on the 14th was 0-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, when Reggie Cleveland walked Munson, and Reggie took him deep to win it 2-0. The chant of "Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE!" wouldn't stop. The Yankees clinched on October 1. Reggie finished the season with a .286 average, 32 home runs, and 110 RBIs.

In the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, whom they'd beaten in the previous year's installment on Chris Chambliss' walkoff home run -- with Reggie in the ABC booth with Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell -- the Yanks fell behind 2 games to 1. They took Game 4 in Kansas City. But with lefthander Paul Splitorff going in Game 5, after having handcuffed Reggie in Game 1, Billy decided to bench Reggie, and didn't have the guts to tell Reggie himself, sending Healy to do it.

The Royals led 3-1 in the bottom of the 8th, but the Yankees began to get to Splittorff. Royals manager Whitey Herzog replaced him with righthander Doug Bird. That's what Billy was waiting for, and he sent Reggie up to pinch-hit for righthanded DH Cliff Johnson. Reggie dunked an RBI single into center fielder, cutting the deficit to 3-2. The Yankees took a 5-3 lead in the 9th inning, and won the Pennant.

In the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Reggie hit a home run in Game 4, and the Yankees closed to within 1 game of the title. He hit another home run in Game 5, although the Yankees lost.

October 18, 1977. Game 6 at Yankee Stadium. In the 2nd inning, he drew a walk, and scored on Chambliss' homer off Dodger starter Burt Hooton. In the 4th, Reggie slammed a Hooton pitch into the right field seats, nearly reaching the upper deck. In the 6th, he sent a screaming line drive off Elias Sosa into the stands, just over the fence.

In the 8th, against knuckleballer Charlie Hough, he hit what Cosell termed "a colossal blow," sending it 475 feet into the center field bleachers, blacked out and closed to fans as a hitters' background. The Yankees won, 8-4, and clinched their 1st World Championship in 15 years. The chant of "Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE!" still seems to echo.
This is definitely the 3rd homer.
Steve Yeager seems to be saying, "Holy... "
and I don't think the 2nd word is "...cow."

For the 2nd time, and for the 2nd different team, Reggie Jackson was named Most Valuable Player of the World Series. The award is named the Babe Ruth Award, in honor of the 1st true Yankee Legend -- and also the only man before Reggie to have hit 3 home runs in a World Series game. Indeed, of all the human beings who have ever lived, only 1 has more home runs than Reggie and at least as many World Series rings: Babe Ruth.

It earned him the nickname "Mr. October."

*

This was at the height of the CB radio craze, thanks to the song "Convoy" and the film Smokey and the Bandit. Reggie's CB identification, his "handle," could have been Mr. October. Instead, he chose "Candyman."

"If I played in New York, they'd name a candy bar after me." Yes, he actually said that. And he was right: The Reggie! Bar was produced in time for Opening Day 1978. It was peanuts, covered in caramel, covered in chocolate. Ironically, it was pretty much a round version of the Baby Ruth bar -- which, contrary to legend (the company producing it made up a stupid story so they wouldn't have to pay the Bambino royalties), was named for Babe Ruth.
On the Yankees' home Opening Day, Reggie again took a knuckleballer deep, this time Wilbur Wood of the Chicago White Sox. The fans got free Reggie! Bars when they came in, and started throwing the things onto the field. The orange packages really clashed with the green grass. Reggie was confused: He thought it meant that they didn't like the bars. Well, I loved them. Anyway, the Yankees won the game 4-2. Like the song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory goes, "The Candy Man can, 'cause he mixes it with love, and makes the world taste good."

But things did not go well for the Yankees in the 1st half of the 1978 season. On July 17, down to their last out, Billy wanted Reggie to bunt. After 2 strikes, Billy took the bunt sign off. Reggie bunted anyway, it was a foul ball, and a strikeout. Billy suspended Reggie for 5 games. And the Yankees won all 5.

The Yankees prepared to fly from Chicago to Kansas City. At the gate to the plane at O'Hare International Airport, reporters collared Billy, and asked him about his relationships with Reggie and George, who had made a plea bargain over his campaign contributions to President Richard Nixon in 1972. And Billy, already having visited an airport bar, slurred, "Ya know, they're made for each other. One's a born liar, the other's convicted."

When Billy saw the headlines in Kansas City the next day, he knew he had gone too far. He knew that George would come for him. And so, he resigned. George hired Bob Lemon as the new manager, and he calmed everybody down. On July 20, the Yankees were in 4th place, 14 games behind the Red Sox. On September 7, they were within 4 games. Then they swept the Sox in 4 straight at Fenway, tying for 1st place.

The season came down to a one-game Playoff at Fenway on October 2. While the home run that gave the Yankees the lead that they never relinquished was hit by Bucky Dent, the home run that gave the Yankees the margin of their 5-4 victory was hit by Reggie Jackson. To conclude the regular season, this gave Reggie a .274 average, 27 home runs, and 97 RBIs.

Again, the Yankees played the Royals in the ALCS. The Yankees led 4-1 in the 8th inning of Game 1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium). And Herzog brought in Al Hrabosky, the intimidating lefthanded reliever known as the Mad Hungarian. Billy would have pinch-hit for Reggie. Lemon left Reggie in. Reggie hit a home run that gave the Royals' outfielders whiplash. The Royals never got off the deck, and, unlike the 2 preceding years, this one didn't go the full 5: The Yankees won the Pennant in 4.

In Game 1 of the World Series against the Dodgers, Reggie hit another home run. But he struck out with the bases loaded to end Game 2, and the Yankees fell behind 2-0. But they took all 3 in Yankee Stadium -- including Game 4, with Reggie's "Sacrifice Thigh" being a key play, and the Dodgers and their idiot fans still think he intentionally interfered, as if that made the difference.

In Game 6, Reggie again faced Bob Welch, who struck him out to end Game 2. Reggie hit a drive that landed in Nevada. The Yankees made it back-to-back World Championships. It was Reggie's 5th title.

Reggie had 4 strong seasons in New York, including sharing the AL lead in home runs, with Ben Oglivie of the Milwaukee Brewers, with 41 in 1980. But the Yankees weren't close to the Playoffs in 1979, lost the ALCS to the Royals in 1980, and lost the World Series to the Dodgers in 1981, after Reggie had a bad year in the worst possible year, the last year on his contract. Steinbrenner chose not to sign Reggie to a new contract.

*

Reggie went to the California Angels (now the Los Angeles Angels), and enjoyed working for the tea's owner, broadcast executive and former music and film star Gene Autry. Like Steinbenner, Autry was willing to spend big bucks, if he thought it would get him big results. He'd already tried it after 1976 with Rudi (by this point, gone) and Bobby Grich. Now, he'd added Reggie, Baylor, Lynn and Rod Carew -- 2 guys that Finley wouldn't pay to keep, 1 that Red Sox owner Jean Yawkey wouldn't pay to keep, and 1 that Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith not only wouldn't pay to keep, but had pissed off with blatant racism.
Left to right: Lynn, Baylor, Jackson, Carew.
4 men, 8,732 career hits, 1,098 home runs, 24 All-Star berths,
4 AL MVP awards, and 5 World Series rings -- all of those Reggie's.

On April 27, 1982, Reggie returned to The Bronx with the Angels. He'd gotten off to a lousy start, but on a rainy night, against Ron Guidry (a lefthander, one of the best of that era), he hit a home run. The Angels won the game, 3-1.

When Reggie swung, the fans were chanting, "Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE! Reg-GIE!" By the time he made his way around the bases and touched home plate, the chant had become, "Steinbrenner sucks!"

Reggie hit 39 homers in 1982, giving him his 4th AL home run title. He helped the Angels win the AL Western Division title in 1982 and 1986, although they lost the ALCS to the Brewers in '82 and the Red Sox in '86.

And George would later admit that letting Reggie go was his biggest mistake. They would eventually patch things up, and, from 1993 to 2019, Reggie worked in the Yankees' front office and been a uniformed spring training instructor.

On May 12, 1984, playing for the Angels against the Tigers on an NBC Game of the Week, Reggie finally hit one over the right-field roof at Tiger Stadium.  And on September 17, at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim), 17 years to the day after he hit his 1st major league home run, at the same ballpark, he hit his 500th career home run, off Bud Black of the Kansas City Royals.

Reggie returned to the A's for a final season in 1987, and they let him wear Number 44, although they would later retire 9 for him, as the Yankees would retire 44 for him.
His last game was at Comiskey Park, against the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox won, 5-2. His last at-bat wasn't very Reggielike, but it was productive: Against ChiSox reliever Bobby Thigpen, he hit a broken-bat single up the middle.

His final totals: A .262 batting average, .356 on-base percentage, .490 slugging percentage, 139 OPS+, 2,584 hits, 563 home runs, and 1,702 RBIs. He made 14 All-Star Games and 11 postseasons, winning 6 Pennants and 5 World Championships. Those 563 home runs are the most by any player born between 1936 and 1963, making Reggie the leading home run hitter of his generation. And he never used steroids, either. However, he also holds the all-time record for most strikeouts in a career, with 2,597.

"It's not important that I did it," the man with the supposedly massive ego in an interview after his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. "What's important is that it was done."

*

Reggie has appeared on several TV shows over the years, including The Love Boat, and a few movies. In 1988, Reggie played a fictionalized version of himself in the film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! A crime boss (played by Richard Montalban) brainwashed Reggie into attempting an assassination of Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to a ballpark: "I... must kill... the Queen!" (Jeannette Charles, who has made a living playing the Queen, did so again.) Los Angeles Police Lieutenant Frank Drebin (played by Leslie Nielsen) stopped him.

Reggie was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993, in his 1st year of his eligibility. I was not there for the induction ceremony, despite his being my favorite athlete of all time. On August 14 of that year, the Yankees retired his Number 44. I was there. (At the time, my finances were such that I could go to one of those events, but not the other. I chose the one 43 miles away, over the one 219 miles away.)

On July 6, 2002, they dedicated a Plaque for him in Monument Park. I was there again. As he had hit over 500 home runs, and his father had played in the Negro Leagues, he invited to the ceremony the 3 men who had done both of those things: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Ernie Banks. None had ever played for the Yankees -- indeed, except toward the end of Hank's career with the Brewers, none had ever even played a regular-season game at Yankee Stadium -- but all got a standing ovation from the crowd.

That day was also the first time most of us learned that Reggie had a daughter, named Kimberly, then 13 years old. She held his hand as he walked out of the dugout upon his introduction. As far as I know, he has no connection with Reggie Jackson the basketball player, now with the Los Angeles Clippers.
The caption on this photo says that this is Reggie with
wife Kim, daughter Kimberly and son Kendall.
However, this photo is the only reference I can find
to either Kim or Kendall.

On May 22, 2004, the A's retired his Number 9 at the Oakland Coliseum. I was not there. On September 5, 2018, the A's made him a charter inductee into their team Hall of Fame. I was not there. The Angels have a team Hall of Fame, but they have not yet elected him to it. Nor have they retired Number 44 for him.

In 1999, The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and Reggie was ranked 48th. In 2010, he teamed with St. Louis Cardinals legend Bob Gibson to write Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played

He managed to restore his relationship with George Steinbrenner before the Boss died in 2010. He and Thurman Munson might never have become close friends, but they survived their difficult start and developed a very healthy respect for each other than survived Thurman's death in a plane crash in 1979. Only Reggie knows for sure how things ended between him and Billy Martin when Billy died in 1989.

Reggie managed to maintain friendships with just about every other Yankee Legend, including Joe DiMaggio (who had been the A's hitting instructor early in his career), Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Dave Winfield, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez.

While still playing, he learned from the mistakes of many previous athletes, and found guys he could trust to help him invest his money wisely, investing in classic cars, auto dealerships and real estate, eventually moving into the sports collectible industry. He's doing just fine, and it appears his health is good.
Happy Birthday, Reg. May there be many more.

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