January 22, 1982: The Day My Childhood Ended

January 22, 1982, 40 years ago: Reggie Jackson signs a 5-year contract with the California Angels. With incentive clauses, it turns out to be worth about $5.2 million.

For the preceding 5 seasons, Reggie had played for the New York Yankees. Team owner George Steinbrenner had made him one of the highest-paid players in baseball. Now, he was playing for the Angels, owned by Gene Autry, broadcast executive, and, before that, a music and film star known as The Singing Cowboy.

George and Gene were very different guys, but they had 2 important things in common: They both loved baseball; and, unlike most other team owners, who would happily have gone 0-162 if they thought it would make them more money than winning would (see "Brooks, Mel, The Producers"), they were both willing to spend big money if they thought it would bring big results.

Both spent big in the 1st free-agent off-season of 1976-77. In addition to Reggie, George signed pitcher Don Gullett from the 2-time defending World Champion Cincinnati Reds. The next year, he signed reliever Rich "Goose" Gossage. The Yankees won back-to-back World Series in 1977 and 1978.

In 1976-77, Gene tried to get Reggie, and did get another member of the Oakland Athletics' mid-1970s dynasty, Joe Rudi. He also got Baltimore Oriole stars Bobby Grich and Don Baylor. In 1978-79, he got Minnesota Twins batting champion Rod Carew. He won the 1979 American League Western Division title.

He lost pitcher Nolan Ryan to the Houston Astros after that season, but bolstered his team with former Astro Ken Forsch, former Yankee and Los Angeles Dodger Tommy John, former Philadelphia Phillies catcher Bob Boone (father of current Yankee manager Aaron), and former Boston Red Sox stars Fred Lynn and Rick Burleson.

Reggie and the Yankees got off to a slow start in the 1982 season -- separately. On April 27, the Angels began a series at the old Yankee Stadium. Ron Guidry was pitching for the Yankees. It was raining, it was a Tuesday night, and it was The Bronx at the depth of its crime wave. But 35,458 fans came out anyway, and the umpires let them play.

I watched this game on WPIX-Channel 11. When Reggie stepped to the plate, for the 1st time, it became clear why most of those 35,000 fans had come: It was Reggie's 1st appearance at Yankee Stadium since Game 6 of the previous year's World Series, which the Yankees lost to the Dodgers. George had let Reggie go, their once happy owner-player relationship having terribly soured. George didn't even lift a finger to sign Reggie to a new contract. And Gene Autry, knowing that Reggie had kept a home in Oakland and wanted to return to the West Coast (if not, necessarily, the Bay Area), swooped in and signed him.

And instead of booing him for leaving them, the Yankee Fans understood completely. And, as they usually had in his 5 eventful seasons with them, they chanted, "Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!"

In his 1st at-bat, in the 2nd inning, he popped up to 2nd. In the 5th, he came up again. Again, the chant was, "Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!" He singled to center. He came up again in the 7th. Again, the chant was, "Reg-gie! Reg-gie! Reg-gie!" Guidry did not give up many home runs, especially to lefthanded hitters, and Reggie was hitting into the rain against a tough lefthander. Nevertheless, Guidry threw a slider that didn't slide, and Reggie cranked it into the upper deck in right field. 

The chant was louder than ever -- or, at least, its loudest since Game 6 of the 1977 World Series -- as he crossed the plate. The cheering wouldn't stop. He came out to take a curtain call. A visiting player taking a curtain call at the old Yankee Stadium, and the home fans cheering. As far as I know, this was the only time it happened.

George Steinbrenner must have been in a foul mood. It had to have gotten fouler, because the fans soon began chanting, "Steinbrenner sucks! Steinbrenner sucks! Steinbrenner sucks!"

At the end of that inning, with the Angels leading 3-1, the umpires finally accepted that there was too much rain, and called the game. It made little sense to continue.

Reggie went on a hot streak after that, and, at age 36, hit 39 home runs to lead the AL, helping the Angels win the Division. But they lost the AL Championship Series to the Milwaukee Brewers. They came close to a Division title in 1984, but lost out to the Kansas City Royals. In 1986, they won the Division, and were 1 game away from winning the Pennant, but the Red Sox came back to embarrass them.

Reggie closed his career back in Oakland, signing a 1-year deal with the A's for 1987, and then retired with 563 career home runs -- 269 with Oakland, 27 with Baltimore, 144 with New York, and 123 in Anaheim. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993, his 1st year of eligibility.

That year, George Steinbrenner admitted that letting Reggie go was the biggest mistake he had made as Yankees owner. He brought Reggie back as a front office consultant, and retired his Number 44. In 2002, he gave Reggie a Plaque in Monument Park. That year, the team then known as the Anaheim Angels finally won their 1st Pennant, and their 1st World Series, beating the Yankees in the AL Division Series along the way. (The Anaheim team is now named the Los Angeles Angels, and they have long since dropped the "of Anaheim" suffix.)

But losing Reggie to the Angels? I was 12 years old. It felt like the end of an era. In hindsight, I can say that it was the day my childhood ended, and my adolescence began. The Yankees were the reigning American League Champions. That would not be true again until I was nearly 27.