Baseball Player: Reggie Jackson
(Photo of Reggie Jackson batting for the New York Yankees, courtesy of STLToday)
Background
Baseball Hall of Famer, Mr. October, was one of the most iconic baseball players during the 1970's while facing racism. Reginald Martinez Jackson was born on May 18, 1946 in Abginton, Pennsylvania. His parents gave birth to five children before having Reggie. His father had a tailor shop on the first floor of their family home in Wyncote, Pennsylvania where Reggie Jackson grew up. As a senior in high school, Jackson was a two sport phenom dominating both the baseball field and football field, despite distractions from his father getting arrested for bootlegging. He attended Arizona State University (ASU) on a football scholarship, but it wasn't long before Jackson missed baseball. Impressing the ASU baseball coaches with his hidden talents, his professional career began shortly after.
Jackson was drafted in 1967 to the Kansas City/Oakland Athletics as an outfielder, but his hitting was where he was most dangerous. There he played until 1975 and won three World Series. Then he played in Baltimore for the Orioles for a year in 1976 before moving to the New York Yankees in 1977 where they won back to back World Series his first two seasons there. He moved to the California Angels for a few seasons before moving back to Oakland to end out his career. He retired in 1988 and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2013 he published a book titled "Becoming Mr. October", a book he wrote all about what is what was like for him when playing on his World Series winning team New York Yankees.
Racism in the MLB
Racism in the MLB had gone down drastically since the 1960's when a wave of iconic black baseball players came through and paved the way for players to come of all races. Such as Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays. However it did still exist, and Reggie experienced before he even entered the league. Jackson was the first overall ranked pick coming into to the MLB draft of 1967. Although, a couple days before the draft, his coach at ASU sat him down and told him that because he was black and dating a girl who was Hispanic the New York Mets wouldn't want him. They thought he would be " a problem" because he was dating outside his race. This especially surprised Jackson because he was part hispanic. Reggie Jackson was the second overall pick in the 1967 draft, to the Kansas City Athletics (later moved to Oakland). There he went on to win three World Series in a row, one against the New York Mets.
When Jackson was traded to the New York Yankees in 1977 he was not welcomed by his teammates. It could have been because of his race, or because he had just signed the highest paid contract in the MLB. He described his relationships with his teammates as sour, even with his black teammates with exception of one. "The rest . . . I felt they were always supporting the other side. I couldn’t understand it. Most of the black players on our team did not support me, and that hurt" said Jackson when asked about his teammates. No players would even take the locker next to his in the locker room. He even came back his locker after a practice and found a note on his pants saying "Get your f***ing ass out of here". He actually received his nickname Mr. October in New York, when a teammate said it in an interview in a sarcastic tone to insult him. It stuck because the MLB playoffs are in October, and Jackson had proved to be one of the most clutch play off players of all time.
Accomplishments
- 1966 - College Player of the Year
- 1967 - Southern League Player of the Year
- 1969, 1971-75, 1977-84 - American League All-Star Team
- 1969, 1973, 1975-76, 1980 - Sporting News American League All-Star Team
- 1973 - American League Most Valuable Player; Sporting News Major League Player of the Year
- 1973, 1977 - World Series Most Valuable Player
- 1993 - Inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame
(Photo of Reggie Jackson's plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Courtesy of Baseballhall.org)
Quotes By Reggie Jackson
"When you take a pitch and line it somewhere, its like you've thought of something and put it there with beautiful clarity."
"Fans don't boo nobodies." In New York, Reggie was not loved by fans from other teams. Especially the ones from Oakland where he left. There would be many games he would get booed as he would step up to bat.
"October, that's when they pay off for playing ball." October is the time when MLB play offs start, and also the month when Reggie Jackson became one of the most clutch play off baseball players of all time. Giving him the nickname Mr. October.
(Video of Reggie Jackson hitting 3 home runs in one game all off the first pitch in playoffs.)
Additional Information
More Reggie Jackson Accomplishments
Reggie Jackson's Baseball Statistics
(Page researched and written by Chris Viola.)
