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This Day In Sports…May 18, 1946:
The birthday of “Mr. October.” Reggie Jackson was sometimes controversial but often clutch during a 21-year Hall of Fame career that saw him club 563 home runs. Jackson burst to stardom with the championship Oakland A’s, then was constantly in the headlines during his years as a New York Yankee, famously clashing with manager Billy Martin in particular. Jackson was the biggest of baseball’s free agents when the floodgates opened in the 1970s, and he was arguably the first to morph from superstar to celebrity status.
Jackson, the second overall pick in the 1967 MLB Draft, became an A’s fixture when the team moved from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. He clubbed 47 home runs in 1969, and in the 1971 All-Star Game, he hit a legendary homer that struck a light tower above the stands at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The A’s built a powerhouse club around Jackson, leading to three straight World Series titles in Oakland from 1972-74. Rather than pay him the big bucks after the 1975 season, A’s owner Charles O. Finley traded his superstar to Baltimore.
After a year with the Orioles in 1976, Jackson became a Yankee in 1977 and earned his “Mr. October” nickname when he hit three home runs—all on the first pitch—in the decisive Game 6 of that year’s World Series against the L.A. Dodgers. But his relationship with Martin was legendarily adversarial, and it sometimes extended to the team. Before he had played an inning for the Yankees, it was reported that Jackson said the club needed one thing to win the World Series, and he was “the straw that stirs the drink.” That it may have been true was beside the point.
Jackson would lead the Yankees to another World Series crown in 1978, but the off-the-field tumult continued, often infuriating owner George Steinbrenner. By 1981, Jackson’s relationship with Steinbrenner was fractured beyond repair, and he signed with the California Angels as a free agent. The years in Anaheim were relatively calm. Jackson played one final season back in Oakland in 1987. He was the straw that stirred up, well, a lot of stuff. But Jackson is one of the greats and is still 14th on baseball’s career home run list.
Note: Jackson actually began his pro career in Idaho, as he was assigned to the Lewis-Clark Broncs of the Northwest League in Lewiston after being drafted. He went 0-for-5 in his debut, but he was in a groove by the time he made his home debut, doubling and tripling in his first appearance in Lewiston. Jackson played only 12 games with the Broncs. He was quickly promoted to Modesto of the California League, where he hit 21 home runs the rest the season. The legend had been launched. Reggie Jackson…80 years old today.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
