Growing up I
spent summer vacations visiting with my grandparents and invariably my
grandfather and I would end up with the television tuned to a baseball game.
There was a long running, good natured debate about who the best player in the
game was at the time. Pap was a fan of “Charlie Hustle” Pete Rose; while gravitated
toward Reggie Jackson, first with the multiple World Series champion Oakland A’s
and later with the Bronx Bombers, The New York Yankees.
I vividly
remember watching an All Star game in Detroit when Jackson slammed a monster
home run off a lighting tower transformer and who could forget the 1977 World
Series three home run game. It was Jackson’s on field exploits that won me
over. My judgment was based on the content of his ability, not the color of
skin.
That is way
I was so disappointed that so much of Jackson’s new autobiography, Becoming Mr. October is focused on his
claims that pervasive racism impacted him throughout his career to the point
that he feels he never earned the credit or accolades he felt he deserved. That’s
a bit hard to reconcile for a man who was at the time the highest paid player
in major league baseball, was a regular member of All Star teams and was a
World Series MVP.
Jackson came
to the major leagues in an era where we as a nation where going through the
civil rights movement, so race certainly played a role in his career path, but
certainly wasn’t shorted in accolades or financial remuneration. As to his
claims about Yankee team mates being less than welcoming, I think like
superstars of any era, Jackson was not short on high opinion of himself; egos
in sports…who woulda thunk it?!
Jackson does
offer some interesting insights into his fire and gasoline relationship with Billy
Martin, the personality challenged, egomaniac, Yankee skipper. The level of
bitterness that Jackson carries after all these years is striking; it’s a
weight he carries that negatively impacts his post baseball life.
Jackson remains one of the greatest to ever play
the game and nothing can ever take that away from him and he should revel in
that fact.
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