|
 |
Reggie Jackson
|
|
| |
Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson was born on
May 18, 1946 in
Wyncote, Pennsylvania. His father Reginald Martinez was a Puerto
Rican by origin who played enthusiastically for the Negro
Leagues. Due to his overall performance he earned the moniker
"Mr. October." The candy-bar “Reggie Bar”
was named after him. Jackson played with the Kansas City and
Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and, and
the California Angels. The summit of his career was when he
played in the Yankees uniform. He started his Yankees career
after claiming that he was "the straw that stirred the drink."
His statement infuriated the manager Billy Martin and teammate
Thurman Munson. But Jackson proved to be a man of his words and
was victorious wherever he went. Jackson played on 11 divisional
winners, six flag winners, and five Fall Classic Champions. He
has a .357 lifetime World Series average, and the best career
World Series slugging average at .755. When he retired his total
of 563 HR was sixth all-time. His 2,597 strikeouts are first
all-time. |
|
|
| |
From 1967 to 1987, he played a pro American baseball player.
In 27 Fall Classic games, he
accumulated 10 home runs, 24 RBI and a .357 batting average.
As one of the game's leading hitters, he exploded 563 career
home-runs, which ranks sixth on the all-time list. An
excellent player in the clutch and an unapproachable
clean-up hitter, Jackson amassed a lifetime slugging
percentage of .490 and earned American League MVP honors in
1973. He appeared in the five World Series and was amazingly
good. His talents got recognition when he became the US
Baseball Hall of Fame inductee in 1993.
Jackson
would have started his career with New York Mets but they
chose catcher Steve Chilcott. Jackson was acquired by
Athletics. At that time A’s were managed by Joe DiMaggio. He
tried his best to get the player cut down his swinging
skills to reduce strikeouts but his efforts went in vain.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
. In 1969, he set career high 47 home run RBI with 118,
slugging average at .608, 142 strikeouts, runs with 123, and walks
with 114, leading the league in the last two categories. His success
in 1969 was distressed by what could have been. Consequentially, he
stopped hitting. The droop in his career lasted throughout the 1970
season. In 1971, due to an injury caused to Tony Oliva he made it to
the All-Star line-up. He performed aggressively on the bases and at
the plate. In 1973, he won the LCS MVP award. In the World Series
against the Mets he was named the Series MVP. He hit his first
Series homer in the third inning of the seventh game. He led the A's
to their third straight world title in 1974. But due to his regular
feud with owner Charlie Finley in 1975, he was forced to abandon the
team. In 1976 he became Baltimore Orioles acquisition where he led
the league in slugging for the third time. In 1977 he joined the
Yankees. In the 977 World Series, he was exceptionally good. In the
fourth inning, he hit a two-run shot into the right-field seats on
Burt Hooton's first pitch to him to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. In
following inning he hit Elias Sosa and marked a 7-3 lead. He became
the first player ever to hit five home runs in one Series. In 1982,
he left the team to join California Angels due to his ego clash with
Martin and owner George Steinbrenner. He led the Angels to a
division title after compiling 39 home runs and 156 strikeouts. He
surpassed Mickey Mantle’s home run total of 536 in 1986. He
culminated his career back in
Oakland in 1987.
Yankees retired his jersey #44 in 1993 and A’s retired his jersey #9
in 2004. He holds the distinction of being the only non-pitcher to
win World Series most valuable player honors twice.
|
|
|
|
 |
