Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball's Mr. October

by Perry, Dayn

• ISBN13: 9780061562372
• ISBN10: 0061562378
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-21
• Publisher: Harpercollins

Summary

Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson earned the nickname "Mr. October" for the crucial clutch hitting that led his teams to the World Series six times and won him two series MVP awards, and this skill at the plate is perhaps what he is best remembered for. But behind the bat was a man many don't know-a man struggling to find his place in the world, at home, and in the sport that made him a star. Now, in the first biography of Jackson in more than twenty-five years-and the first to cover his entire career as a player-FOXSports.com columnist Dayn Perry provides an intimate, honest, and never-before-seen glimpse into the life and times of one of baseball's all-time greats. A cantankerous man full of swagger with a fearsome talent to match, Jackson was an outspoken iconoclast as a player-a gift that made him friends and enemies of some of the most colorful characters in the game. As large a presence on the field as he was outside the ballpark, Jackson backed up his talk by establishing himself as one of the best sluggers the sport has ever seen. Yet Jackson's story is about more than sports prowess. His life reflects a time, between Jackie Robinson and Ken Griffey, Jr., when black ballplayers were accepted but still considered inferior to their white teammates. There were unspoken rules to keep the racial waters still; Jackson not only ignored such conventions, he demolished them-paving the way for true equality for all black players. From his childhood in a predominantly white neighborhood to heroics at the plate, from relationships with legendary players such as "Catfish" Hunter and Thurman Munson to battles with some of the sport's most powerful figures, including notoriously cheap Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley and the irascible George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson tells the full story of the man who was one of the first black baseball superstars-and one of the greatest players of all time.

Author Biography

Dayn Perry wrote for ESPM.com and Baseball Prospectus before becoming a baseball columnist with FOXSports.com. He is the author of Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones, and he lives with his family in Chicago, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Prologue: October 18, 1977, World Series, Game Six	p. 1
ôAspirationsö	p. 8
ôHe Looks Whiter All the Timeö	p. 17
ôYes, Sirö	p. 25
ôI'm Not Working in One of Those Birmingham Steel Millsö	p. 40
ôIf I Played in New York, They'd Name a Candy Bar After Meö	p. 50
ôFuck Youö	p. 61
ôThe Worst Feeling I've Ever Had … Was the Day We Won the World Seriesö	p. 81
ôSuperstar, My Assö	p. 93
ôMy Objective Right Now Is Moneyö	p. 112
ôIsn't My Name Reggie Jackson?ö	p. 132
ôI Ain't Goingö	p. 147
ôWe Are Going on This Venture Togetherö	p. 158
ôReggie Challenged Him in Every Wayö	p. 172
ôI'm the Straw That Stirs the Drinkö	p. 177
ôI'm a Nigger to Them, and I Just Don't Know How to Be Subservientö	p. 188
ôReg-gie!ö	p. 208
ôBut I Know the Score Nowö	p. 215
ôThat Makes Me Angry, and It Hurtsö	p. 235
ôI Don't Know If I'm Secure Enough and Mature Enough Not to Be the Top Bananaö	p. 244
ôSteinbrenner Sucks!ö	p. 258
ôNumber 44, Reggie Jackson. Number 44.ö	p. 272
ôWhat Should I Do? Leave? Go Away? Come Back?ö	p. 278
Epilogue	p. 291
Acknowledgments	p. 293
Notes on Sources	p. 295
Index	p. 313
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