[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[WOMAN] I-I think it's an... it's... it's an intro.
[MAN] Oh, okay.
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
We are gonna have some conversation today about...
my past.
[HOWARD COSELL] Oh, what a World Series for Reggie Jackson!
[CROWD CHEERING]
I don't think it's checkered.
[ANNOUNCER] And now Reggie is out of the ballgame.
[JOURNALIST] Americans have always been drawn to a special kind of hero...
You know, you come out west, you have to come with your guns loaded.
Forty-fours, two of 'em.
[LAUGHTER]
[JOURNALIST] ...the kind who shows more confidence in front of a packed house
than most of us could muster in the privacy of our dreams.
[ANNOUNCER] They called him Mr. October.
He created excitement on and off the field.
He provided thrills.
He provided leadership
and helped to carry the Yankees back to the top
of the baseball world.
[JOURNALIST] What were the major thoughts that went through your head?
The magnitude of me.
[REGGIE] I know people are afraid of me.
People are uncomfortable with me around.
I'm not beat yet.
You know, I'm not gonna lose. You gon' have to beat me.
But the reason you're uncomfortable with me
is because I'm the truth.
Just seems when there's problems or turmoil in a ball club,
I seem to be in the center of it.
It's not cocky, it's not nasty, it's real. It's-it's what is.
I'm gonna speak the truth, and the truth is painful.
Hell with Reggie Jackson that is gracious and sweet.
Get it done, now.
I didn't get prepared for you guys, that's for sure.
[REGGIE] I have hesitation with this documentary...
because I don't have control of it.
I'm gonna get 'em all turned around like that one.
[WOMAN] Okay.
It's an "oh my God" shot.
[WOMAN LAUGHING] Okay.
[ENGINE HUMS]
Um, way too much trust in people you don't know.
But, um, I thought the timing was right.
I thought it was time to tell the story if I ever was going to.
And so, certainly, uh, with some of the things that I say,
there'll be another side to the story.
But, you know, this particular story,
it's my story and how I see it.
[TELEPHONE RINGS]
Pete, how come I can't hear you too good?
Yeah, buddy. You hear me now?
Yeah. Yeah, I got you now.
We're doing this documentary, and so I'm showing these...
just kind of cool shit, this-this what I keep at my house.
It won't be the same without you at Cooperstown.
What the hell's going on?
I don't know, man, I...
The travel, Pete. The travel kills me, man.
Where you traveling from?
California.
That's... I'm traveling from Las Vegas.
I'm considering going.
Eddie Murray and Bench and Schmitty and Brett,
they've all called me, asked me if I was coming.
[PETE ROSE] Well, you're important, buddy. [LAUGHS]
I appreciate you, man.
I-I'll...
[PETE ROSE] Yeah, and I think you're fucking shrinking too.
I'm... I'm... I'm only 5'10" now.
You started out 6'2" and a half.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm waiting for you to fucking start riding races at Santa Anita.
[LAUGHTER]
Okay, man, I'll call you when I decide.
- All right, babe. - All right, man. See ya.
[PETE ROSE] Bye. [LAUGHTER]
[REGGIE] I was a fan that was a good baseball player.
And I sat in the stands when I was a kid.
Fifty-cent seats, bleacher seats, sat in the Colored section.
1967.
I'd just got called up to the Big Leagues, June 22nd.
We were playing the Yankees.
I'm walkin' off the field...
comin' into the dugout, and Mickey Mantle's going
in to first base to play first base.
And I stopped because I was in his way.
And he said, "No, Reggie, go ahead."
And I went like, "Knew my fuckin' name.
Mickey Mantle knew my name.
Hey, everybody."
[WOMAN] Are you in search of your own legacy?
[ANNOUNCER] Please welcome Mr. October, number 44,
Reginald Martinez Jackson.
[CROWD CHEERING]
[REGGIE] It's painful enough when you're my age
and know that...
it hasn't changed that much.
[REGGIE] I mean, I'm not a historian, etcetera,
but I got some history.
And in my history of the past 74 years,
there's a lot there.
What I saw doesn't lie.
When I look back, my story is...
is a continuation of Satchel Paige,
and a piece of Jackie Robinson...
Mays and Bob Gibson,
Frank Robinson and Curt Flood...
Hank Aaron and all those guys that did so much.
[CHARLES GREENE] There's no difference between the Black and the white athlete.
We're all out there sweating. We run on two legs.
But it's a difference in the way society treats us after we leave the track.
[REGGIE] That was life.
The world was full of racism.
You were Black, you were Colored, you were different.
You were "less-than."
"You should be glad just to be here."
And here we are today.
And it ain't much different.
[JOURNALIST] ...mass protests by professional athletes.
[JOURNALIST 2] Sports on pause: players in the NBA refuse to play tonight.
[JOURNALIST 3] Other major sports followed suit,
including Major League Baseball.
[GIANCARLO STANTON] When are people gonna finally understand,
it's not a time to shut up and swing, shut up and dribble.
This isn't that time. This is time to take reality for what it is
and start helping to make a damn change.
And I honestly will say that it makes me think,
Have I done enough? Have I made waves enough?
There's times when you need to bring up
these painful things that you've lived with.
There's times to let those out.
Because the stories that we have to tell about baseball,
baseball would rather us forget.
[DISTANT CROWD ROARS]
[ANNOUNCER] The hometown hero, Henry Aaron, sets his sights.
[ANNOUNCER 2] High, towering drive. This may be it! There it goes!
Home run number 700 for Henry Aaron!
[HANK AARON] I started out with the Indianapolis Clowns,
making a dollar and a half a day, beer money.
I had one pair of shoes...
one shirt that my sister took off her back to give to me.
Your career impacted me to the point of...
I-I couldn't get to be the player you were,
but I certainly could learn how to handle myself,
um, the way you did,
as you were persistent in your 715 home run pursuit.
[WALTER CRONKITE] How long before Hank Aaron will hit his 714th home run,
tying Babe Ruth?
[REGGIE] With the difficulty of the hill that you climbed,
at times you could see it on your face.
The hate mail.
The Jim Crow things that you dealt with.
[HANK AARON] Reggie, going through that...
- ...chasing Babe Ruth's record. - [REGGIE] Chasing records.
I... you know...
some people said, "That's all you want to do.
You want to break Babe Ruth's record."
What the hell?
I have never in my life...
never in my life... thought about Babe Ruth.
Pete Rose was challenging Ty Cobb's record, I guess it was.
[REGGIE] Yes.
And at that time, nobody said one word to him about anything.
And he had the greatest moment of his life.
[REGGIE] Yes.
But me,
I couldn't stay with my teammates.
I couldn't eat with them.
I-I had to sneak out of the back door of the ballpark.
And each time, it makes you...
made... made me feel silly.
I certainly would like to thank you very much,
and... I'm just glad it's almost over with. Thank you.
That part of the game's still fertilized in my mind,
about, "You can't do what Babe Ruth did."
I can't do what Babe Ruth did.
Exactly. "Why do you say I'm trying to show up Babe Ruth?
I'm not trying to show up Babe Ruth.
I'm trying to show you who Hank Aaron is."
That's right.
Baseball has been backwards for a long time.
[CROWS CAW]
[REGGIE] You know, Hank, when I talk about Alabama,
that's your home.
[HANK AARON] Right.
[REGGIE] I went to play in Birmingham.
Bull Connor was the sheriff.
[JOURNALIST] Do you think that you can keep Birmingham
in the present situation of segregation?
I may not be able to do it, but I'll die trying.
And he had said, "Ain't no niggers gonna watch no game in here."
And they took Minor League Baseball out of Birmingham
because they had murdered those four little girls in the church.
[HANK AARON] The little girls, yeah.
I didn't really want to go. I was afraid.
[REGGIE] When I was drafted by Kansas City A's
and had to go to the minor leagues,
it was a difficult place to be,
there in Birmingham at that particular time.
[JOE RUDI] None of us ever been in the South before,
so, the way everything was set up down here,
it just... it was a shock to the system, to say the least.
[REGGIE] I really couldn't find a place to stay
for the first couple of weeks there.
And then I stayed with Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers, and Dave Duncan.
We were all 19, 20,
and I slept on their couch every other night.
I tried to make you stay, but the lady that was running
the-the complex didn't want you staying out there with us.
[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]
[REGGIE] Pretty soon, they threatened to burn the apartment complex down
unless I got out,
so I went downtown and moved into a hotel.
There was a girl at the hotel.
Her father owned the hotel, and she worked there.
I would meet her sometimes for breakfast or lunch, if I couldn't get out of it,
'cause I was always afraid of spending time with her
down there in the South.
[JOURNALIST] It was here that the Chicago Negro boy
Emmett Till, is alleged to have paid unwelcome attention
to Roy Bryant's most attractive wife.
Yeah, it was a bad time in this country then, that's for sure.
We'd-we'd stop at some dive on the road,
and we'd have to go in and get you food
because they didn't allow Blacks in the restaurant.
We had to bring you food back out to the bus.
[JOURNALIST] The targets of the Nashville students
were the lunch counters at the city's two largest department stores.
And for the first time, the community was confronted with Negroes
in places where they had never been.
[SIREN WAILS]
That was tough. When you're young... teenager...
really don't know your way through life,
and not prepared for some of the...
the racism that went on in that time.
I confided in my dad.
You know, I talked to him probably every day.
He would say, "Stay in, stay in, stay in.
Don't do anything foolish."
I wanted to get out of there, really.
Buck Leonard.
I know Buck Leonard.
Leon Day.
Satchel Paige.
[REGGIE] My dad played in the Negro Leagues.
My father drove the bus, he was a traveling secretary
and played second base.
[CROWD CHEERS]
You know, he looked at me as having an opportunity.
He was just so grateful that I was gonna be able
to help the family get out of wherever we were.
[JOE RUDI] You were pretty quiet back then.
You didn't say a whole lot to anybody. You let your bat talk.
That was about it.
A lot of the pitchers, you know,
we wanted to see what you could do in the cage,
and, uh, within five minutes, I think our eyes lit up.
You were hittin' balls all over the place.
I said, "Well, maybe this guy's for real."
[CHUCKLES] You were.
I mean, you hit about 20 home runs in half a season, I think.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
[REGGIE] The Kansas City A's had come to Birmingham, Alabama,
for an exhibition game.
And I thought I got a chance to go to the big leagues,
and I was all excited.
But I struck out four times in that game.
And I thought I'd failed,
so, you know, for me, I thought,
"It's not gonna happen,
so-so why should I bother to dream?
Not gonna get the offer."
But, um...
after the game they said, "Hey, you're going to the big leagues."
And I went like, "Really? After that exhibition?
Man, come on."
[LAUGHTER]
California seemed like a place that was free and open.
You saw interracial couples
and you saw Black people in, really, in a lot of different places.
Team went there, I was a baseball player.
I was an Oakland A. I followed 'em.
[ANNOUNCER] Pitching for the Oakland Athletics,
Vida Blue.
[ANNOUNCER 2] Strike three. Got him on a blazing fastball.
[REGGIE] When I hear the name Vida Blue,
you know, I can think of you,
the baseball almost touching the dirt and the ground
and the high-legged kick and all that stuff.
Fifty years ago.
[WOLF WHISTLE]
Here in Oakland, I mean, there was a lot going on.
You know, we had the Black Panther Party.
Dick Doty, KRON-TV News, reporting from Oakland.
[YOUNG PEOPLE] ♪ Black is beautiful! ♪
Freedom!
After there had been so many brutal killings of Blacks
and brutality on Blacks, they marched on the police department.
Take your hands off me if I'm not under arrest!
[RONALD REAGAN] There is absolutely no reason why, out on the street,
a civilian should be carrying a loaded weapon.
[DAVE STEWART] And said, hey, you have weapons,
and we have a right to carry a weapon.
[VIDA BLUE CHUCKLING]
And that changed. That changed Oakland.
[REGGIE] Yeah.
As brother Huey P. Newton says, the racist pig cops
must stop their wanton murder and brutality
or suffer the wrath of the armed Black people
in their Black communities defending themselves.
[REGGIE] You knew you were Colored,
and you knew you were a problem for most white people.
There was no question that you felt it.
There was no question that you went to the ballpark with it every day.
[REGGIE] I remember I was in Washington, D.C.,
when Martin Luther King was murdered.
We were on our way to Baltimore,
and they were talking about the riots.
City 80, 90 percent Black. They went wild.
[POLICE SIREN SQUAWKS]
Didn't bother me.
We couldn't be heard.
Those of you who are white, you have many white leaders
who can speak for you.
But Black people also need a spokesman.
[MAN] We will not fight America's war.
[APPLAUSE]
[REGGIE] Muhammad Ali stepped out, spoke out.
And it was tough
because you had a chance to get hung,
you had a chance to get run over,
and in those times, if you beat up a Black man
or ran over one, you could run for office and win.
I think, at least for me, I'm like,
"I'm gonna lose my job if I say this isn't right,"
- Right. - You know, and...
You'd be cut out of the herd.
"Oh, you, you're off the roster."
If you weren't a star, you couldn't say anything,
and even if you were a star, they'd get back at you.
[JOURNALIST] Ali's time was ripped away in the name of patriotism.
I had a great deal of respect for Muhammad.
He led the charge for Black America.
When I came into the league, I was quiet, reserved, didn't say much.
Certainly there was racism there when I went on the road.
Uh, but my teammates,
they protected me. They-they covered me.
[ANNOUNCER] So here's the man who did it all yesterday.
He said it was the most fantastic day he's ever had in sports.
[CROWD JEERS]
And he gets a round of boos. He, uh...
In this series, Jackson is 9 for 14,
two singles, two doubles, one triple, four homers,
14 runs batted in.
He has done it all, as they say.
Fly ball to right field deep.
And it is a home run.
And he continues his tremendous series
here in Fenway Park.
[REGGIE] In '69...
I hit a bunch of home runs.
I, Richard Milhous Nixon, do solemnly swear...
[♪ "1969" BY THE STOOGES PLAYS]
[CROWD CHEERING]
[REGGIE] Hit 47 homers, made the All-Star team.
[ANNOUNCER] Throughout this afternoon,
not only will we keep you abreast of the All-Star game,
but the return flight of Apollo 11.
[REGGIE] And when I went to the All-Star game in Washington,
I played three innings.
And when I went out of the game, I went to the National League
with four or five baseballs and got autographs
from Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks,
Willie Mays, and Billy Williams.
[ANNOUNCER] Here's Willie McCovey.
Long drive.
This is gone, I do believe.
Back to the wall goes Robinson, looking up.
Home run, second by McCovey.
The National League 9, the American League 3.
[CHEERFUL SHOUTING]
Relax, okay? You're gonna give me a headache!
[JOURNALIST] Reggie, you seem to be waiting for your pitch a little bit more.
Is it just that you have a little bit more confidence
in what you're gonna be able to do up there?
Well, yes, this is true.
In spring training, Joe DiMaggio and I
did work on several things of this sort, especially my hitting.
I'm not gonna take all of that credit.
I'm gonna have to say that I think it's also his determination
and great desire to become one of the big names,
and I believe this is why it's bringing him on.
[JOURNALIST] Now, this is only his second season.
You think this'll be a flash in the pan, or is Reggie here to stay?
[JOE DIMAGGIO] I don't think it's a flash.
What I wanted to do is fulfill a talent
of the guy that I looked in the mirror at every day.
[REGGIE] I want to be as good as I possibly can be,
as a man trying to get ahead in the world as a baseball player.
[CHARLIE FINLEY] There's so many of the ballplayers today
that play with only desire.
There's an awful lot of difference between playing with desire
and determination.
Desire's in the head, and determination is in the heart.
You'd have to say that Reggie Jackson
plays with determination at all times.
[REGGIE] The demand for excellence was there with Charlie Finley,
and in those days,
ownership was the law.
It stopped and started with the owner.
[FINLEY] I run it.
I run that ball club the way I see fit.
[REGGIE] You know, he was forceful and he was rich,
and he had a big voice.
He had all the answers.
But Charlie Finley became problematic for me
when he wouldn't pay for success.
He skimps to try to make money and to try to save money,
sometimes, I think, in the wrong areas, but I don't run the team.
[REGGIE] There was no discussion.
There was no "what we think we should be making."
It was about what he thought we should be making,
and that was the law.
Those were the times.
[JOURNALIST] The court will hear the case of Curt Flood,
former center-fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals,
who says the present system makes baseball players slaves.
[REGGIE] It was different back then. There was a reserve clause,
and you played for the contract, and that was it.
[JOURNALIST] Arthur Goldberg maintains that the reserve clause
tying a player to one team for the rest of his life
is in violation of the 13th Amendment.
That's the amendment against slavery and indentured servitude.
You're a man who makes $90,000 a year,
which isn't exactly slave wages. What's your retort to that?
Well, uh, Howard, um...
uh, a well-paid slave is nonetheless a slave.
[REGGIE] It was easy to see that the punishment that Curt Flood got
was more harsh because he was Black.
He was pushed out of the game.
And the next year, I held out because I was making 20,000 a year,
and I wanted a raise to fifty.
[REGGIE] Right now, we are,
I'd have to say, far apart in reaching
some type of agreement as far as dollars and cents are concerned.
[REGGIE] I held out for five weeks and missed all of spring training.
Charlie Finley threatened to send me to the minor leagues.
I said, "You can send me to the minor leagues, but I'm not going."
Uh, and I never did go.
And as soon as I started off slow, he benched me.
The consequences were humbling to me
and suppressing my manhood and my pride.
[ANNOUNCER] Strike three.
[REGGIE] He had it in for me. He was gonna teach me a lesson
because I'd held out. I had pushed back on the owner.
And I got enough sense in my mind to know what's going on.
You know, I'm not on the plantation, bro.
I think that if the kids today are not willing to stand up and fight,
then it's... forget it, period.
It is, it's hopeless.
It's not a matter of putting it off for ten years.
I ain't got ten years.
It's not a matter of delaying it
because it's like, it's now or never.
[REGGIE] We were playing the Kansas City Royals,
and I was sitting on the bench.
And I'm getting pissed off.
Said, all right.
And I was called to pinch-hit in the ninth inning.
And I don't want to stop the anger
because it creates drive.
[ANNOUNCER] He apparently wants another bat.
[REGGIE] But I had to honor the guy in the mirror that I looked at
and really say that I got everything out of what I could do.
That was my goal in the game.
Just go out there and do something, you won't need to talk.
I hadn't played, I hadn't had spring training,
but this is what I do.
I'm in charge here.
Once I get out of here and you have control of me,
I'm boxed up.
But not here
'cause he gotta throw the ball over here,
past me, and it ain't passing.
[CHUCKLES]
[ANNOUNCER] Pitch on the way.
It is swung on.
Reggie Jackson, I believe, has won a ball game for the swingin' A's.
That one is long gone!
[REGGIE] And I hit a home run to center field with the bases loaded.
And it won the game for us.
And when I got around to home plate...
I saluted Charlie Finley like this.
I don't want to say openly, "Eff you,"
but I wanted to hint all around it.
That made the news.
I was gettin' stuck to me,
and so, I felt like I stuck it to him.
Black athletes have begun to stand up.
Maybe I'm not the kind of guy who would go out on a picket line,
but I am an athlete. This is what I know, this is my work.
And I'll use this in order to justify my humanity
'cause we do not feel that this country
is giving us a just break as human beings.
[REGGIE] And from that day, I was gonna speak my piece.
I was gonna say what I thought.
I-I couldn't be controlled.
[ANNOUNCER] There's a long drive. That one is going way up.
It is...
off the roof!
That hit the transformer up there!
[♪ "I GOT TO GET TO CALIFORNIA" BY MARVIN GAYE PLAYS]
[ROLLIE FINGERS] Reggie started it all,
coming to spring training with a beard and a mustache.
At the time, there was no facial hair in baseball.
Finley sent a memo down to the clubhouse,
said anybody who has a mustache on opening day, you get 300 bucks.
We'd have grown a mustache on our ass for $300.
[LAUGHTER]
[ROLLIE FINGERS] We opened up the season in '72, and we were winning.
Ballplayers are one of the most superstitious animals in the world,
so, uh, we kept going with it,
and we ended up playing well, and we were winning.
[ANNOUNCER] ...back in Oakland.
Reggie Jackson is going the other way today,
and he has hit two home runs and a double.
[ENGINE HUMS]
[REGGIE] I was driving through this place every time,
and I'd see this kid, you know, looking at me as I'd drive by.
And then, all of a sudden, I stopped one day.
"Where you goin'? Didn't I see you at the ballpark?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Reggie, yeah.
I'm-I'm-I'm Stew. I'm-I'm-I'm Dave Stewart."
Season ticket holder!
[LAUGHTER]
I was a sea... I was a season ticket holder!
[LAUGHTER]
[DAVE STEWART] At first, you know,
Reggie had his back to the infield, watching us out there.
[VIDA BLUE LAUGHS]
[REGGIE] We had crowds of 3,500,
four, five, six thousand.
When Jackson don't be playing, I find out he's out,
I don't even go to the game.
[REGGIE] And so, our fans, we knew,
"Hey, man, that-that-that's Joe Doakes over there.
He wears that sweater a lot, man.
He-he sits there every day. He lives in Hayward.
He's got a '67 Pontiac." [LAUGHTER]
You know, your-your... your crowds were so small.
We were real fortunate that we didn't have any wolves in the stands,
'cause you could hear everybody, uh, every word that everybody said, so...
[CHILDREN] Reggie! Reggie!
[REGGIE] Got to the point to where I'd go to the ballpark,
and I'd say, "Well, I'm gonna leave you some tickets."
"Ohh! I don't need any tickets, man! I can sneak in over the back!
I want to go in and get the baseball! I'm good, I'm good!"
[LAUGHTER]
He started watching my car because people would be around it.
There's a guy that lives over... right over there,
owns a Cadillac dealership,
and every time he sees me washing my car,
he says he wants me to wash his.
And I tell him that'd be fine if he wanted to pay me my tab.
[DAVE STEWART] He had this beautiful car.
It was black. Wet... looked like it was wet, it was so shiny black.
And...
And so, this guy put his beer cup on Reggie's car.
- Oh, wow. - Oh, yeah, man.
And, man, we ran that guy out of there, man. And Reggie,
Reggie came out when we were taking the guy out.
That's how we got tight.
That was actually the first ride we took from him.
We'd be out there waiting to see him every day, man.
He knew to look for us.
Shoot, man, we got tailor-made to the house.
- [LAUGHTER] - [VIDA BLUE] Curbside service!
[DAVE STEWART] There you go.
That was the start of our relationship.
And so, how he treated me as a kid
set the standard for me of how I treated all kids
in my community and at the baseball field.
[REGGIE] We were growing as a team all along.
We were a band of warriors that took care of each other.
There were a few guys in there
like myself and Vida, Rollie Fingers, Sal Bando,
Joe Rudi, Dave Duncan, that were brothers
and still to this day are friends.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[REGGIE] In the '72 playoffs, I remember Dave Duncan
inviting me to his room the night before.
You and I, and Dave be saying, "Hey, Reggie, I ain't playing.
You know, you and Joe got to play for me," and...
you know, "We got to win this game."
It was our fifth game in the series,
and, um, I'll never forget that night.
It was, you know, the bonding of three kids
going into battle, you know, by ourselves.
The first time with an opportunity to get in the World Series.
[ANNOUNCER] We've gone through four full innings of play
in this deciding championship game at Tiger Stadium.
And Billy Martin looking on.
[ANNOUNCER 2] He's gone to three and two.
Here's the pitch. He walks him.
Jackson walks on...
I got a walk on a 3-2 pitch and went down to first base.
[ANNOUNCER 2] There goes the runner. Here's the throw to second.
He's gonna be safe.
[REGGIE] I stole second base.
[ANNOUNCER 2] It's a liner to right. Jackson's tagging up.
[REGGIE] I went to third on a headfirst slide,
and now they had me running on a squeeze play.
When was the last time you saw a team's best power hitter
score on squeeze play?
[DIRECTOR] Did that add more pressure on you?
I-I-I guess it did, but...
p-p-pressure...
Pressure when you're Black,
when you're young, it's like getting the house note paid.
It's like, we don't have heat tonight,
so we need five gallons of kerosene
to put in the heater to get the heater turned on.
Once I was on the field, I felt like I-I was in charge.
[ANNOUNCER] About to get Green here so they can start off with Odom
in the next...
the runners are going, and Freehan throws through.
Here comes Jackson on the way home.
And he is safe! It's one to one!
And Jackson is hurt.
[REGGIE] When I stole home,
I ruptured a tendon in my left leg, I want to say.
I got my job done...
and we won.
But, um...
You know, I-I missed the World Series.
[ANNOUNCER] And special recognition to a great ballplayer
injured in the playoffs, unable to play in the World Series,
Reggie Jackson!
It's a situation for me where something you look forward to
a lifetime as a child, and...
you get a chance to be in it as a grown man.
But I paid a price, and maybe
if I didn't score the run, we wouldn't be here.
So, we are here, and that's what does count,
and we do have a chance to win it.
[SIGHS] I-I-I never... I don't know.
I never worried about...
how I felt about myself as a player.
You needed to win as a pro.
[APPLAUSE]
[RED BARBER] Welcome to the 1972 World Series.
This year marks the 25th anniversary
of the entry of the Black athlete into Major League Baseball.
Today we are about to honor the man
Branch Rickey selected to lead the way,
who set a brilliant example for all to follow.
He is Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.
[REGGIE] In my first World Series,
I remember Jackie was brought on the field.
He was nearly blind at the time from diabetes,
and he came to home plate and spoke.
I would just like to say that I was really just a spoke in the wheel
of the success that we had some 25 years ago.
I'm extremely proud and pleased
to be here this afternoon, but must admit,
I'm going to be tremendously more pleased and more proud
when I look at that third base coaching line one day
and see a Black face managing in baseball.
Thank you very much.
[REGGIE] And he said, "But I will not be satisfied
until I see a Black face on the third baseline."
I think he died a few days later, but he went out,
you know, talking about trying to level the playing field.
It was like when I saw my mother get dressed to go vote in 1963,
and my dad went to work. It was sad.
But I was angry about it at that time.
[ANNOUNCER] And the underdog Oakland Athletics
win their first championship since 1930.
[REGGIE] I determined my success on winning.
I-I could be great if we won.
It's about being a champion.
Then the next thing is, can you be a dominant champion?
And how good are you to do it again?
[ANNOUNCER] The world champion Oakland A's
are back to defend their title.
[CRACK]
[CROWD CHEERING]
[ANNOUNCER] Jackson's blast is a clincher.
And Reggie's one-man show wins the acclaim of the critics
as Most Valuable Player of the '73 Series.
[REGGIE] Do you know what that's called?
[JULIUS ERVING] Angel?
[REGGIE] That's called the Lady of Ecstasy.
Okay. See, you know more about my car than I do.
[LAUGHTER]
When they open up that hood,
I-I know nothing about under the hood.
And I've been in your shop, and I know,
you know, you know everything
about under the hood, but I-I know nothing about it.
All I know is when I ride down the road, I get a lot of waves.
[CHUCKLES]
I know it's a Camargue. I know that it's rare.
- I know it's an '80s vintage. - Yep, '85.
So, how old were all of you guys in 1985?
- Five. - You were five!
- I was four. - Four.
- All right. - How old were you?
I wasn't born yet.
- [LAUGHTER] - Oh, man!
[ANNOUNCER] Number 6, captain of the Philadelphia 76ers...
Julius "The Doctor" Erving!
[♪ "SAY IT LOUD... I'M BLACK AND PROUD" BY JAMES BROWN PLAYS]
[REGGIE] During the '70s,
the Black superstars started to take over and dominate.
[CROWD ROARS]
When somebody says,
"You know, you got something in common with Dr. J,"
you know what I say? "Then I'm bad."
[ERVING LAUGHS]
It's the other way around. You know it's the other way around.
Oh, no, no! No way! Are you kidding me?
It's the other way around.
The Doctor with that... with that-that-that layup!
[INDISTINCT SPORTS ANNOUNCER SPEAKING]
...sixers, and they get him signed.
[ANNOUNCER 2] It went in! Unbelievable!
Julius Erving put in...
Don't you remember that... remember that layup that you...?
That was... that was somebody.
[LAUGHTER]
Is that like knocking the ball all out the park?
Yes.
[CRACK]
[REGGIE] The African American player was the dominant player.
I felt good about things. I felt good about myself.
[JOURNALIST] Reggie, we can forget about the question, "were you surprised?"
Because I'm sure that, uh, you're not surprised at this honor
because you had a fantastic year.
Most exciting moment of the year for me...
was when I was named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series
'cause I-I wasn't expecting it at all.
But named unanimous choice makes it real nice and, you know, sweet.
Cherry pie, I guess you could say.
That was part of the repertoire.
Yeah, the '70s was... it was a good time.
One of the reasons why I love you, you know?
In my lifetime, I mean, I've had a few special relationships
where somebody has extended the hand of friendship
and then after that, it's like no strings attached.
Right.
Maybe there's some divine intervention,
just saying you should stay connected with this person.
- Yeah. - Like a second family.
Like, I lost my brother and my sister in life,
but I have a brother... in you.
I'm not a big baseball fan, but I'm a Reggie Jackson fan.
- Right, right, right. - You know? [CHUCKLES]
So, nobody could say anything bad about you.
Right, right, right, right, right.
No matter how much cause you give them.
They can't say nothing bad about you around me!
[LAUGHTER]
[CROWD SHOUTING]
[REGGIE] In Oakland, we did the World Series three times.
And we won three in a row.
So I became a star, but I was a kid.
A couple more of those lights, and I won't have to go to Puerto Rico to get a tan.
[LAUGHTER]
[JOURNALIST] It has been said of Reggie Jackson
that he's a showoff, a hot dog.
One player said that there isn't enough mustard in the world
to cover Reggie Jackson.
Part of being a great athlete is being very famous.
[REGGIE] I did national magazine stuff.
Time magazine was a big deal 'cause
everybody got on Sports Illustrated or Sport.
[REGGIE] It's very important to me what people think about me.
If it wasn't for the public, I wouldn't be Reggie Jackson.
If it wasn't for the press, I wouldn't be me.
And the more people that recognize you,
then the more... the greater athlete you are.
When you get there, It makes you live another life.
It makes you be something you don't want to be.
The only people that think I look good with a beard are women.
[LAUGHTER]
That's right. Women like hair on a man's face.
[REGGIE] I had to say hello to people and I had to be nice to people.
And if you don't, you know...
I-I'm-I'm a nigger that got, you know, a lot of money
and don't care about nobody else.
"Who's he think he is?"
And that's what hurts me more than anything.
[REGGIE] I'm fighting anger at a young age.
- And no place to sort it out, right? - No place, exactly.
In terms of heroes and role models,
they showed The Jackie Robinson Story in my school,
and, you know, my mouth dropped.
But for me, Jim Brown was hugely impactful in my life.
With Jackie Robinson, it was turn the other cheek.
And with Jim Brown, it was, "You need to get out my face."
So it left it in your lap what road you were going to take.
[ANNOUNCER] There's a long drive to deep left, and gone!
[REGGIE] I admire Jackie Robinson, but I wasn't Jackie Robinson.
I was Jim Brown.
I was angry.
I don't want to hear no excuses.
You treat me right.
Everybody's out for themself, you know.
There are a lot of things that I get away with
because of my baseball ability.
I was the first guy to ever wear a mustache and a beard.
You know, I poured champagne over the commissioner's head.
Well, how many guys could get away with it?
I know I shouldn't play the game as hard
or with the intensity that I do
or with the reckless abandon that I do.
But when I do it, I make my money.
Everybody stays off my case.
I like it better that way.
Today is a very proud day for Reggie Jackson,
the Player of the Year Award.
[JOURNALIST] Seemingly a lot of people would forget that baseball
in the big leagues is work.
It's your job. It's your livelihood.
And as such, it is not always fun.
Do you still enjoy playing big league baseball?
I love the game. I need it emotionally. It helps me a lot for my ego.
We've all got big egos, and I've got one. And it's nice to be written about.
It's nice to be talked about. It's nice to have people say, "Gee, you're great."
But, you know, it is a job for me, and I am working.
And, you know, it doesn't really become realistically a job
until it comes down to negotiating your contract
and they say, "Well, look, you didn't do as well as you did last year."
[REGGIE] In 1975, I led the league in homers.
Charlie Finley said, "Yes, you had a good year in home runs,
but you struck out a lot.
Your average went way down.
You can't expect me to give you a raise."
And in 1975, I got a $2,000 cut...
and led the league in homers.
A cut?
Yes, I got a $2,500 cut.
Man, he didn't want y'all to make no money, huh?
[CHARLIE FINLEY] You'd ask any of my former players,
they'd probably tell you that I was the cheapest bastard in baseball,
not because I wanted to be,
but because I try to live within my means.
Charlie tells me, say, "Look,
I know you were 24 and eight.
I know you had 24 complete games.
You had eight shutouts,
and you had 305 strikeouts."
[ANNOUNCER] Second strikeout for Vida Blue.
"I don't have to pay you!"
Because he knew he had me, right?
What was I gonna do? Go back to Mansfield, Louisiana?
Yeah, I hear you.
[JOURNALIST] When Charlie Finley says things like,
"Reggie Jackson should just hit and I'll run the ball club,"
is that just a spur-of-the-moment thing, or...?
Well, I think that he says what he feels, you know.
I could come back and say that, uh, you know,
if he ran his club like I played right field,
then he'd be the Executive of the Year.
- Is it true that you asked to be traded? - I sure did.
That's Reggie Jackson.
He really lets it right out there, doesn't he?
After baseball's reserve clause was ruled illegal early this year,
a large number of stars were allowed to play out the season
without contracts and then try for better deals with other teams.
[REGGIE] I played out my option with Bando, Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers.
[ROLLIE FINGERS] We had a whole bunch of guys down there.
But, uh, he could have paid us. He just didn't want to pay us.
If he'd have paid us, we'd have stayed.
At the end of the year, these ballplayers could leave your club
and be open to open bidding anyway, right?
In other words, you could lose them if you did not pay
the salary that they requested. So, really, what you're doing, in effect,
is selling him before... not knowing whether you'll have him or not, right?
- That's... it's that simple. - Right.
[REGGIE] I remember I was driving in my car...
and I heard it first on the radio.
Finley never said a word to me.
I was traded to Baltimore.
And-and how I responded to it was just with...
anger and disappointment.
[REGGIE JACKSON] I'd been with the A's since I was 20 years old.
It broke my heart.
Just like that, everything we built was over.
I remember my parents' last conversation, really,
when I was about 6.
I remember my mom ironing...
and I was standing near the... underneath the ironing board,
and my dad was working in the shop.
And, um, my mom was crying.
Later that day, I was riding in the car with my dad,
and it was the first time I saw him cry.
And I was 6.
That was my day of remembering
my parents, um, being together and splitting up.
My mother took three children. My father kept three.
My father was a tailor.
Uh, the business, the dry-cleaning facility and the business,
the tailoring business,
was downstairs, and we lived upstairs.
When you were a professional ballplayer for the Newark Eagles,
you made $7 a game.
$14 for a doubleheader.
He bootlegged whiskey and wrote numbers
to make extra money for his kids and family.
And, um...
you know, I was there to help him to do what was necessary
because I thought he was doing his best to bring the bread home.
[MARTINEZ JACKSON] My father was a very wealthy man, too.
He left me everything I needed.
Mostly was the whole wide world to make a living in.
[CHUCKLES]
[ANNOUNCER] Regular game seven.
[JOURNALIST] Baltimore Orioles slugger Reggie Jackson
reported a month late after being acquired from Oakland.
I'm 30 years old and been in the big leagues
for nine years right now, and...
I've never done nothing but just play baseball.
It's always been what's going on off the field
and what's going on in the clubhouse
and what's the owner doing and what's this guy doing.
And just once, I'd like to have the opportunity to just go play baseball.
[JOURNALIST] But Jackson has not signed with the Orioles
and will become a free agent at season's end.
When I got traded and I said,
okay, you're going to trade me, you're going to tear up my contract,
and I want to now be the highest-paid player in baseball.
[WALTER CRONKITE] Well, today, the bidding process started in New York.
[MAN] Montreal selects Reggie Jackson.
[JOURNALIST] The first step happened in New York today
when the team owners gathered to bid for negotiating rights.
[REGGIE] I was drafted number one,
but you got a chance to talk to anyone that picked you.
Well, it certainly wouldn't bother me to get a Reggie Jackson
on my ball club for New York.
[JOURNALIST] The three-time champion Oakland A's
presumably had the most unhappy players.
The club lost six to the talent grab.
There's no question about it.
It's the worst thing that has ever happened to baseball.
When I walked in here, it just reminded me of a...
of a [CLEARS THROAT] den of thieves.
[REGGIE] San Diego offered 800,000 a year.
Montreal offered a million a year.
But the Yankees had the most powerful franchise in sports.
[GEORGE STEINBRENNER] Now, I'm not a free agent advocate,
but when it happens and when it becomes the law,
I'm not gonna put my head in the sand and say it doesn't exist.
I'm out to get the best team I can for my fans in New York.
[REGGIE] George was powerful, had the most money.
If you didn't like him,
you at least respected the way he went about it.
It's a great ball club. You know, George Steinbrenner's a hustler.
He's put together a great team, and no matter what you say,
the cat is, he's out there hustling.
Because he was about putting championships on the field at any cost.
He did not care if he made money.
[JOURNALIST] There are rumors going around that are so strong
that you and Reggie Jackson are about to sign a contract
within 36 hours.
Does that sound reasonable to you?
Well, I-I would hopefully say it's reasonable.
It would be wonderful. And, uh, let me just say this:
I know you wouldn't be out here on a night like tonight
if, uh, if you didn't feel there was something to it.
[CAMERA SHUTTERS SNAP]
The Yankees are very pleased and honored
to announce that we have signed Reggie Jackson
to a five-year contract to play for the New York Yankees.
How much did you get, Reggie?
Oh, come on, Morrie, will ya? [LAUGHTER]
In reference to the amount of the contract, I don't like to talk about it.
It's no one's business.
But every time I would pick up a newspaper,
everyone knew how much I was getting,
how it was being paid, and who I was playing for.
[LEW WOOD] Reggie Jackson, the last of this year's superstar free agents,
has finally made up his mind he's found a home.
[REGGIE] When you went to New York, you know,
there are 20, 30 newspapers from different places.
[PHOTOGRAPHER] There we go. Reggie, look out. Big smile. Here we go.
And so it was a bigger story, and there was more of
a desire for something sensational.
[JOURNALIST] I've always heard these ripples
that you're a bad effect in a ball club,
and yet the team you played with won five division titles
and three world's championships.
Is it therefore a bad rap against you?
Well, I think the fact that people associate me with winning
speaks for itself.
[JOURNALIST] In the off season, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner
gambled millions in an effort to build a world champion.
[GEORGE STEINBRENNER] Most importantly, he gives us that sure slugger,
and a guy that can break up a ball game.
And literally, I think Reggie Jackson is a guy that can carry a ball club,
literally carry a ball club.
- How'd the first day go for you out here? - It went quite well.
There's new people, new guys, new area, new scenery.
Everything is new.
I mean, I haven't really said hello to everybody.
You know, first day in camp. Hell, I'm new kid on the block.
And people really have to get to...
Yeah, but it helps when the new kid is known.
Well, yeah, I'm fortunate enough to be one guy that's known around here.
Everyone thinks Reggie and I hate each other.
You know, that's not so at all, you know. We don't have any problems.
It's funny, when you have a lot of talent,
and you just don't get 25 guys
that you get along with all of them.
So, if you don't get along with a couple of them, you know,
it doesn't make any difference.
You're going to get out and play like hell anyway.
[JOURNALIST] What's been the most-asked question so far of Reggie Jackson today?
[REGGIE] Uh... [SIGHS]
Do you think you're worth the three million that you got?
That is the number one question.
Take off that damn money belt you got wrapped around your waist.
[MAN] That's it.
That's why you're not ready.
Man didn't give me that three million for nothing.
[REGGIE] When I became the highest-paid player in '77,
I wasn't liked very much.
I had this attitude. I was cocky and arrogant.
I projected an angry shell.
I wanted to keep people away.
[JOURNALIST] In the back of the bus, Black players gather
for a nonstop raucous game of cards.
Except for Reggie Jackson.
He's not even on the bus, but behind it in the maroon car,
driving to the game with a friend.
[REGGIE] My expectation for the Yankees
was to be the best player I could be when I got there.
[JOURNALIST] And in sports, the New York Yankees' heavy investment
seems to be paying off.
They shut out Milwaukee three to nothing to open the season at home.
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
[REGGIE] That's the kind of a response that you like.
It's the kind of a response that gets the adrenaline flowing.
[REGGIE] I made a comment one time:
I didn't come to New York to be a star.
[YOUNG MAN] I want to try to get an autograph...
I was a star before I got here.
[CHEERING]
[REGGIE] I brought my star with me.
Now everybody: "He-he's ego, he-he-he's a big mouth."
No, no, no, bruh.
I hit cleanup with the A's.
I-I was in three World Series with the A's.
[REGGIE] The money, the fame, the notoriety,
they're because of the fact that you've worked, you've sacrificed,
you've given your all to try to be the best ballplayer you possibly can.
[JOURNALIST] Somebody said that Reggie Jackson would like to have
$15 million by the time he's 45.
I will, so... but that's not important. You know, so what?
I'm glad to be here.
But ain't you glad I'm here, too?
The superstar is one of 25, and he acts just like the other 24.
And if he doesn't, then I reprimand him.
- You don't treat him differently? - Not one bit. I can't.
I have the same rules for everybody.
[MAN] There you go.
[REGGIE] You know, my most difficult time in sport was playing for Billy Martin.
I never understood why he always
had somebody that he hated on the team.
He'd do anything to intimidate you. His way or the highway.
Cheap shots, that kind of stuff.
Hey, Russell!
[REGGIE] It had gone around in the winter
that I really wasn't his choice...
and he was going to show me who was boss.
I think the players now don't take anything for granted.
They ask why, what for, how come?
Where in the old days when I played,
you wouldn't dare go in and say to the manager,
"Why'd you do this? Why'd you do that?"
Because if you did, you'd be down in Triple-A
and not be seen for a few years.
[REGGIE] George knew that Billy brought fans to the ballpark,
and George knew that Billy could light a fire under a team.
He thought Billy Martin was good for the Yankees.
He could look over his shortcomings.
But he and I didn't get along.
I could see it very clearly.
I never really understood why we became enemies
because I thought he was a scrappy, hardnosed guy.
[ANNOUNCER] Look at Billy. He's hot.
[LAUGHTER]
I don't know if we were ever going to be friends,
but I certainly would go on the field and give my all for the manager.
[KEITH JACKSON] Reggie Jackson still looking for the first big one.
It's high in the air down the right side.
It is gone, in the seats!
Reggie Jackson, the first big one of '77.
Reggie finally jerks one out.
[HOWARD COSELL] Those are the kind of boos he wants to hear!
- [LAUGHTER] - [MAN] That's right!
[REGGIE] The Yankee ball club is such a great team.
We have so much talent,
and we have a lot of people that are temperamental,
and we have a lot of people that are very sensitive.
Uh, I don't want a ballplayer on my club who doesn't have pride or ego.
[JOURNALIST] The problem is that big egos go with big dollars,
and there are reports of serious dissension on the team.
[REGGIE] I was always a story, and I didn't mind talking to the media.
I wore my heart on my sleeve.
I wanted to speak the truth,
and truth sometimes pissed people off.
The Yankee ball club has been surrounded by controversy all spring long.
A lot of gripes, a lot of moaning and groaning
coming from spring training.
I think the, uh, the very controversial Reggie Jackson
got a very rude awakening in New York.
[REGGIE] The guy that everyone feels I had the most trouble with
was Thurman Munson.
[BOB UECKER] Coming on now, the Yankee catcher, Thurman Munson,
the American League's Most Valuable Player last year.
[HOWARD COSELL] He's been grouchy all spring,
apparently because of the Reggie Jackson situation.
And, um, you know, here we are
with the "straw that stirs the drink" conversation.
I didn't want to do an interview with the guy.
But I started talking to him one day.
And the conversation was, "Well, what are you to the team?"
And I said, "You know, this is a good team,
and they need one more ingredient.
Maybe I'm the straw that stirs the drink," etcetera.
And it was turned into something that was negative.
Thurman could only stir it bad.
I certainly didn't have any intention of disparaging Thurman Munson.
I had no idea it was going to get twisted like that,
no idea it was going to be interpreted that way. It was bad.
People wouldn't shake hands when I got a hit.
Even if you liked me, you didn't say much.
You just like, "Dude, you're out there by yourself.
You're on your own."
I was out there alone.
I constantly searched for respect from media,
but the stories were-were harsh.
[JOURNALIST] I became a little perturbed when I heard that you had said
the press has been unfair to you,
but really, you gave them a couple of openings with the Munson article
and some of the other things that took place.
I agree with you. I agree with you.
I expect it be tough.
I expect to get booed. I expect to get hell.
I expect to be under a microscope all the time.
And I kept looking, Well, maybe I'll hit a home run, things'll turn around.
Maybe I get a base hit and things'll turn around.
Well, it never did, no matter what I did.
[KEITH JACKSON] Crowd is hooting at Hrabosky as he goes behind the mound.
Decked him.
[REGGIE] I kind of struggled, the first half.
[KEITH JACKSON] Jackson swings and strikes out.
[HOWARD COSELL] His problems are what the fans in New York expect of him.
The first two days, they chanted, "Reggie, Reggie, Reggie."
The third day, they turned and booed.
[REGGIE] I never really found a stride.
[KEITH JACKSON] Works two-two to Jackson.
Reggie hits it on the ground to the right side.
Just past the mound, Lee comes over,
flips with a glove hand,
and... throws him out.
And Jackson goes down hard, falling
after he crossed the bag at first base.
[JOURNALIST] Let's get down to the one word, "temperament."
You're high-strung, the manager's high-strung,
the owner's high-strung, and a lot of your teammates are high-strung.
Do you think a lot of the guys in this club are waiting
for the Tater man to get going?
Oh, no question about it.
I think everybody's really waiting for Reggie to get going.
I'm waiting for Reggie to get going.
Billy Martin, the manager, has to be. I think all the players have to be.
Here a guy comes in with all this so-called reputation and the big salary
and everything else that goes along with the supposed Reggie Jackson.
"Well, Reggie, where the hell you been?" [CHUCKLES]
You know, it was a big thing for me to hit cleanup.
I was probably a perfectly described cleanup hitter.
You know, you struck out a little more as a cleanup hitter.
You had a little more power. And...
I-I never got that for the Yankees.
And I was jerked around the lineup, hitting five, six.
And people would talk to me about it.
[LAUGHS] Billy Martin didn't want me to hit fourth.
He didn't want me, as a Black man,
to hit cleanup for the New York Yankees.
And so I-I heard that story, and I could hardly believe it.
But I was an outsider.
I came in, and I disparaged the most popular player on the team.
And Billy had made comments to people: "I'll show him who's boss."
He didn't really want me there, and, um,
there were ways that he wanted to embarrass me.
[JOURNALIST] Jim Rice says, "Excuse me,
as he lofts one to right field.
Reggie comes in, perhaps a bit casually.
At least Martin saw it that way
because a simple hit became a double for Rice.
[ANNOUNCER] Reggie Jackson has been taken out of the game
and been replaced in right field.
[REGGIE] I don't know if I handled it well
or if I should have been more diplomatic.
Color stood out back then.
It was a lot of what people saw in 1977.
[ANNOUNCER] He just leaped from the top step of the dugout
right down in there.
- He leaped on Billy Martin in the dugout? - He leaped right at him.
[REGGIE] If you spoke, you were arrogant. You were self-centered.
Reggie came charging in, stood there a minute jawing,
and then he jumped right down into the dugout.
[REGGIE] Just seems when there's problems or turmoil in a ball club,
I seem to be in the center of it.
And I think that being Black has something to do with it.
I think the fact that as a Black man, I don't act very subservient.
[ANNOUNCER] Now, the police are down in the dugout.
[JOURNALIST] Can you two guys get along?
One of the teammates suggested the possibility that if Martin
left this ball club, it'd be a tough ball club for you to play with
because of the reaction of the other players.
I don't know, Bill.
- Can the two of you get along? - I don't know that either.
Well, I think the players are a little different now
than when I played.
You wouldn't dare talk about the ball club or anybody on the club.
Now, it seems like everybody wants to be a reporter.
[REGGIE] It became very clear that almost everybody
was on Billy's side.
Didn't matter where we went, Billy was the hero.
I never could get treated as an equal.
Like, just treat me right, bro.
It's like the comment about,
"Well, Reggie or Magic Johnson or LeBron..."
[ANNOUNCER] Well, Magic, 360 turns, scores!
[REGGIE] "Oh, he's got so much talent."
[ANNOUNCER] Ohh! He stuffs!
[ANNOUNCER] Magic the other way...
Yet, the white players, "He's like a coach on the floor."
Well, what am I? Just like a, you know...
I'm-I'm pushing the plow.
A lot of guys will tell you, you're not paid to think,
you're paid to play.
That's not true.
On a scouting report on a baseball player,
there's a section that says inst... baseball instinct.
That's paid to think.
When you're hitting, you're supposed to think
of how the pitcher's supposed to pitch you.
When you're in the outfield,
you're supposed to think what you do the next play.
Don't be a dummy and-and make stupid mental mistakes. Think.
You know, I remember...
seeing myself in video,
and I never liked the way I looked in video.
I had a smirk.
I had a terse look on my face,
a strained look, and it was because I wanted dignity.
Bob Gibson, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron.
People would say, "Well, they're angry."
They're not angry. They're hurt. They're disappointed.
They're searching for dignity.
You know, you know, Reggie, um...
I've admired you simply because of the fact
that you let people know where you stand.
You know, you didn't have to bite your tongue to say it.
I think about you...
and Billy Martin.
I don't think he wanted to manage you.
Either that, or didn't know how to manage you.
Right, right.
What he had against you, I don't know.
Was he prejudiced? I-I don't know.
Only you can answer that, that's all.
For me, I've struggled.
I just wanted dignity.
I want you to give me just the right of being a...
a... a...
I'm-I'm a square dude. I'm square with you.
I'm-I'm...
We're even. We're tied.
We're on the same team.
I'm not that important.
The ball club is more important. Winning is more important.
The city and-and the fans, and let...
let them all have a good time and wonderfully,
and why have me louse things up? I want to be out of the way.
[REGGIE] I never understood why he and I didn't bond.
Maybe he enjoyed the press.
Maybe he enjoyed stirring the pot, something to always talk about.
It was just a mixture of Martin and Steinbrenner.
Those two guys were like gasoline and fire to begin with.
[ROLLIE FINGERS] J, you had to go through it.
[GEORGE STEINBRENNER] It's been very frustrating.
I'm tired of the complaining.
They should be the happiest guys in the world.
They're being paid megadollars for playing a kid's game.
But I owe it to the Yankee fans to keep trying everything I can
to try and find the formula,
to try and strike something that'll ignite this ball club.
[REGGIE] When George Steinbrenner thought I was letting Billy
bother me too much, he would call my dad.
My father would call me and say,
"I need to meet you at your brother Joe's house.
I need to straighten you out so you can start pounding on that ball again
and just get Billy Martin out of your mind."
[JOE JACKSON] I loved my father because he stuck by me.
Dad would take me and Reggie,
we'd shag flies, he would hit us grounders.
He would tell Reggie, "Before you get under the ball,
circle around a little bit, find it, and then catch it.
But if you make a mistake, you can correct yourself."
[REGGIE] I grew up in a white neighborhood.
There was an area where eight or ten Black families lived,
and we lived there.
I went to all-white schools,
and, uh, in school I hung out with the athletes,
and the athletes were white on the team.
[BAT CRACKS]
[CHEERS AND SHOUTS]
[CHURCH BELL TOLLS]
Couple of guys I played with lived in a place called Glenside.
And during the summer, I was late going home for supper,
and so my buddy Ronnie Newlin said, "Hey, Reggie, why don't you take my bike?
Then you can get home quick enough."
And so I started down the road on his bicycle.
I was probably a mile and a half from home,
and his stepfather saw me riding the bike,
and he pulled over and he said,
"Get off the bicycle, boy, and take that back...
that bicycle back to my house.
Get off it and walk it back."
I was maybe 12...
something like that, and, uh...
Never forgot it.
Walked it back, walked home.
Uh, and I never told anyone the story.
I didn't tell my dad, uh, the story
because I-I-I was too embarrassed.
I was violent when I was younger,
and it was because I constantly fought an uphill battle.
The-the-the hill I had to climb was always steep,
and when you got to climbing it, it-it-it could get steeper.
[JOURNALIST] How do you teach your kid to reach for the mark, to succeed?
Determination.
And not giving up...
easily.
You know, the old man'd just kind of look at you over his glasses,
and you straightened up real quick.
[LAUGHTER]
[REGGIE] My father would say, "Do your job."
You don't want to come out here in the real world
and get a job with me working in my shop at $60 a week.
[REGGIE] I was taught by my dad to be able to ignore
the difficulty of being Black
and being considered a second-class citizen.
And so you have to clearly outdistance the crowd
for you to move forward.
[JOURNALIST] In Milwaukee, plenty of power on display this afternoon,
mainly from the bat of Reggie Jackson.
He had two home runs as the Yankees beat the Brewers six to three.
Don't finish in a photo finish.
You must clearly be the winner.
[KEITH JACKSON] For the Yankees, now, the batting order.
Mickey Rivers will lead off, followed by Willie Randolph,
Thurman Munson, and Reggie Jackson, cleanup.
And we are ready to begin...
[REGGIE] I wound up going to the ballpark one day in Milwaukee,
and I was hitting fourth.
[ANNOUNCER] Reggie Jackson due up. Graig Nettles on second.
Billy Martin, the man who had confronted Jackson a week earlier,
is now saying, "Come on, Reggie, let's win this thing and go home."
Jackson responds with a game-winning hit to the corner in right,
scoring Nettles.
[ANNOUNCER 2] Jackson struck out, doubled in a run fly to right field.
He's one for three.
[ANNOUNCER] Drill down the right side, and the ball game is over!
Reggie Jackson and the Yankees come back and win it by a score of six to five.
[JOURNALIST] That must-win cut Boston's lead by four games.
[REGGIE] You know, I always felt like once we got into game number 120,
everybody's tired except me.
[JOURNALIST] And there's a line drive deep to right field,
and it wins the ball game!
I mean, I might have been crazy, but that's what I thought.
[JOURNALIST] Those damn Yankees are suddenly pretty blessed.
They're now tied for first in the A.L. East,
and Yankee fever is here and spreading.
[REGGIE] My advantage is I'm stronger than everybody.
So now you're tired, I'm not.
And so now we're going to play.
Come on, now. Let's go.
[ANNOUNCER] In the air, deep right center field.
It may be over. It is going, it is gone! In the bleachers.
The Yankees win the ball game, two to nothing.
[JOURNALIST] The storybook New York Yankees have done it once again.
They have whipped the Boston Red Sox to take
the American League East championship.
[JOURNALIST 2] And the New York fans let Reggie know he's home at last.
[ANNOUNCER] How 'bout that Reggie Jackson?
[ANNOUNCER 2] Oh, man, look at the Yankees congratulating him.
[JOURNALIST 2] The Yankees are supposed to be an unhappy team
that never gets along,
but these Yankees look like they just might be a whole new ball club.
[REGGIE] We were in Detroit.
I hit my 30th home run, drove in my 100th run.
[ANNOUNCER] Seventeenth time this year, Frank,
that Reggie Jackson has won a ball game for the New York Yankees.
[REGGIE] And Thurman was grumpy after the game.
He didn't feel like talking.
And so the press came in to talk to him,
and Thurman said, "I don't feel like talking. I don't want to talk.
I'm hurt and I'm sore,
and I got to get my shoulder done and my knee wrapped in ice.
Go talk... go talk to Mr. October. He'll talk to you."
And he just kind of threw it out there, you know,
in sarcasm, annoyance, or whatever.
And that kind of picked itself up from there.
[ANNOUNCER] And the ball game is over!
And the Yankees are in the World Series!
This has got to be one of the greatest comebacks
in all of baseball history.
[BOY] Reggie!
[REGGIE] We went back to New York for game six,
and we were up three games to two.
I had a batting practice I'll never forget.
[CRACK]
[REGGIE] We had nine hitters, and I hit the last five minutes.
Before the game, I was last hitter. I hit for five minutes.
And I probably hit 40 baseballs.
And I hit 30 of them within a 50-foot radius
in the right center field bleachers.
I got a standing ovation
when I walked out of batting practice from the crowd.
They hadn't won in 15 years,
and for the Yankees not to win in 15 years, it's a big deal.
I said to a writer there,
we'll sure find out about all this Mr. October stuff
sooner or later, won't we?
I said, "I hope I don't leave it here in the batting cage."
[KEITH JACKSON] 1977 World Series between the Dodgers and the Yankees,
with the Yankees leading three games to two,
Yankee Stadium in New York City.
And to throw out the ceremonial first pitch,
the roar for the Yankee Clipper, Joe DiMaggio.
[HOWARD COSELL] Yankees of today, still in awe of the Clipper, Keith.
[KEITH JACKSON] As a player and as a man.
[REGGIE] Joe came to the clubhouse
to see us before the game and talk with us.
Joe told me, "I know you've had some issues,
but you've made the Yankees proud."
[REGGIE] There's something in the Yankee clubhouse that says...
it was a quote from Joe DiMaggio...
"Thank God for making me a Yankee,"
as you walked into the dugout from the locker room.
And so there is a bond that connects you.
It's an acceptance I died to have,
hoped to have, and so I was grateful.
[HOWARD COSELL] Here's the complex, sensitive man
who had so many ups and downs all year long.
At one point said, "I don't want to play here next year."
[KEITH JACKSON] He put on a decent display in batting practice tonight, too,
as he ripped one after another into the right field seats.
And the Dodgers lead the Yankees by a score of 3-2 in game number six,
trying to take it through seven games.
Shot to the left, be a base hit. Baker cuts it off...
and hurries it back in to hold Thurman Munson at first base.
[REGGIE] I remembered I called up to the press box
and talked to Gene Michael, and I said, "Where are they pitching me?"
He said, "They're going to pitch you in.
If they miss, they're going to miss at you.
They'll hit you before they give you a ball to hit."
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
So I went up and-and I kind of got off the plate a little bit,
and I wanted to make sure that Yeager,
who was the catcher, didn't see me.
[KEITH JACKSON] Reggie Jackson.
Long drive, right field, it is...!
[HOWARD COSELL] Goodbye!
Number one.
[CROWD CHEERING]
[COSELL] A big, big World Series for Reggie Jackson,
despite all the palaver about his discontent with Billy Martin,
as he comes up with his third home run of the Series.
Quickly, the Yankees go ahead.
[KEITH JACKSON] The Yankees are back on top, four to three.
[JOE JACKSON] I was in the Philippines,
working a passenger flight in the Philippines.
Then my buddy from Panama, Malcolm Williams,
came by and said, "Hey, Jack,
Reggie just hit a home run.
He was waving at your mom and everybody."
[KEITH JACKSON] One of the few times
I've seen him smile in the last seven days.
Half-hour later, Malcolm came past again.
Said, "Jack. Jack!"
[KEITH JACKSON] Reggie Jackson, who has walked and homered.
[CRACK]
[KEITH JACKSON] Hard shot, right field, it's gone!
[HOWARD COSELL] Oh, what a World Series for Reggie Jackson!
The Most Valuable Player in the 1977 World Series
if the Yankees go on to win.
[JOE JACKSON] And the crowd is going wild.
And the whole base,
Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was like Yankee Stadium.
Everybody in the organization...
the ground crew, guys that cut the grass, etcetera, and fixed the dirt...
everybody had a great year when we won.
Those were the things that I thought about that are special.
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
[HOWARD COSELL] Now listen to the ovation for Reggie Jackson
as he comes up to the plate.
Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
Come on, Reggie!
[KEITH JACKSON] Reggie Jackson has seen two pitches
in the strike zone tonight, two, and he's hit 'em both in the seats.
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
[CROWD CHEERING]
[KEITH JACKSON] Ayyy...
[ANNOUNCERS SHOUT INDISTINCTLY]
[HOWARD COSELL] Oh, what a blow!
What a way to top it off!
Forget about who the Most Valuable Player is in the World Series.
How this man has responded to pressure.
Oh, what a beam on his face. How can you blame him?
He's answered the whole world!
Out comes Reggie.
[KEITH JACKSON] The only other man that's done that
in a World Series, Babe Ruth.
[HOWARD COSELL] That's pretty splendid company to be in.
[REGGIE] I was thankful.
You know, I had my chance, and I even said it after the game.
I think the word "superstar" is overused a lot.
And you played in the era where the word really originated.
Guys like DiMaggio and Mays and Aaron and Clemente, and...
I can now say that I had one day that was like those guys.
[REGGIE] I had my one night
where I knew what he felt like as a player.
If it never happens again, I know what that feels like.
[KEITH JACKSON] A happy man right there after all the controversy. Look at him.
[HOWARD COSELL] The champagne flows.
[JOURNALIST] The Yankees were the World Series winners
for the first time in 15 years,
and the lights of Times Square
told how New Yorkers felt about that.
[MAN] Can you tell us what Reggie Jackson wants to do next year?
- Like to win another World Series. - For whom?
- The Yankees. - All right, Reggie.
[CROWD CHANTING] Reggie! Reggie! Reggie!
[JOURNALIST] In his first at bat with two on against the White Sox,
Reggie Jackson did his thing.
It was Reggie's fourth home run
in his last four swings at Yankee Stadium.
It gave the Yankees a 4-to-2 win.
It was a fitting debut for Reggie a nd the Reggie candy bar
as the field was splattered in a sea of orange.
Hi, I'm Reggie, the famous ballplayer they named this candy bar after.
I'm the Reggie they named the bar after.
Hey, I'm the real Reggie.
[JOURNALIST] The latest profitable manifestation
of the appeal of Reggie Jackson.
Reggie, you taste pretty good!
[REGGIE] I was making a lot of money then, at the time.
I was making more money off the field than I was on.
- Hey, you. - Who, me?
Take my picture.
- Me? - Here.
Use my Panasonic video camera.
And with Panasonic, you get instant replay right through the camera.
A lot of endorsements. Panasonic.
I am holding this press conference
on my new Panasonic OmniVision home video recorder.
Only Reggie.
- For the next six hours... - Six hours?
...you'll see my greatest plays.
I was making a million a year off the field.
[SPOKESMAN] It's the Reggie Jackson Junior Batting Trainer.
I only give opinions on what I know best.
- Which is? - Everything!
[REGGIE] Shoe contracts and stuff like that,
but nothing... nothing like them guys have today!
[ANNOUNCER] You shake up the bat rack.
And there it goes!
He really sat on it!
And that's what he wanted to do, and he hasn't reached first base yet!
He just now touches it.
It's gonna take him 20 minutes to make the round trip.
[WALTER CRONKITE] For the 22nd time in 75 years,
the New York Yankees are the World Series champions.
[ANNOUNCER] Tips his hat to the fans.
Reggie, this is what, five world championships for you now?
Yes, Tony, this is the fifth one.
All right. Do you enjoy this one or savor it more than the others?
Every time you win a World Series,
it's one of the greatest things in the world, really.
And, you know, you set out, you're working hard, you're going after it,
and, you know, you're putting all your time in and everything.
It's just, to me, now I can relax this winter
and have a nice time and feel proud and feel good
and, you know, just thank God in heaven,
the Good Lord, He took care of me, really.
Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson,
two big contributors of this World Series.
Let's go back upstairs for a moment.
This is a '78 Yankee World Series.
This is a '77 Yankee World Series.
Uh, sadly... they got gaudy.
Just bigger, better,
dumber lug nuts that they were making
that should belong on tires.
You couldn't wear 'em anymore.
They're pretty cool, though, when you see 'em,
because of what they represent.
The Yankees are just...
The Yankees are the king of it. They're the kings.
[CROWD SHOUTING]
It's humbled me, and I guess that God put me there
because He thought I needed some things
to better and improve myself, and...
I think things have come out well so far.
[CHILDREN] Reggie! Reggie!
[REGGIE] When I left the Yankees in '81...
[ANNOUNCER] Welcome back to Anaheim Stadium.
[REGGIE] ...I had a couple good years, but I wasn't the same player.
[ANNOUNCER] There it goes! Home run number 500.
[CROWD CHEERING]
The game was changing.
And I still was physically able to play, but mentally was tired.
I was being honored everywhere I went.
[ANNOUNCER] This is Reggie's Fenway farewell.
[ANNOUNCER 2] Had a goosebump or two.
[ANNOUNCER] We're human.
[REGGIE] And the manager would say to me, "Reggie,
we're going to hit you in the 9th, regardless..."
[ANNOUNCER 2] That one is true.
[REGGIE] "...'cause maybe a man and his son drove 900 miles to see you."
[ANNOUNCER 2] He wants two again. Can he get it? Yes!
[REGGIE] I wasn't ready for it.
But... it was time for me to move on.
[JOURNALIST] George, how much do the New York Yankees
miss Reggie Jackson?
The New York Yankees miss Reggie Jackson. He's a fine player.
He's a great player. He's a great player.
[REGGIE] After about me being gone for about three years, George said,
"The biggest mistake I ever made was letting Reggie Jackson go."
[REGGIE] New York for me was an incredible ride.
Whatever feelings you have as a player
are intensified about a thousand times in New York.
[REGGIE] When I went into the Hall of Fame,
I selected to go in as a Yankee because I was wanted.
Thanks for the pinstripes, George.
George Steinbrenner said, "I would like to have Reggie Jackson
become part of our organization."
And I started that day.
[JOURNALIST] Well, remember Mr. October, better known as Reggie Jackson?
Well, he may have hung up his baseball glove,
but it doesn't mean that he's retired from life.
In fact, he's started a new career.
[REGGIE] If it's not for the renegade style of George Steinbrenner,
I don't think I'm in the game.
Not for as long as I've been.
[REGGIE] Thank you very much.
[REGGIE] I'm considered part of that legacy of the Yankees
that represented the greatest city in the world.
People talk about tradition.
I believe it started here.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]
No offense to the Red Sox, the Dodgers,
but anywhere you go in the world...
the greatest name in sports belongs to the Yankees.
[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]
- Yeah. - What was the first day that...
I remember on the back field, you were taking batting practice.
Your parents were there.
I don't know if it was the first time,
but one of the first times was when
you came and you spoke to all the minor league players.
18 or 19 years old?
- 18. - 18 years old.
And you sat there with a straight face and told all of us
that you never tried to hit a home run in your entire career.
Right when you did that, I knew. I said, "You know what?
[REGGIE CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
- He can lie right to my face." - [REGGIE LAUGHS]
That's when I realized he can lie.
As long as you know that, you know, moving forward, our relationship.
- You know where our relations stand. - Come on, man!
But now, Reggie, I know I've told you this before,
but the thing that I've always respected about you
is the fact that you were always 100% honest.
You said what was on your mind. You said how you felt.
You were there to help, but you weren't going to sugarcoat anything.
Some guys won't-won't seek out your opinion
because they don't want to hear the truth, and you were always one of the first
to-to give me honest feedback, which I appreciate.
You talk about diversity in Major League Baseball.
It's an issue.
Everyone just automatically points
to the dwindling numbers of Black players playing this game,
but it's also in the front office,
and it's something that we need to talk about because it needs to be changed.
[JOURNALIST] Reggie has been an outspoken critic
of the small number of minorities in management.
[REGGIE] Even though, you know, I was happy with the Yankees,
I still had one dream.
[DAN RATHER] Today, Blacks are among stars on every team in the big leagues,
but they still don't have much voice in the business of the game.
[REGGIE] In the major leagues, there are very few
in a high-level position that are Black.
[JOURNALIST] Many Blacks criticize the old boy network,
which they say overlooks potential Black managers...
like Reggie Jackson, for example... in favor of white veterans.
And so there is a way of expressing this,
and I wanted to be heard.
I would like to make a contribution to the Black community
in having some type of ownership on the professional baseball level.
[REGGIE] I was qualified and I was able to put together the right group
to buy the Oakland A's.
But it didn't happen, and I honestly feel that I-I-I wasn't a fit.
[JOURNALIST] And there is breaking news from the world of baseball.
The Dodgers, one of the most revered franchises in sports, is for sale.
Two words: Mr. October. Reggie Jackson!
I tried to buy the Dodgers from the O'Malley family.
My partners were Paul Allen and Bill Gates.
That group could have bought the National League.
I was going to give four points away:
one to Mays, one to Aaron, one to Frank Robinson,
and one to Bob Gibson.
[TOM BROKAW] From Los Angeles tonight, a possible buyer
for one of the great names in baseball.
As soon as I owned a team, I was going to be a voice.
And I remember listening to the commissioner
tell me how he was going to help.
Bud said, "Trust me. Trust me."
[JOURNALIST] The biggest news in Southern California this week
centered on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
[TOM BROKAW] Owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers
are said to be in serious discussions
with media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
[REGGIE] I didn't fit into the club.
How else do I say that? I didn't fit.
Do... Can I say it any plainer?
Can... you want me to say because I was Colored,
I wasn't... I wasn't a fit?
It's pretty easy to realize that.
It's... I don't need to say it, and I don't want to say it
'cause I need your help for the change.
I don't want to startle you too much.
Let me get you alone in the room and tell you really what's in me.
I could tell you that not getting a baseball team...
I was depressed for a long time.
And I didn't really know it until
I listened to a radio show one morning and he said,
"Do you struggle to get out of bed?
Do you not want to get up and do anything?
If you do, you're depressed."
Broke my heart for a long time.
I still have difficulty with it. I'll-I'll admit that.
I always think about what could have been.
[DEREK JETER] We've constantly talked about the difficult time that you had
trying to fulfill your next dream.
So that's why I always used to grill you
about your experiences going through the process and,
you know, I leaned on you during that time
'cause it is a tough process. It's not something that's easy to do.
And you said, "Hey, you know, you got to stick with it.
You know, you're gonna get your opportunity.
Every time you think a door is closed, find another one to open.
[REGGIE] As George's health got poorer...
we got closer because I was the only baseball person
that was able to go to his house and, uh, be in his bedroom,
and, uh, we'd watch Gene Autry cowboy movies
and stuff like that.
Probably seven years or so after that,
I really couldn't get heard.
Analytics were taking over
and I was struggling to leave the content I had
with players coming through, and with the organization.
I spoke out too much. I spoke my mind too much.
I wasn't just glad to be there.
I felt like my content gets wasted.
How do you feel about what's going on today?
Have we made enough progress since Jackie spoke?
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]
No, we have not.
I have an office out at the Braves, and I know why it's there.
It's there because if Reggie Jackson or someone
would go out there and say, "Who's all in the office?
You got Hank Aaron out here?"
"Yeah. Yeah, Hank Aaron's office is right there."
As you grow older, you realize
that you haven't moved up the ladder very much.
So sometimes I feel like a hood ornament.
[MUTED CHEERS]
[REGGIE] I thought it was important for me to go
in person to get in front of Hal Steinbrenner,
to talk to him about the issues I had with the team.
Hal, thanks a lot for the time.
Obviously, you and I go way back.
Um, I have been with the club 29 years.
Um, I want to focus on the lack of minorities in the game.
I think African Americans get 6%... five, six, seven percent.
We need to do better as an organization, uh, at diversity,
and we've made strides in certain areas.
But as I've told you more than once at this point,
we're not where we need to be yet.
But, uh, the kind of questions that you want to be involved with
are the questions that I ask.
But in my era,
the owners were a little closer to some of the players.
Your greatest attributes,
some of your greatest attributes are... are what you accomplished on the field.
And I remember when we brought in Clint Frazier.
Top prospect in baseball. He was thrilled to death,
as you know, to meet you.
And-and we get that a lot from-from Hispanic players,
African American players, um, and-and-and others.
They know about what you accomplished.
[REGGIE] I don't know. They don't want me inside the tent.
I got to peer through the glass, stick my nose through the bars,
press my face against the window.
[CROWD CHEERING]
At this stage and at this point in my life,
there's a double-edged sword there,
and one where you say, well...
maybe I should be somewhere else.
Because for me, if I'm not accepted,
I want to try to create a position to make change.
I know some of the things that you and I have talked about, Jim,
about lack of minorities in baseball,
lack of minorities in, uh, different front offices, etcetera.
If I can partner with a guy like you,
I really do feel like I can accomplish something.
This was a big decision for me, leaving the Yankees.
I expected to be there for life, but, um...
I couldn't get heard with the knowledge I had.
I love the business cards. The autograph's a good job.
I don't know if I write that good, but...
[JIM CRANE] Diversity inclusion is a big topic.
[REGGIE] Oh, there you go.
[JIM CRANE] And anybody that runs a company,
a small baseball team or Exxon,
they need to be focused on that.
And it can be fixed. It just takes a great focus.
[INDISTINCT SHOUT]
[JIM CRANE] You know, somebody like you
that's worked his way all the way up from where you came from
to Mr. October,
you can deliver that message probably better than anybody.
Because I'm... I'm in the fight longer.
[JIM CRANE] You got some good ideas,
and hopefully you can work on some of them.
- Jose! - Hey, Reg, how are you, my friend?
Henry Aaron, in my conversations with him, he said,
"I have an office here at the stadium,
so it can be said I have an office here."
But my situation is not like that in Houston.
I am part of the mix and part of the decision-making process.
I'm going to tell Crane to give you 45 minutes
or get a half hour with you somewhere.
[MAN] Okay.
[ANNOUNCER] He broke the Dodgers' hearts in '77 and '78,
and he is now part of the Houston Astros.
And, as an advisor to the owner, Jim Crane,
the one and only Reggie Jackson joins us live.
Well, you read all of that that I gave you perfectly to the T.
Just a little more on when you say "great."
[LAUGHTER] More emphasis on "great."
[REGGIE] You know, my life has changed.
- This is my daughter. - It's your daughter?
- Hi! - Hi! Mylene, sweetheart.
Nice to meet you. [LAUGHTER]
- Hi, Mr. Jackson. - Hi.
[REGGIE] I'm closer to home in Houston.
I have a guy that is philosophically in tune
with trying to make change.
I think it's almost too costly now for underserved kids
to be able to participate in Little League,
and I think if we can get ahead of that
and start with the 30 Major League Baseball cities in funding it.
[COACH] These are all of our kids that are playing in college currently,
as well as some of our kids that have already gone
to professional baseball in the minor leagues.
And we're still waiting on our first major leaguer.
[JIM CRANE] People want to feel good.
They want to feel good about coming to the ballpark,
and they want to be part of something.
And when you put a plan like that together
and they start seeing the results,
we can change the way baseball looks
by starting at the grassroots.
[AARON JUDGE] How you been, though? What's new?
I've been great. I couldn't have landed in a better spot.
- I've known this guy for about 20 years. - Yeah.
How are the players? Are you talking to some of the players?
- Yeah, yeah. - Good guys?
They're all good guys, good people.
[AARON JUDGE] Me and Reg have a great relationship.
You know, we talk during the off season, we talk during the season.
So, him being with the Astros or being with us,
you know, it really doesn't matter.
I love seeing him in pinstripes, you know, where he belongs,
but, um, I'm happy for him to have an opportunity over here
and, you know, spread his knowledge.
He's home run conscious.
Gets in batting practice, he plays home run derby.
[AARON JUDGE] Man, he's got so much he can offer, you know,
a lot of the young guys over there and their team.
Let it travel little longer?
[REGGIE] Get the ball on the barrel before you swing hard.
[AARON JUDGE] That's one thing that Reggie showcased his whole career:
Playing the game the right way, playing hard,
and-and most importantly, winning.
You know, that's what I'm trying to do here.
I'm trying to leave a legacy for the guys coming up behind me.
[CRACK]
There you go, there you go. Hey.
[CROWD CHEERING]
[ANNOUNCER] Altuve's got another!
The platform is important.
So when I see players that stand up for the dignity that they've earned,
I'm proud because we still need change.
I have a tremendous appreciation for
the messages that they send,
the work that they put in,
and what it takes to be great and to sustain greatness.
[ANNOUNCER] He's got it! Jumps, and he does it again!
So many people are so concerned about who came first.
[KEITH JACKSON] It's way back, it is gone. Reggie Jackson...
[ANNOUNCER] ...pulls it deep, deep, it is gone! He did it!
[ANNOUNCER 2] And there goes a new all-time run-scoring record
by Rickey Henderson.
[ANNOUNCER 3] See ya! History, with an exclamation point!
[ANNOUNCER 4] ...new home run champion of all time, and it's Henry Aaron!
[ANNOUNCER 5] He's done it! He has done it!
[REGGIE] But I'm concerned with who's next.
[COACH] All right guys, let's go. On a hop, on a hop.
Let's go, let's get it.
Yeah, that's good. That's good.
[♪ POIGNANT MUSIC PLAYS]