A Chance Encounter With Reggie Jackson: ‘Mr. October’

By JIM PURCELL

Between 1994 and 1995, I worked part-time, writing press releases for B&J Collectibles, in Lakewood, New Jersey. B&J was a sports memorabilia company, and it sold signed balls from all the major sports, as well as photos and bats or helmets from nearly every period of sports history.

   My regular job was working as an editor for a nearby weekly newspaper, so the money I made at B&J was for extras I might want. I loved the work, though, because I’ve always been a fan of baseball and football, as well as hockey to a lesser extent.

Reggie Jackson circa. 1978

   The work was good: I wrote releases for products that were coming out, like the Raiderette Dance Team and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders computer screen savers, or the anniversary of the Joe DiMaggio 56-game hitting streak and the like. I even had an opportunity to work on an account that required me to interview former Giants Head Coach Bill Parcells, who is really a great gentleman and a truly nice guy.

   But, the sports celebrity I remember the best from those days was Reggie Jackson, who had an exclusive contract with B&J for several years, as I understood it. And, I just happened to see him walk in the office. Let me be clear: Though I am not and have never been a Yankees fan, I have always been an enormous Reggie Jackson fan.

 Reggie Jackson was a unique kind of hitter. It seemed like he never got a hit when his team didn’t need it. But, when the pressure was on and the game was riding on one swing of the bat, Reggie was Superman.

   When he came in, he asked me if he saw my boss, who was the president of the company. I told him I hadn’t seen him and then I recognized him and said, ‘You are Reggie Jackson…”

   Reggie smiled and said, “Yes, I know. You are a baseball fan, I guess.”

Reggie Jackson today

   Far from the maverick personality he projected during his playing days, Reggie actually took the time to talk to me about baseball.

   ‘You know, you projected this kind of personality when you were playing. I never thought it was real, though,’ I said.

   “The Yankees of that time needed a lightning rod and that was the part that I played. If another ball player had a bad game, the New York media would be all over them. But, then there was ‘Reggie’ in the clubhouse saying this or doing that and it took the pressure off of those guys. And, it was a persona that I put on, I admit,” Reggie said.

   Reggie said that playing in New York was like performing on baseball’s largest stage. “New York is not for every player, but I loved playing there,” he said.

   He recounted that there have been times when he has been treated rudely by fans because they have preconceived notions of who he is based on the way he played ball and handled the media back in the 1970s and ‘80s. “I think, though, that I try to stay close to the Golden Rule, treating other people the way I want to be treated,” Reggie said.

   I thanked him for taking the time to talk to me, even though I was basically a nobody there. He said, “It was my pleasure. I love talking about baseball.”

   During his days of patrolling right field for the “Bronx Zoo” version of the Yanks, Reggie was my favorite player. Ask any New York sports fan and they will have a favorite Reggie ‘moment’ where he stunned crowds and won games. By far, he is one of my favorite on-field players ever. Yet, after meeting him, Reggie Jackson struck me as an amazing representative of the game and he is just a really nice guy.

   It must be hard for him to have to contend with his old public persona, but he handles himself with grace and congeniality. I don’t think anyone could want anything more from a great sports icon.