Reggie Jackson: Athletic or Yankee?

Reggie Jackson was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in 1967 and came with the team, playing his first full season, when they moved to Oakland in 1968. While in Oakland, Reggie Jackson hit 254 home runs, maintained a .257 batting average and knocked in 526 RBI’s. The team, while Jackson played for it, made it to the post season five straight times including three world series victories. Why, with all of this success, is Reggie Jackson inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame wearing a Yankees hat? This questions has bothered A’s fans for years.

To get a better feel for things, let’s also look at his numbers with the Yankees. Reggie Jackson spent five seasons in pinstripes knocking out 144 home runs, driving in 461 RBI’s and posting a .278 batting average, including his only .300 season. The Yankees enjoyed four post season appearances and two world series victories with Reggie Jackson and broke a 15 year world series victory drought.

More from White Cleat Beat

• Oakland A’s bring Deolis Guerra back on minor league deal
• How much will Oakland A’s improvements matter in 2023?
• Oakland A’s giving Drew Rucinski a chance to prove himself
• The pain of the Oakland A’s first round draft picks
• David MacKinnon joins Oakland A’s alumni overseas

After his tenure with the Yankees he spent five years with the California Angels of Anaheim Los Angeles (has any team gone through more identity issues than them?) and came back, in 1987, for a final year in Oakland, missing another world series run by one year but adding 15 home runs and 43 RBI’s to the numbers listed above.

It is perplexing to some fans why Jackson, who began and ended baseball with the Oakland Athletics, would chose to go into Cooperstown with a Yankees hat on. Many fans see it as a dig towards Oakland or point to it as another instance of east coast baseball being more important than anywhere else. Some say he was hitching his trailer onto a horse with a greater legend. With the A’s he has a draft, call up, 10 service years, and three rings all while posting comparable numbers as he did with the Yankees, an organization who he often had issues with including a fist fight between him and manager Billy Martin.

In reality, the decision had very little to do with his baseball career and more to do with his falling out with Athletics’ management. Reggie Jackson, in an interview with John Shea during the 2014 reunion, has said that the Athletics he played on were probably the better team and in recent years he has mended fences with A’s management and is often at reunions and public events.

At the end of the day, Reggie Jackson shouldn’t regret his decision to be enshrined as a Yankee. It may not be the choice that makes the most sense but it also isn’t a bad choice. He was an all-star, made a ton of money, got a couple rings and earned the moniker of Mr. October while in New York. The fact of the matter is that both teams are worthy of being included on Jackson’s plaque and, in terms of service, Reggie Jackson is clearly an Athletic. Maybe he should have gone in with a generic, logo-less hat, and saved the heartache of A’s fans watching a beloved legend “snub” their team but he didn’t and that’s just how it’s going to be. It doesn’t diminish the impact and greatness he brought to the Oakland Athletics over 10 seasons. Yankee or not, we love ya, Reggie!