Reggie Jackson, whose three-homer performance in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers remains a defining moment in Yankees history, takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: When Yankees-Dodgers was officially the World Series, did you have flashbacks?
A: No, I didn’t have flashbacks, but what I would say to you is I just was joyous because it’s good for baseball, it’s good for the country. You got two of the greatest franchises in sports. You know, you got the Celtics and Lakers, the Knicks and Green Bay Packers and the Cowboys and the Steelers and New England [Patriots]. You got the greats there, the two best franchises. The Cardinals are a great franchise etcetera, but there are some that just stand out. And when you have Yankees and the Dodgers, they both spend a lot of money, they both got all these fantastic players, the clubhouses and the travel and the stadiums … it’s big! Hollywood and New York — the financial center of the world and Hollywood. What more can you ask for?
Q: Who are the Mr. October candidates for the Yankees or Dodgers?
A: I was telling somebody today, if they’ll play seven games, Mookie Betts is gonna get 13 hits. He’s gonna drive in five or six runs, hit a homer or two, probably some doubles, he’s gonna score a lot of runs (laugh), he’s gonna make some great plays whether he plays second base, shortstop, center field, right field, whether he catches or plays first base. He’s gonna be in the mix because he’s got that in him. He just loves the game. Freddie Freeman is the same way, and [Shohei] Ohtani’s as gifted as they come. The Yankees got three killers in there, three Bombers. And [Aaron] Judge is not hot yet. He gets hot, he’s like two guys (laugh).
Q: What do you think when you watch Juan Soto in the batter’s box?
A: He has control of the batter’s box. He’s got a great eye and this guy’s got 130 walks, 140 walks. So he’s just always on base. He hits in the catbird’s seat. He hits in front of at least I was gonna say the most dangerous hitter in the game … at least one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, ’cause you gotta throw Ohtani in there. He’s full of energy, he brings a lot to the table — good defender, runs good, got power, can put the ball in play when it counts … he can square the baseball when you gotta put it in play. He doesn’t strike out crazily. He’s a great player. And [Giancarlo] Stanton, man, hey, all the beatdowns that he’s taken, he’d clean all that up with five or six good days here.
Q: So Soto, Judge, Stanton, Ohtani and Betts would be your five possible Mr. October …
A: Freddie Freeman is in there. I don’t think he’s quite healthy. But those are just the usual suspects. I’m not going out on a limb anywhere. I’m saying what everybody would say … the guy [Max] Muncy is a pretty good hitter. The guy Muncy can surprise you. Teoscar Hernandez, he gets the bat on the ball, and then there’s this guy that sneaks up on you every once in a while — Kiké Hernandez. He kinda saves it for the big days.
Q: I’m going to put you on the spot: Who is your pick for Mr. October?
A: If I had to pick one … I’m gonna go with Judge. Judge and Betts.
Q: Judge if the Yankees win and Betts if the Dodgers win.
A: Yeah.
Q: Do you think it will go seven?
A: I don’t know, it’s really gonna be who pitches the best. I think you’re gonna have a lot of scoring here. Both teams are gonna have days where they score 10 runs because pitching is just not the quality that it’s been in the past. The lowest ERA wins this World Series, because the offenses here are dangerous.
Q: What amazes you most about Ohtani at the plate?
A: He squares up the baseball a lot. I don’t know how often he strikes out. You just see 50-some home runs and the RBIs and nice high batting average. His batting average went down a little bit ’cause he got focused on the homers, which I understand. Him and Judge, man, that’s something to sit back and enjoy the game of baseball watching those two guys.
Q: An X factor for each team?
A: I think that the Yankees are gonna need Gleyber [Torres] to play well. [Alex] Verdugo or Jazz Chisholm, you’re gonna need a guy like that to contribute. Everybody has to contribute during the World Series, you can’t have any holes. You can’t give up extra outs. You give one of those teams an extra out, you give ’em 28 outs and you fall down another spot in the lineup, you’re not gonna win. Twenty-eight outs will beat you.
Q: X factor for the Dodgers?
A: I’d say either Muncy or the catcher [Will Smith]. Boy, that Kiké just seems to show up all the time. I could say Hernandez and have two guys (laugh).
Q: What do you think of the job that Aaron Boone has done?
A: You take a look at what kind of season they had. You could ask the same question about the general manager, the manager and the owner. We’re in the World Series, boys. I couldn’t have done all that bad.
Q: How much would George Steinbrenner have liked this Yankees team?
A: Oh I think he’d love the Yankee team because of the homers. George was a long ball guy, and the way that they’re winning games, I mean, gee whiz.
Q: Did you know Hal Steinbrenner as a kid?
A: I used to throw batting practice to him in Fort Lauderdale. George would have me out there (laugh). I always was able to visit their farm in Ocala, and be up there as a guest and a member of their family and so they’re always a special group for me.
Q: How often would you throw BP to Hal?
A: Whenever he wanted (laugh).
Q: What kind of hitter was he?
A: He needed some help (laugh). I had to throw it in his swing (laugh).
Q: Will you be in New York for Game 3?
A: Hal invited me to the game. He invited me to the Series.
Q: Is October still your favorite month?
A: Yeah, I think so. As I analyze it all, I always feel that good things happen to me in October. … The weather is great, I always say to people, “When the leaves turn brown, I’ll be around in the fall for the World Series.” That’s what I used to tell all the guys. I used to tell ’em when I was working for Panasonic: “You guys ain’t gonna get in the postseason. I’m gonna send you TVs from Panasonic so you can watch me for two weeks.”
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Q: What is the key to being a Mr. October?
A: A lot of talent, and a great supporting cast. I played with a bunch of Hall of Famers, man, that kept the game close all the time, whether it was Catfish Hunter or [Ken] Holtzman or Vida Blue, Blue Moon Odom, those guys that can pitch … and [Ron] Guidry, and Catfish again, and Eddie Figueroa, and those guys over there in New York that did such a great job when we were getting into World Series … Goose [Gossage] on the back end there. We had some guys that could handle things. You need talent, need a good owner, need good staff, good scouts give me a scouting report. All that stuff adds up. A good culture of guys that want to make it happen and be a part of it and be a piece of a unit that’s making it all happen.
Q: What about the mindset that you had in October?
A: You gotta set your mind to win. You gotta set your mind to get the job done. You gotta be narrow-minded, and you gotta be focused, and that’s what I was able to do. I feel like I was very fortunate.
Q: Describe your epic nine-fastball showdown against Bob Welch in Game 2 of the 1978 Series. How fast do you think he was throwing?
A: Too fast for me to catch up to (laugh). I betcha he was throwing high 90s.
Q: After your three homers on three pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 Series, where did you celebrate?
A: I went to Third Avenue to a restaurant called McMullen’s. I used to go over there and always get myself a piece of swordfish. I don’t think I got down there that night till about 1 in the morning. At that time, I was driving a 1977 blue Volkswagen … Yankee blue. I pulled up on the sidewalk, and my girlfriend and I went in, and there was a table for us, and we got a standing ovation. They said Governor Carey was down at Rusty Staub’s, and he wants you to come down, he hears you’re here. I told ’em, “Well tell him he’s invited down here to McMullen’s,” and sure enough, he came about an hour or so later.
Q: You had talked about this on The Post podcast The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman: After you hit your third homer off Charlie Hough, describe what it was like running around the bases.
A: [Dodgers first baseman Steve] Garvey was clapping in his glove as I ran by Garvey. I had a lot of respect for Steve Garvey. Great player. And when I got by second base and touched the bag, I honestly felt I was running on air between short and third. I was a baseball fan and I knew that the guys had hit four home runs in one World Series. I remembered that going around the bases. I crossed home plate, I tipped the cap to George Steinbrenner up in his box, and there was a company up there that was making the Reggie Bar — Standard Brands, guy’s name was Russ Johnson, president or the chairman. And went in the dugout and it was all just happiness.
Q: A quote once from you: “The thing I don’t like about the World Series is that I can’t watch myself play.”
A: A guy hits three homers — would you like to see that? Wouldn’t you like to watch that? Damn right I would!
Q: How often have you watched replays of that game?
A: Well it’s on all the time. I never get tired of watching it.
Q: What would you tell this Yankees team about what winning in New York is like?
A: I really think that these guys have tasted it when they won in Cleveland, because they came back and it wasn’t easy. … They just need to keep doing what they’re doing. They don’t need any advice from me, really, I just enjoy watching what they’re doing because they’re squaring the baseball when they have to.
Q: Why is New York the greatest place to win?
A: ’Cause of the enthusiasm and the excitement of all the people. Hell, the Yankees have 27 World Series championships. … The hustle and bustle in New York, and being the biggest city in the country and the mostest and the bestest. The Yankee brand is just so special if you take a look at the players there … Ruth and Gehrig and Lefty Grove and all those guys, man … Joe D and Mickey, Roger Maris, Whitey, Yogi Berra … Jeter, Pettitte, Mariano Rivera … the only guy to get in the Hall of Fame 100 per cent was a Yankee [Rivera]. And to have it from New York to California, and you got the whole country involved, I think it’s great.
Q: Can the Yankee crowd intimidate the Dodgers?
A: That young man Ohtani is not gonna be afraid of the crowd, he’s gonna love the crowd. He plays in front of 20 million people in Japan every night.
Q: Which one of your five championship teams was your best?
A: The team that I thought was the best was ’73 A’s.
Q: Why?
A: We did everything. We pitched lefty and righty, we had Vida and we had Holtzman, we had Blue Moon Odom and Catfish Hunter, and we had a Hall of Famer in the bullpen in Rollie Fingers. We had a couple of setup guys. We had a Gold Glove in center, at second base, we had Bert Campaneris, a near Hall of Famer at shortstop, we had a near Hall of Famer at third base in [Sal] Bando … had a near Hall of Fame left fielder [Joe Rudi]. We had good pitching, we had speed and good defense, and had clutch hitting. Rudi and Bando, those guys could hit when it counted.
Q: What do you remember about the ’73 World Series against the Mets?
A: How f—ing hard [Tom] Seaver threw. It was cold. I really thought we [A’s] were a better team than the Mets. We had to go seven games to beat them. They had three really good pitchers with Seaver, [Jon] Matlack and [Jerry] Koosman. They were tough. They had great pitching.
Q: A hypothetical matchup: ’73 A’s versus ’98 Yankees.
A: ’98 Yankees won 125. I don’t know, we might have met our match with them. They might have been too tough for us. I thought Fingers was up there with Mariano. And then I think we had better starters. But, who knows? It doesn’t matter.
Q: The passing of Fernando Valenzuela.
A: I saw him a couple of years ago and I wondered what was wrong and somebody said he had a bout with either liver cancer or the pancreas or something like that. He was only 63. But he was a special guy for the Latin community, a special guy for the Dodgers, and I think it was really a wonderful thing that he was still with the team doing some broadcasting, right? May he rest in peace, and I hope he went away comfortably.
Q: What do you remember about facing him in the ’81 World Series?
A: I thought he threw a nice ball. I got a couple of knocks off him. I didn’t get him deep, though.
Q: How painful was losing that Series?
A: I didn’t really want to play the Dodgers in ’81. ‘Cause I was on the A’s and we beat ’em in ‘74, and it was those same guys … [Ron] Cey, [Bill] Russell, [Davey] Lopes and Garvey. We beat ’em in ’77, we beat ’em in ’78. And I said to somebody when they were playing Montreal, “I sure hope Montreal wins the series. We beat them too often. They’re not gonna be nervous when they come here this next time.” And sure enough they came there and beat us.
Q: How painful was it losing?
A: If you give everything you have, and you bust your ass, and bust your tail and you leave it all out there and you get beat, it’s like, “Hey you got beat.” You don’t want to lose. You can get beat, but the biggest thing you don’t want to do as a professional player or athlete in any sport, you don’t want to lose it. You can get beat, and that’s what I thought happened to us, I thought we got beat in that series.
Q: Dave Winfield arriving to the Yankees in 1981?
A: I was thrilled that he came over there. I thought I was gonna get a raise … I think Dave signed for two million a year, I wanted a million a year, and I didn’t get it. I had to leave, I got shown the exit.
Q: What were you making at the time?
A: 600 [thousand].
Q: Bob Lemon?
A: Great to play for.
Q: Billy Martin?
A: Billy Martin was tough for me.
Q: Pete Rose?
A: Pete was the best. If you knew him you had to love him.
Q: Muhammad Ali?
A: I knew Ali when he was great, I knew him when he was young, and I knew him when he was failing.
Q: What was he like when he was young?
A: Oh boy (laugh). Let me see, who was the most energetic guy that you know? That you can possibly imagine? Soto brings a lot of energy to the ballpark, to the game. But boy, Ali, I don’t know who you could compare Ali to. He was so full of life.
Q: The Bible, Fran Healy and Gary Walker?
A: Gary Walker has passed, but what a special person in my life he was. He introduced me to God, and I became a better person for that, better baseball player as well. Going to Sunday prayer at the ballpark was always a special place to be. It helped me a whole heckuva lot through some difficult times. Fran Healy was kind of a beacon of light for me through all my difficulties when I struggled with my troubles in New York. Fran always would get me on the straight and narrow and gave me a pretty clear view of things that I didn’t understand, and so I was grateful that God had put him in my path.
Q: Are you bitter about the fact you were denied buying the Dodgers back in 1998?
A: Of course. Bitter’s not the right word. I’m disappointed. Brokenhearted.
Q: Does any part of you wish you could have retired as a Yankee?
A: I wish I would have retired as a Yankee. But it wasn’t meant to be. They thought I was done. George apologized for trading me or letting me go and all that kinda stuff. I’m over that. Would have been nice to retire with the Yankees. That’s a big name. That’s the epitome, that’s the mecca. Mariano said, “The pinstripes are heavy. Some people can’t handle it” (laugh).
Q: What’s it like being Reggie Jackson today?
A: I think it’s fun and enjoyable. I try to be grateful and thankful. I still got a knack for getting in hot water once in a while. But life’s good.
Q: What are some adjectives to describe your life story?
A: I would just say that I’m grateful for my life, for what God has done for me, when He’s protected me at times. I give thanks for the things that have happened to me. I give thanks for my health, I give thanks for my family members still being alive. My daughter’s got three grandchildren that I get to enjoy. I don’t have any issues with too many people … maybe two or three in the world. Life is very good, and I’m thankful. I would just say the words thankful and grateful is how I would describe my life.
Q: What do you hope Yankees fans see as your legacy?
A: I think I’m very fortunate to have the legacy I have in New York when I go in and out of the city all the time. The thanks and gratitude that I get from being around the New York fan is a wonderful thing to be a part of and to have on your résumé. I am thankful and grateful that I played those years in New York and we won those championships.
Q: What’s your pick?
A: Oh come on, bro.
Q: Yanks in what, seven, six?
A: I don’t care what it goes. I don’t care if it goes six or seven. I like it in six or seven. You don’t want to play Game No. 7. Seven, you never know. You gotta finish it in six, I always felt you did. You hit the Game 6 and you can shut it off at six, you gotta do it, because you don’t want to leave it in the hands of a bad bounce or a bad call or something stupid. You gotta take control.
