Jackson changes Yankees’ fortunes by signing free agent contract
“Reggie didn’t love Montreal yet,” wrote Williams in his 1990 autobiography No More Mr. Nice Guy. “But he loved me, and that was a start.
“The greatest thing I had going for me was New York,” Steinbrenner told the New York Daily News. “Bronfman (who ran the Seagram’s beverage company) can have his liquor in Montreal. Kroc (founder of McDonald’s restaurants) can have his hamburgers in San Diego.
“No matter how people try to demean New York, it’s still the Big Apple.”
In five years in New York, Jackson hit .281 with 144 home runs and 461 RBI – earning an All-Star Game roster spot each season. His 1980 campaign may have been the best of his career, as Jackson hit .300 for the first and only time, crushing 41 home runs while driving in 111 runs.
But he’ll be forever remembered for 1977 – when his three home runs in Game 6 of the World Series cemented his reputation as Mr. October – and 1978, when he led the Yankees to back-to-back World Series titles.
Jackson left New York after his contract expired following the 1981 season and played six more seasons with the Angels and Athletics. When he retired following the 1987 season, Jackson had totaled 563 home runs, 1,702 RBI and five World Series titles.
Jackson was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1993.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum