Mr. October And Me

Ahh, the Fall Classic!

We’re not talking about October stock market corrections but the World Series!   The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers square off tonight to begin the 114^th October Classic.

Reggie and Me

I have lived a Walter Mitty life.

The first twenty-five years of my life was baseball, 24/7, an obsession that almost compares to today’s techno-addicted youth.

My baseball career ended due to an injury, but mainly the lack of emotional maturity and the ability to pull out of an ugly hitting slump.  Nothing worse for your confidence than cruising along during the season hitting .350, then to fall into a 2-for-50 tailspin.  Then falling into the trap you could never get another hit.  Baseball players that fail 70 percent, and hit .300 over make it to the Hall of Fame.

It’s very similar to what happens to your P&L, trying to trade crude oil and natural gas against the ‘bots.  You gotta shake off the bad ones and move on.   I could’ve been somebody, damn it!

I did have a headstart in baseball as a young teen working with the Los Angeles Dodgers, first as a batboy, then batting pitcher, and adjunct bullpen catcher.  Later, I would spend some time with the Atlanta Braves and Oakland A’s.

I caught Tommy John (TJ) — the real one, who had the surgery named for him – for almost the entire season he out before the remarkable comeback.   He could barely extend his hand after the surgery but refused to give up.  I would try to hide in the outfield before games but would soon hear Red Adams, the Dodgers pitching coach, calling me to come to the bullpen.

TJ was very wild when he first started his comeback, bouncing curveballs in the dirt, which too often ended up smacking me in the family jewels.  It was a painful year, and amazing that I could still have children.   Tommy John is one of the greatest human beings to have ever lived.

Reggie

One winter or spring during the off-season, can’t recall,  I get a call from my boss to come to Dodger Stadium as Reggie Jackson was going to film a television commercial.  He said the production company might need a pitcher or catcher and I should be around to help Reggie around the clubhouse and stadium.

I wasn’t in the union so being in the commercial was out.

Over the next three days,  Reggie and I became very close.  He treated me like I was his little brother.  Reggie had this larger than life image, with a reputation for a larger than life ego.

…it all flows from me. I’m the straw that stirs the drink – Reggie Jackson,  Sports Illustrated, May 1977

He took a lot of heat for that quote, and denies it,  and I certainly didn’t see the Reggie the media often portrayed.   He was super kind, friendly, down to earth, always made time for you, and was just a great guy to hang out with.  He made you feel comfortable and not conscious you were in the presence of one baseball’s greatest stars.  It was very much like a good day hanging with your big brother.

Self-centered egomaniacs don’t treat the little people like that.

One thing that really stood out over our three days together was how Reggie spoke.  He spoke like university professor, very intelligent.   Later I found out he has an IQ of 160, the same as Steven Hawing!  Reggie is freaking genius.

Pumas  

What really sealed the deal was when Reggie finished filming and was about to leave.  He handed me a piece of paper with an address and phone number:

22 Yankee Hill
Oakland, Ca
(415) xxx-xxxxx

He said when I was in the Bay Area; I would never stay in a hotel but with him.   I believe that house burnt down during the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.

Then he asked for my shoe size and my address.  We shook hands and departed ways.

It was about a week later five boxes of Puma tennis shoes come in the mail.  Thank you,  Reggie!

Baltimore Orioles

The next season,  the A’s traded Reggie to the Baltimore Orioles as a rental.  He was playing out his option and Charles Finley, the A’s owner, would never pay Reggie’s new market rate.