Becoming Mr. October, Reggie Jackson
Becoming Mr. October, Reggie Jackson
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Becoming Mr. October
The Revealing Story of Reggie Jackson and the World Champion New York Yankees

Author: Reggie Jackson, Kevin Baker

Narrator: Reggie Jackson

Unabridged: 10 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/08/2013


Synopsis

A soul-baring, brutally candid, and richly eventful memoir of the two years—1977 and 1978—when Reggie Jackson went from outcast to Yankee legend

In the spring of 1977 Reggie Jackson should have been on top of the world. The best player of the Oakland A’s dynasty, which won three straight World Series, he was the first big-money free agent, wooed and flattered by George Steinbrenner into coming to the New York Yankees, which hadn’t won a World Series since 1962. But Reggie was about to learn, as he writes in this vivid and surprising memoir, that until his initial experience on the Yankees “I didn’t know what alone meant.”
     His manager, the mercurial, alcoholic, and pugilistic Billy Martin, never wanted him on the team and let Reggie—and the rest of the team—know it. Most of his new teammates, resentful of his contract, were aloof at best and hostile at worst. Brash and outspoken, but unused to the ferocity of New York’s tabloid culture, Reggie hadn’t realized how rumor and offhand remarks can turn into screaming negative headlines—especially for a black athlete with a multimillion-dollar contract. Sickened by Martin’s anti-Semitism, his rages, and his quite public disparagement of his new star, ostracized by his teammates, and despairing of how he was stereotyped in the press, Reggie had long talks with his father about quitting. Things hit bottom when Martin plotted to humiliate him during a nationally televised game against the Red Sox. It seemed as if a glorious career had been derailed.
     But then: Reggie vowed to persevere; his pride, work ethic, and talent would overcome Martin’s nearly sociopathic hatred. Gradually, he would win over the fans, then his teammates, as the Yankees surged to the pennant. And one magical autumn evening, he became “Mr. October” in a World Series performance for the ages. He thought his travails were over—until the next season when the insanity began again.
     Becoming Mr. October is a revelatory self-portrait of a baseball icon at the height of his public fame and private anguish. Filled with revealing anecdotes about the notorious “Bronx Zoo” Yankees of the late 1970s and bluntly honest portrayals of his teammates and competitors, this is eye-opening baseball history as can be told only by the man who lived it.

About The Author

REGGIE JACKSON was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. He hit 563 home runs and drove in 1,702 runs over the course of his twenty-one-year career. He played three World Series–winning seasons with the Oakland Athletics and two with the New York Yankees. He is a special adviser to the Yankees. KEVIN BAKER is the prize-winning author of the historical novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Strivers Row; the baseball novel Sometimes You See It Coming; and, most recently, The Big Crowd. He served as chief historical researcher for the nonfiction bestseller The American Century. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lee on October 19, 2013

Part 1 - What if? What if the Mets had drafted me? What if the Orioles hadn't traded me? What if I went to LA instead of NY? Part 2 - Billy Martin is drunken alcoholic who made my life miserable in 1977. I was innocent, and the media misunderstood me and was constantly on Billy's side. But I persever......more

Goodreads review by wade on September 07, 2015

An interesting but somewhat self serving autobiography chronicling Mr. Jackson's early years up through his two championship seasons with the New York Yankees. There is a wealth of great baseball insight and inside information but if there is a central theme it is his clashes with his manager Billy......more

Goodreads review by Mr.b on January 29, 2014

Reggie wants you to know a couple of things: 1. He's black. And anything bad that anyone has ever said about him - or about any other black person, especially Barack Obama - it's only because he's black. America is racist, racist, racist. 2. Billy Martin was a terrible human being and a terrible mana......more

Goodreads review by Caleb Blevins on October 04, 2018

This is probably one of my favorite sports books I’ve read so far. I went in knowing little about Reggie except for his 3 HR game in 1977. I finished the book loving him and feeling remorseful as he dealt with racial discrimination from inside the clubhouse for being multiethnic. I would recommend t......more

Goodreads review by Ed on November 25, 2013

This was a fun read for me, a baseball fan from the late 1960s. I liked the great Oakland Athletics teams Reggie played on before he went on to the larger stage with the Yankees. Reading lots of familiar baseball names helps to tide me over until spring training begins again.......more