May 23, 1977 – Red Sox 4, Yankees 3

NEW YORK – Reggie Jackson’s world was beginning to unravel, and the drama that would soon be enveloping the Yankees clubhouse over the next month would become historic fodder for decades to come.

Dozens of books have been written about the 1977 season and the key individual principals in the theater that played out that year. And here I am, 40 years later, re-living it in this blog because 1977 was one of the most fascinating seasons in team history.

Jackson, of course, was in the middle of most of the opprobrium as his massive ego cast a dark cloud over a club that was already populated by egos and characters. And yet Reggie simply wasn’t grasping the fact that he was the primary problem, literally the “straw who stirred the drink”, just not in the way he thought.

As far back as the spring, he sensed trouble. When Jackson had reported to Fort Lauderdale, he had been surprised by the somewhat cold welcome he had received from his teammates. He considered himself a great guy and didn’t understand why no one in New York, outside of George Steinbrenner, seemed to like him, and he stewed about it well into the regular season.

When Sports Illustrated came to the Bronx for a cover story in the issue dated May 2, Jackson said, “In the spring there was a lot of give and take, but no melting together. It was uncomfortable for everybody. When the press started aggravating the situation, I thought it would have been better for everybody if I had not come at all. I knew the team didn’t need the controversy. Besides, this was a great team before I got here. They don’t need Reggie Jackson to win.”

That was, in essence, true. This Yankee team had won the 1976 American League pennant without him, so guys like Thurman Munson and Graig Nettles and Mickey Rivers didn’t appreciate Reggie strutting into town talking about the “magnitude of me” and how he “didn’t come to New York to become a star; I brought my star here.”

In those roiling first few months that he was on the team, they were beginning to see why Jackson’s former teammate in Oakland, pitcher Darold Knowles, once said, “There isn’t enough mustard in the world to cover this hot dog.”

Jackson had been benched by Billy Martin three times in the past week, and was still batting sixth in the lineup which was not only embarrassing him, but flat out angering him. He was miserable, there was no denying that. But there was no excuse for the bush-league stunt he pulled after hitting a game-tying home run in the seventh inning in the first game of the season against the arch-rival Red Sox.

As he completed his trot around the bases, rather than entering the dugout in the usual spot nearest home plate, he purposely went down to the far end, ignoring his teammates and Billy Martin who were waiting to congratulate him.

“I’m going to talk to him about that tomorrow,” Martin said afterward. “The thing I’m concerned about is how it affects the rest of the team. What he did is not good for the club. It’s gotta be stopped.”

Jackson’s excuse was that his hand was sore and he didn’t want to exchange handshakes or slapping five. Thurman Munson was told of that comment and his reply was, “He said that? He’s a damn liar.”

As for the game, Jackson’s home run was quickly erased in the eighth inning when Boston scored twice to open a 4-2 lead. Yankee starter Ed Figueroa had allowed just two home runs in his first 67 innings this year, but he was tagged back-to-back for solo homers by Dwight Evans and Butch Hobson in the second.

After Jackson’s homer tied the score, Boston got a sacrifice fly by Rick Burlseon and an RBI single by Jim Rice in the eighth. New York cut the margin to 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth when pinch-hitter Jimmy Wynn walked and eventually scored on an error by Red Sox first baseman George Scott, but in the ninth, Jackson struck out against Bill Campbell to end the game.

Here's the video on the famous 1976 brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox.

This made Bill Lee the winning pitcher, and the Spaceman loved nothing more in his career than to beat the Yankees. In 1976, Lee had helped to precipitate a brawl against the Yankees and during the melee, he was slammed to the ground by Graig Nettles and suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him more than two months. Since then, he had relished every opportunity to take pot shots at the Yankees. Following the game, he said, “I had a vision of the ghost of Christmas past coming into my hotel room. It had the face of George Steinbrenner with Billy Martin’s body.”

No one knew what the hell that was supposed to mean, but obviously the ghost didn’t affect Lee as he pitched seven innings of five-hit ball which included two satisfying strikeouts of Nettles.

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