August 2, 1977 – Yankees 9, Angels 3
- Sal Maiorana
- Aug 2, 2017
- 3 min read
ANAHEIM – After sitting out four of the previous five games, Reggie Jackson sent out some strange signals upon his return to the lineup.
Jackson was at his locker stall before the game, and he looked at his No. 44 jersey hanging there and said, “This is going to be quite a memory. Get a good picture of that fucker. It’s gonna be a collector’s item.”
What the hell did that mean? Well, the always inquisitive New York media scurried to find out, and it was revealed that, yes, it was possibly there was either a written clause in Jackson’s contract, or a verbal agreement with George Steinbrenner, that would allow Jackson to get out of the deal and become a free agent if the slugger deemed it necessary which, apparently, he did.
Jackson was absolutely miserable. He could not believe how terrible his first season in New York was going. Never before had he been treated so poorly by his teammates and his manager. Never before had he been pulled from the middle of a game in such an embarrassing way as he had been in Boston that memorable June day. Never had he not regularly hit cleanup in the batting order. And never had he been benched four out of five games because in those four games, a left-handed pitcher was starting. But this was his reality, and he was disillusioned with the situation enough to insinuate that he would look to escape from the five-year contract he had signed when the season was over.
When confronted about that possibility, Jackson said, “I won’t say. I wouldn’t answer if I did or did not. The contract is the same on both sides; we both have the same obligations. I will say there is a clause in my contract that if any terms of the agreement become public in whatever way, the contract becomes null and void. That is written in. My contract has many different features; I think it runs six pages. Revealing any portions of it is an infringement on my business privacy.”
Steinbrenner denied that any escape clause or agreement existed, and that Jackson was obligated to fulfill the entirety of his contract unless the Yankees decided to trade him.
Just more unhappiness for this ballclub, right across the street from the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney’s California playground.
When informed that he would be playing in this game, Jackson cracked, “I hope I don’t hit a home run tonight. The last time I did, I didn’t play the next two days.”
He didn’t hit a home run, but he did put aside his ill will and took full advantage of his return to the lineup by collecting three of the Yankees’ 19 hits, including a two-run single in the fourth that broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Yankees the lead for good.
What was interesting about that is California manager Dave Garcia yanked his right-handed starter, Paul Hartzell, and brought in rookie lefty Fred Kuhualua, a Hawaiian native who would be making his major-league debut against one of baseball’s great sluggers, with the bases loaded. Jackson ripped the kid’s first pitch to right and proved he could hit a left-hander, and you know he was cursing Billy Martin every step of the way to first base.
Not surprisingly, Jackson was snarky in the post-game media scrum. All along, when Martin had been asked why Jackson hadn’t been in the lineup recently, he kept saying Jackson’s elbow was sore, and that he wasn’t 100 percent.
“I wasn’t (100 percent)?” Jackson said. “They didn’t tell me that.”
When he was asked if he could have played in any of the games he had been held out of, Jackson said, “What do you think?”
Martin, simply unable to give Jackson credit, was asked about the contributions the Yankees had gotten from their free agents this season. “At the end of the year, you’re going to find some of them have great statistics, but they won’t have helped the ballclub. They’re individuals, not contributing to the team.”
It just boggled the mind, some of the things Martin said, and even more incredible was his insane jealousy of Jackson.
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