ReggieWritten By: Reggie Jackson with Mike Lupica
byWP
"Mr October"
"... I knew damn well that I should be first pick. Now it wasn't going to happen because I had a wite girlfriend? She wasn't white anyway... I was findong at a young age that The Man-- The (white) Man-- had all sorts of ways to hold you down."(49)
(Where)
"The Straw That
Stirs The Drink"
Reggie is not drafted first round to the Major League because he had a "white girlfriend" that actually was Mexican-American. He was very upset because there was no reason for this discrimination against him and his private life. "The (white) Man" messed up his draft. This was the first of many blows Reggie received from the "The Man".
"We were all twenty and twenty-one years old in a strange world that none of us, white or black, really knew anything about...[I] didn't know anything about being ecthical or philosophical in matters like these."(59)
(Reggie)
Reggie was playing in his second season in the Minor Leagus in Birmingham. Reggie and some of his white teammates were living in the same apartments. The landlord found out that Reggie was staying in the apartment, and he told the guys that they all had to leave or just Reggie had to leave. Reggie did not really know how to take all if this racism. It was a shock to his system.
"John McNamara tried to help out as much as he could, and so did my teammates, but what could they do really? Change the color of my skin? I knew they cared, however, which helped. When we'd stop at some diner for hambugers or something to eat, McNamara wouldn't compromise. It was simple for him: If they didn't serve me, they weren't going to serve anyone."(61)
(ReggieJackson)
Reggie really is not used to everyone judging him. He is used to everyone knowing him as the star. He was a super star at ASU and his highschool. That is what he was used to. It is shocking that people would not serve Reggie and his whole minor league team because he is African-American. It is awesome that the manager of the team would not settle for the resturaunt's racism against Reggie.
"[Reggie] shook his hand and said,"Nice to meet you Mr. [Bear] Bryant. I've heard a lot about you"...Bryant smiled, looked away from me over from me and to his son, and said very matter-of-factly, "Now this is the kind of nigger boy I need to start my football program."
I'll never forget that moment in the clubhouse at Rickwood Field. I was the kind of "nigger boy" he needed to start a football program. The funny thing is, I knew he didn't mean any harm with those words... He was drawing on his own experience, his own life, and trying to be nice." (63)
(reggie.jackson)
Bear Bryant is a legend of football coaching, and to hear someone so many people respect and look up to talk like this is outrageous. Reggie talks a lot about how Bryant really was sincere about his comment. Bryant says the harmful words because it was how he grew and the times. It was perfectly acceptable to say that kind of stuff, and Reggie understood it too. It was just Bryant's experiences.
"We went to Texas once. The game was on national television. I hit two home runs against Doyle Alexander. There was a sign that stretched from center field all the way to the right-field foul line. It said: REGGIE JACKSON IS A BOZO. This sign had to have been a hundred yards long. I was staggered that someone would've taken the time to do something that negative against another human being they knew nothing about." (177)
Reggie is a person and many people think they know what goes on in the mind of Reggie Jackson, but that is not right at all. He could not believe that people would be this awful toward another person. Reggie reflects a lot on people assuming they knew him because it happens to him a lot.
(ReggieJackson)
Reggie Jackson's book gives a very interesting look through the eyes of an athlete at the 1960's through the 1980's. Jackson had a great childhood experiencing very little racism. He was used to being a super star from college and high school, but when he got drafted and put on a team in the south, it was a whole different story. He had to rise above racism and work his way to the top. Something that is brought up a lot in the book is how people assume they know Reggie Jackson. Though the 1970's and 1980's and even now People do this a lot. If a really good athlete is on another team other than the one a person roots for than the person hates that athlete or the other way around. People do this and it hurts the athlete badly. Reggie went through the segregation and came out a star. People did not care that Reggie was African-American when he was a super star. He helped people realize that skin color does not matter.
(ReggieJackson)
Work Cited Jackson, Reggie ., and Mike Lupica. Reggie. New York: Villard Books, 1984.
byWP
"... I knew damn well that I should be first pick. Now it wasn't going to happen because I had a wite girlfriend? She wasn't white anyway... I was findong at a young age that The Man-- The (white) Man-- had all sorts of ways to hold you down."(49)
(Where)
Stirs The Drink"
Reggie is not drafted first round to the Major League because he had a "white girlfriend" that actually was Mexican-American. He was very upset because there was no reason for this discrimination against him and his private life. "The (white) Man" messed up his draft. This was the first of many blows Reggie received from the "The Man".
I'll never forget that moment in the clubhouse at Rickwood Field. I was the kind of "nigger boy" he needed to start a football program. The funny thing is, I knew he didn't mean any harm with those words... He was drawing on his own experience, his own life, and trying to be nice." (63)
Jackson, Reggie ., and Mike Lupica. Reggie. New York: Villard Books, 1984.
"ReggieJackson." photograph. 1Dec2008. < http://reggiejones.net/images/reggie.bmp>
"Reggie." photograph. 1Dec2008. <httpwww.sonsofsamhorn.net/wiki /index.php/Image:ReggieJackson.jpg>
“reggie.jackson.” photograph. 1Dec2008. <http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/alex_belth/03/02/spring.stories/p1.reggie.jackson.si.jpg>
"Where are they now: Reggie Jackson" 2 Dec. 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhmncGjwu1A&eurl=http:narrativewiki.wikispaces.com/Reggie+Jackson&feature=player_embedded