Thursday, May 28

This edition of the Yankees Beat newsletter was written by Bill Ladson. 

It’s hard to believe that Reggie Jackson just turned 80 on May 18. It seems like yesterday when he put on his Mr. October suit, hitting majestic home runs and winning World Series titles with the Athletics and Yankees.

The Baseball Hall of Famer is not sitting in his rocking chair. He is currently serving on the advisory board of the McLaren Racing team and is heavily involved in his Mr. October Foundation, which focuses on STEM education for underserved youth. The goal is to inform and inspire young learners in grades 5 to 9. 

MLB.com caught up with Jackson this week and asked him a wide range of questions, from staying fit at his age to his love for the Yankees. 

MLB.com: You look better than ever. How do you stay fit at age 80?   

Reggie Jackson: You give your blessings and your thanks to God. I try to focus on physicality, my health and eating good meals. I usually start off with some fruit and coffee in the morning, a glass of juice, maybe waffles or pancakes with scrambled eggs. I eat some cereal, but I’m careful. There is a lot of sugar. I try to stay away from a lot of sugar, if you will. 

I get a lot done in the morning. … I either go to the gym after making phone calls in the morning about business or go for a three-mile walk in my neighborhood.     

MLB.com: Tell me what you did for your 80th birthday.  

Jackson: I was trapped in Las Vegas. They had a windstorm and they shut down the airport. I was attending a charity event for a friend of mine, [Raiders owner] Mark Davis. He has the same birthday as I do. I went over there with a friend. We were leaving that night at 8:30, then there was a dust storm and it kept us in all night. 

The next day, we had a dinner party  for about 15 to 20 family members -- old friends. My daughter flew in with her children and husband. They were staying at my house. I just enjoyed a good night with salad, spaghetti and a little bit of wine. … It was family love, prayers and being happy together. The grandchildren were there. It was good eating together.                       

MLB.com: You always cared about your health. Who was your biggest influence in that department?  

Jackson: It was the environment I was in. My parents never drank, so drinking was not part of my growing up. … As some of my friends were getting ill, I started cutting out sugar. When I did that, things started working a little bit better. What I would say is, it was being around sports and realizing that you had to stay in shape. You couldn’t gain a lot of weight. You couldn’t eat a lot of junk. I never really wanted to go to Spring Training and get in shape. I wanted to be in shape. I paid attention to lifting weights, running and doing things like that. I enjoyed it. I didn’t consider it work. It’s the appreciation of life. It’s what God gave you.     

MLB.com: You are best known with the Yankees because of your World Series heroics. What do you think of the current team? 

Jackson: I always worry whether they are well rounded enough. I look and see that the pitching is there, and the offense is always there. But I don’t know if they have enough. I really don’t look at what they are doing now. I look at how they are going to do from Game 120. Everybody is going to lose 50, and everybody is going to win 50. It’s what you do with the last 42.  

When you get down the stretch, hunting becomes survival. It’s the guys that have to perform. I was talking to a guy the other day and he said, “Your stars have to perform. Everybody gets you there, but you have to have a shutdown guy and a couple of arms in the bullpen. I don’t care what kind of offense you have, you got to have the bullpen.” So I’m trying to pay attention to how well-rounded we are as a team, not depending on one pitcher or player. The Yankees probably have the best player in the game [Aaron Judge]. Everybody needs help. You can’t do it alone. All those home runs I hit in the World Series, there were guys on base. That’s important.                              

MLB.com: By the sound of your voice, I can tell you love the Yankees.   

Jackson: I really do feel like I’m part of the Steinbrenner family. George and I have always been connected. Now his son is running the team, and I used to throw batting practice to Hal when he was 9 years old. He was around Fort Lauderdale. The Steinbrenners were right in my prime. That’s when I became Mr. October. 

I get invited to Opening Day by Hal. I consider those kinds of things an honor when they bring me back to sit with him. I worked for his dad for 20 some-odd years as a special advisor, and I played there. I went to Houston [to work] for the Astros. I still have great relationships there. They have a great fanbase, but it’s really hard to beat the fanbase with the Yankees. You look around the world and you see Yankee hats. It’s prestigious and I'm honored to be associated with Mickey Mantle, Thurman Munson, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, Don Mattingly, Ron Guidry and all the guys. 

MLB.com: You worked for the Yankees when they drafted Aaron Judge. Did you think he would be this good? 

Jackson: No. You can never predict a guy is going to hit 50 homers four or five times in his career. I remember when it was his [first full] year in the big leagues. I was in the meetings when they asked my take on him in the big leagues. I said, “I think he is going to hit .250. He might hit 40 homers, but he is going to hit 30 homers. He is going to hit 15 balls on the nose that will go over the fence and … he is going to hit fly balls that aren't hit well that are going to be homers. He is going to strike out 200 times. If he can deal with it and go through the pain of becoming the great player, he is going to be great.                    

MLB.com: So he went beyond your expectations.

Jackson: He went beyond my expectations. He flirts with the Triple Crown now. 

MLB.com: What has impressed you the most about Judge?   

Jackson: He represents and carries himself as one of the great Yankees of the past and present. He thinks about what he says. He is very similar to Derek Jeter. I’m sure Judge learned how to be a captain by watching Derek. Judge is a great representative to be the face of baseball.    

MLB.com: Are there other sluggers you admire? 

Jackson: I really have a lot of respect for the kid in Seattle -- Cal Raleigh. How many games did he catch last year and he hit 60 homers as a catcher? That’s an amazing statistic. That will never be broken.

Shohei Ohtani is impressive. Aaron is the guy that covers the plate. He is exciting. He doesn’t have to hit it well. There is an outfielder in Atlanta -- Ronald Acuña Jr. He is impressive. I like Rafael Devers. I still say he is going to come back. He is very quiet. He got thrown in the center of something. That’s not his personality. It may take him a little time to get settled in, come back and start smashing. 

I have a lot of respect for José Ramírez. He is like Frank Robinson, who was in the shadows of Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Ramírez is a great player, and it gets overlooked. Freddie Freeman is a really nice piece for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts can do everything but pitch, and he should probably do that for an inning or two.     

MLB.com: How do you feel about the ABS system? Do you wish the system occurred when you were playing?            

Jackson: I see what it does. I don’t really like it. The game is changing. I’m OK with it. I’m uncomfortable with the computer and all that stuff, but only because I wasn’t in it and born in it. I accept the change. I do like the human part of a guy missing a call, and that’s what happens. You make errors, drop balls and strike out. 

Part of baseball is a call that impacted the perfect game in Detroit  [when Armando Galarraga was denied a no-hitter by a blown call by umpire Jim Joyce in 2010]. That’s part of the game. When Jackie Robinson stole home [in the 1955 World Series], Yogi Berra just about came out of his skin -- jumping up and down. That’s something I remember with the game. I’m glad I played like that. With it all, I’ll take the change. I would like to see baseball people that have played involved in the decision. You can’t play the game with a computer and a prediction. … That part of the game I don’t like. You think you can predict the player's greatness? You can’t do it. With all the great talent that players have, it’s what is in their heart, stomach and mind. … All that stuff is very important.              

MLB.com: If you had to do it over again as a player, what would you do differently?

Jackson: I probably would have focused on less strikeouts. My production would have been higher. It would have been something like, “Reggie, when you put the ball in play, you hit .357.” I didn’t think about stuff like that because I didn’t put it in play. That’s what it is. I would have focused on putting the ball in play a little bit more. Maybe concentrate on winning a Gold Glove. I got tagged as a bad outfielder by Billy Martin and it never left. No matter what I did, I was tagged.               

MLB.com: What advice would you give people approaching 80 years old?  

Jackson: Be grateful and thankful. Spend time with your family. Be careful of what you eat and do some kind of exercise four or five days a week. Stay away from sugar and alcohol. You don’t have to be zero on that, but be careful because it can kill you.            

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