On This Date in Sports September 17, 1984
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
Reggie Jackson playing with the California Angels joins elite company when he hits his 500th career home run off Bud Black of the Kansas City Royals in the seventh inning of a game at Anaheim Stadium. It was the only run the Angels would score in a 10-1 loss. Jackson’s first home run was 17 years earlier with the Kansas City Athletics at Anaheim Stadium against Jim Weaver of the Angels.
Reggie Jackson, who first gained fame at Arizona State was ticketed for stardom right away in baseball after he was chosen second overall in the 1966 draft by the Kansas City Athletics after the New York Mets infamously chose Steve Chilcott who never reached the majors. Jackson’s father Martinez Jackson who worked as a tailor had his own baseball background, playing with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League.
Reggie Jackson made his debut with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, a franchise that had struggled for more than three decades to put together a winning team. In 13 seasons after moving from Philadelphia, the A’s had not posted a winning season. Though the pieces for a dynasty were coming together, with Reggie Jackson serving as the muscle in the lineup fans in Kansas City would not get to see it as the team moved to Oakland following the season.
In his first full season in the majors, Reggie Jackson hit 29 home runs, a year later he had a career-high 47 home runs as he became a fan favorite as baseball took a foothold in Oakland. The Athletics would become a dominant team in American League as the 70’s began, winning five straight Western Division Championships, which included three straight World Series Championships. Along the way Reggie Jackson was a key component, winning the American League and World Series MVP in 1973, a season in which he won the first of four home run titles.
As free agency was on the horizon, Oakland A’s Owner Charlie O. Finley began to break apart his team, trading Reggie Jackson to the Baltimore Orioles in 1976. After one season in Baltimore, Jackson signed a then-record they five-year contract worth $2.96 million with the New York Yankees. It was in New York, that Reggie Jackson’s star status reached new levels. While his five years with the Yankees were often turbulent, they were highly successful as the Yankees won the Eastern Division four out of five years and went to three World Series, winning twice, including 1977 when Reggie hit three home runs in the clinching sixth game, earning the nickname Mr. October.
Following the 1981 season, Reggie Jackson signed with the California Angels in his first season in Anaheim he helped lead the Halos to a Western Division title, but fell short in his quest to return to the World Series, as California blew a 2-0 series lead against the Milwaukee Brewers. Reggie Jackson would play five seasons with the Angels, again coming one win away from the World Series in 1986.
In 1987, Reggie Jackson returned to the Oakland Athletics for his final season, retiring with a career average of .262 with 563 career home runs and 1,702 RBI. One stat that he would like to forget is 2,597 career strikeouts which stands as the all-time record. Reggie Jackson would go on to earn enshrinement in the Hall of Fame in 1993, on the first ballot.