“Reggie Jackson is the ”straw that stirs the drink” on the Yankees now. Unless a serious problem develops in the negotiations of Jackson’s new contract and Reggie feels that George Steinbrenner has adopted Dave Winfield and abandoned him.”
-Dave Anderson, New York Times, 12/16/80
When the Yankees signed Dave Winfield, his new teammate Reggie Jackson had a piece of advice about what to expect. “‘It’s the greatest place to play and it’s the toughest,” Reggie said. ”It can be Disneyland or it can be hell.”
By the end of the 1981 season Reggie was in hell and he wanted out. The previous season, Reggie had batted .300 for the first, and only as it turned out, time in his career, tied Ben Oglivie for the American League lead in home runs with 41, and driven in 111 runs. In 1981, he slipped into the abyss, batting just .237 to Winfield’s .294. Dave Anderson’s speculation had become reality and Jackson was looking for a new home.
The Suitors
Jackson entered 1982, his age-36 season, with 425 career home runs and was still an offensive force despite the poor 1981 campaign. In addition to the Braves, Jackson was drawing serious interest from the Angels and the Baltimore Orioles, for whom he played in 1976.
Atlanta was seen as a dark horse in the race by everyone except, seemingly, the Braves.
“I think we’re still in the running,” said Atlanta Executive Vice President Al Thornwell in mid-January of 1982. “No. 2 behind New York. I feel if the Yankees wish to retain him and make him an offer, that’s where he’ll play.”
But the Yankees weren’t interested in bringing Reggie back and George Steinbrenner made that clear when he indicated a change in strategy for his team going forward.
“We’re not going to be the old ‘put one out of the park, big inning team’ anymore,” he said. “A running team is toughest on the opposing pitcher. I want the first five guys in our lineup to be burners.”
While Steinbrenner didn’t mention Reggie by name, the message was clear. Reggie was a lot of things, but “a burner” wasn’t one of them, especially at his age. The Yankees were out.
An Offer Reggie Can’t Refuse
In a last-ditch effort, Turner pulled put all the stops… sort of, when he announced he was offering Reggie Jackson a $100 million dollar contract. The only catch was the length of the deal.
“I told him I’d have to defer some of it,” Turner said. “I told him I’d give him a dollar a year for 100 million years. Or maybe $10 a year for 10 million years.”
While the joke was obvious, the interest in signing Jackson was sincere.
“Just think how much fun it would be to have Reggie in Atlanta,” Turner said. “It would be fun for the fans, for the TV viewers, for the writers, for our pitchers, for me, for managements, for the ticket sellers, for the peanut vendors. Wed put them on commission.”
Adding Reggie Jackson to a lineup that already included Bob Horner, Dale Murphy, and Chris Chambliss would certainly make the Braves an offensive force. The question was could Turner afford Reggie?
Ever the shrewd businessman, Turner felt he could. “With deferred payments, you can give a guy $100,000 a year and it’ll only cost you $25 if you do it right,” he said.
It would likely cost Turner more than that to land Reggie, especially when he was bidding against Baltimore’s Edwin Bennett Williams and California’s Gene Autry, neither of whom were afraid to open up their checkbooks.
All’s Well that Ends Well
Reggie ultimately ended up with the Angels, signing a five year deal worth about $5-million. But things worked out for the Braves, as they began the 1982 season by winning their first 13 games and qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1969 thanks, in part, to an MVP season from Dale Murphy.
Reggie helped the Angels win the American League West, but they didn’t have enough to get past the Milwaukee Brewers in the ALCS. Still, what would have happened had Reggie Jackson ended up in Atlanta?
We’ll never know, but we can rest assured it would have been entertaining.
