He's still able to stir things up
Jackson puts on a show of his own
NEW YORK - He was announced to the sellout gathering at Yankee Stadium prior to last night's Game 4 between the Yankees and Indians, and Reggie Jackson showed that he still knows how to work a crowd. Dressed in a Yankee jacket, Jackson threw out the first pitch to catcher Jose Molina and heard the "Reggie! Reggie!" chants that rang in his ears like sweet music when he owned the city as Mr. October in the late 1970s.
Jackson, a Yankee special adviser for the last 16 years, has surely mellowed, but when it comes to speaking his mind, well, that hasn't changed.
In a wide-ranging interview near the batting cage, Jackson discussed ESPN's miniseries, "The Bronx is Burning," and talked about George Steinbrenner, Alex Rodriguez, and life some 30 years after he starred in New York.
As for the ESPN show, Jackson said, "I was embarrassed. I never had a chance to explain my side of it. They cut and pasted all of those interviews and made it look like I collaborated on the story. It was embarrassing to me. I thought it was an encroachment.
"If you don't participate, you're not involved. It disappointed me that they cut and pasted my interviews to make it look like I participated. They had a moral and fiduciary responsibility not to do that.
"They want to call me the central figure but they don't want to give me any credit. They don't want me to broadcast anywhere. They don't want to credit me."
Jackson, who hit 10 home runs and knocked in 24 runs in 27 World Series games, has remained close and loyal to Steinbrenner.
Though he wishes he had paid his dues and gotten an opportunity to manage, he has no illusions now of ever having a shot. He is comfortable in his role.
"We had our bumps and arguments over the years, but we always had our respect for one another," Jackson said of Steinbrenner.
Jackson portrayed the 77-year-old Yankee owner as a man acutely aware of his surroundings, despite reports that he might be losing some mental capacity.
"Much better than he was," Jackson said. "Go try and pull something on him. You'd get caught.
"He's not George Steinbrenner when he was 45 years old, but you can't pull anything on him. He knows what's going on, so don't try to sneak something past him because you won't succeed.
"He wants his boys to take over, but he still has the trigger. You saw that yesterday [with the ultimatum that Joe Torre must win the series to save his job]. He still reserves the right to change his mind, but he's the one who's going to make the decisions."
The more things change in baseball, the more they stay the same in New York. Jackson was around in Steinbrenner's heyday when he had his finger on everything and drove the late Billy Martin crazy.
"He was way worse on Billy than he's ever been on Joe," Jackson said. "Joe's a tough target. He can manage and he's been as successful as anybody.
"If you don't win, then Joe's going to be a target. That's the deal. So it's not a situation where you ask, is it appropriate? Is it politically correct? You knew that when you signed up."
Jackson said he's worked about 100 days this year for the Yankee organization on assignments for general manager Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenners.
"I'm all over the minor league system," he said. "We have an extended camp with our high-ceiling talent. I will be in the Dominican at our camp there. And I'll sit with Cash and meet with him when he wants to talk.
"I have a nice relationship with the Steinbrenners. I do what I'm told. I do what I'm asked. They don't ask me to do anything that's disrespectful. They're honorable people. I've known them a long, long time. I certainly had my bumps and battles with George, but he's been good to me for a long time.
"I report to Brian or to Hank or Hal [Steinbrenner] and any part of ownership. Sometimes a trainer might have something for me to talk to a player about. Maybe a hitting coach will ask me to say something to one of the hitters. I try to work with anyone who asks me to do something."
He said he's learned in his role never to push an agenda on anyone.
He's around a lot and the players know who he is and what he's done. They are very respectful. Rodriguez clearly leans on him a great deal.
"I just try to talk to them about what's going on and the things they might be going through and what's ahead for them," said Jackson.
Jackson said his current role can be frustrating because there's a natural tendency to want to be more involved.
"I would like to take it to another level, but I don't want to be the general manager or manager," he said. "Certainly I want to have input, but if I put something out there, it doesn't work, so I don't do that anymore.
"I've been in this organization in this capacity now for 16 years. I could work for any organization but I wouldn't leave the Steinbrenners. I knew George when he was 45. Now he's 77. It would be tough for me to go away." 