The Reggie Jackson Episode

Don't get it twisted on code and me and dancing for no fundament biscuits. It's Willie den y'all. Scar faces in the building, Collective Louis are the ghetto boys, reloaded with another episode of information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, beautiful world. In the studio, Reggie Jackson a fan. We're talking living legend, We're talking iconic, We're talking you know, even greater than his baseball accolaides

is his accolades as a human being. Reggie Johnson, Reggie, well, you know what I knew I was gonna do that, you know, Reggie Johnson, you for medi with Reggie Johnson, the boxer. Reggie Johnson is a personal friend of mine, so I always I'm always saying his name, and I knew. I was like, I don't want to mess up at least once saying, uh, Mike mixing your name with Reggie's name. But Reggie Jackson is in the building. Fail. Um I want to. I want to. I just want to just

like run down some of the accolades real quick. This is important. Uh, just established you know why we're having this conversation in the first place. Five time World Series champion, two time World Series MVP, two times Civil Slugger Award winner, four times a l home run King nineteen seventy three, he was the m v P of the of the league and in he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. And you know, I was thinking about all

of these accomplishments of yours. Do you you know ever have people come up to you and talk about your stats and your records and you like, man, what are you talking about? Like do you do you keep up with that stuff? Um? Well, if I would be saying that to someone, um, I I have that happened a lot. Um, But I wouldn't say to them, do you keep up with that stuff? I would be grateful and you know, thank them for being a fan, shake their hand and

say thank you very much. If they didn't want anything else, I'd just say thank you, right and be honored. I was looking at your d o, b you was born in ninety six. You just had celebrated a birthday, and did you actually celebrateed? Did you do anything special? I was with my lady, my companion for thirty years, and um, we flew to Las Vegas to do to have a business lunch with a group of Honda guys. That there

was a big event there. So we flew to Houston and on the way we stopped in uh Las Vegas for a few hours, and we came down here and had dinner with friends for my birthday. Uh, Kyle, did I have dinner with you on my birthday? Yeah? I came and I had dinner at the Potente in great restaurant, fantastic. Yeah, for my birthday. Right, right, we're having been lated. I

was looking at uh seventy six years old. I'm fifty five, so another two many years I'll be your age, right, Uh, your current age and I'm thinking, like you know, oftentimes people would say, well, um, what would the old do you tell the younger you? I want to know what would the older you today till a fifty six year old Reggie Jackson, Um, fifty six year old. Um, it's not a young man. Uh. You know he was, and I wouldn't even say he was middle aged. But you know,

at fifty six, you should be established. Uh, you should own a home, um, and you should be doing things that you love and enjoy. Not everyone has afforded that. That's a luxury. Um. Most people. My father at the age of fifty six had support six seven, eight nine kids, you know we had. He had six at home, and he had another three or four of you know outside that he had to support. So and he worked until he was in his seventies too to keep hustling in

order to make life for themselves in himself. UM. And so you know, it's a different world for an African American. UM. So I would tell you things differently than I would tell a White American because the opportunities are different for each even in today's world. So that makes a difference, um, you know, and trying to pass on UM, what would be coming up in your life, and what you should pay attention to really is where is your family, where

are your children? Who is your mate? Um? And what are you plan on doing with the rest of your life. At fifty six, you're fifty five, Um, you should be on a path of spending time and building your relationships and solidifying your relationships with your immediate family, children, wife, brothers, sisters. At fifty six, both my parents were alive. UM, so that's twenty years ago. My mother died in two thousands, so she, you know, just recently passed. I was late

early fifties and my dad passed when I was forty seven. Um. But my dad had me when he was late because he passed at ninety. So I was fortunate to have he. We were great friends. Um. My dad got to see me play baseball. He got he was in a stadium tonight. I had three home runs. Um. Yes, uh. When when I got when I made it in the big leagues and made it in professional sports, my dad was young enough to receive the rewards of the money that I earned, and so I shared with my two parents. Helped all

brothers and sisters, but I shared with my parents. I didn't want them to have a rough life at all anymore. UM and so I was very close to family. UM. I became the nurturer of my mom and dad at at probably forty five or fifty. UM and I helped them when I was in my twenties financially, UM. And that was important for me. UM. And as as a colored Negro African American, I was all those things Nigra.

You know, you know you're all those things. As you were coming along in my era, UM, you know, you made sure that you took care of your folks, um and so, and I enjoyed it, and I was proud of it. UM and I enjoyed my parents being comfortable. So. UM. At the age of in my fifties, I was working and gathering and still building the blocks of life. I was still building my village, if you will, UM, garnering and gathering assets to be able to take care of

and provide for my family around me. Did you feel any panic? Panic? Panic? For it's like a sense of urgency. Let me get this right before, No, no, no. I went about it in a daily way. Uh. I had conversations with God all the time. UM. I remember being in Yankee Stadium, getting booed by the crowd. I had had a tough time there in the early years, being black, being a Yankee, wearing the pinstripes, and um, I wasn't subservient as a colored man. I was. I considered myself equal.

I demanded dignity, and so I had what was interpreted as an arrogance, and I was I was arrogant because I was constantly demeaned as a colored and so negro um oh I had. I carried a chip on my shoulder for a long time and got to the point where when I would even see videos, I didn't really like myself. But I was always defending who I was as a man. You know, you're you're You're glad you're here with the Yankees. You're you're lucky you're here with

the Yankees. And I used to go like, you're right, but you're way more glad I'm here than me. Glad I'm here. You're glad I'm here. And so I took it that way all the time of rather cow towing to someone, I wanted to be on equal ground and be recognized for the man. I was not not the the strongest coon in the room or the most powerful

and the most talented. UM athletes and African American athletes were all ways considered a tremendous what an unbelievable talent, and the white athlete was a coach on the field, a manager on the floor. Um, you know, great understanding of the game. I could see great vision, Um where the athlete and I have had conversation. I threw a conversations with Michael just a couple of months ago in

Florida where he said, gos Reggie. You know sometimes I still get upset with people thinking that I didn't work on my skills and I just walked into gym. Game started at eight o'clock. I rolled in at sixth already got dressed and went out and played. And he said, I know you understand that it took work to get to where I got to, where my good fortune brought me to where I am today. I've worked at it. Yes, Um, who is at least in the paragraph of greatest athlete,

the great basketball player, He's in the last sentence. It's either him or someone else that is the greatest. That is the real goat. You know when I hang around with him, then you've got a couple of goats in the room with me in him or or whomever. But when it gets down to the end that you know the last few, you know Jackie Robinson, Hank Karen Williams, Jimmie Brown, Michael, Jordan's chamberlain, Bill Russell. There was a lot of cats, Tiger, There's a lot of cats in there.

But you know Jordan's and five, six, seven, eight, nine guys you mentioned there in the last paragraph, A couple of them in the last sentence. When you get that mini goats into one room, now it becomes a matter of subjectiveness, right is it's it's it's it's whomever you pick. And those guys I knew of them all. None of them have any preference of being the guy. They're comfortable and grateful, uh to be in the paragraph, Um, you know, in talking to my Michael the last time, describely the

best conversation I've ever had with him. He should Reggie, guys, I never thought I would be where I am today for my my product and my my commercialism that has turned into into the business that I've got. I never dreamed would be like this, he said. I want to enjoy it and share it. With my family. What what what better words could you say? You know? Were there any like similar opportunities for endorsement deals? Yeah, oh yeah. I made more money off the field and I made

on I made more money in endorsements. I had to deal with Panasonic that paid me two hundred and fifty thousand a year for twenty years. Nice twenty years. I when I left them. I was with him for about ten or eleven years, and they paid me for the next eight for an appreciation of UM helping their brand.

When I was in New York, we had a couple of signs there that the Lincoln Tunnel, the most popular sign in the world at the time, like having something on forty two Street that you had to go by that sign to get in and out of the city. And we had it for like ten years and I only played there for five, but Panasonic rewarded me got very comfortably for that. I wish I had known that it was called Reggie Vision. Reggie, It's called Reggie Vision. Did you do any UM Coca Cola sprite or no

I Gatorade? Now there were no drinks like that, you know. I was on the cover of Wheaties or the box um. And then I did some Faberge stuff, you know, the group Faberge with with Joe Namath and uh, you know Puma shoes. Uh was was my brand for the longest time. And um, let it pays you. Oh yeah, yeah. I did a lot of work for ABC Television. I was, I did. I did several world series as an announcer when I was a player, right right, right right. I

saw some of that, do you. You have often heard the old adage, you know, ah, money ain't good money. Have that been opportunities that was presented to you? And you would like, that's not consistent with my brand? And I don't want the money. I don't care how much money do you guys offer me. I'm not going to endorse that. Proc um that I would say that that has happened to me. But I never really was approached

by a brand I didn't want to be associated with. UM. You know, I was honored to do the the Panasonic UM television thing. And you know, as as a young kid, I watched an Admiral TV. I watched an r c A, I watched the Philco. I watched them old raggedy ones that you know, you couldn't afford that you could afford. Um. And so when Panasonic came along, it was an honor. It was turned down by Bill Cosby. And that was a woman. Um. She did a lot of horror movies.

I can't remember. She was the daughter of Curtis Jamie Jamie Lay. She had a chance to do it, and they Panasonic was offering them, you know, four hundred thousand a year, and it was going to turn into a million a year for them, and Bill Cosby didn't want it,

you know, unless it was seven figures. And I said to my my agent said, they're offering two hundred fifty thousand a year Reggie for three years with an evergreen, which means after the third year, after the first year, it extended a third year, and then after that year you got another third year. So it was green for three years. So when you got terminated, you had three years left. I said, do me a favor. Don't send it to me, sign my name and drive it over

to Jersey. I said, go and get that money and get that deal and get it done. You don't need to send it to me. Let's go back to win Cope, Let's go back to Let's go back to to to Abington town Ship. Let's go back to Montgomery County, Pennsylvania where it all started for you. How was it like growing up out there? Um? You know, we had uh, six children at home with the parents, and my parents divorced when they when I was six. My dad took three, my mom took three, and um, I don't know they

ever got a divorce and never remarried neither. But you know, my dad was a hard worker. My mother was a government employee. She was a hard worker. She moved to Philadelphia. We lived in in um Wincote, which was just on the outskirts of Philadelphia suburb, and my dad worked during the day and he came home at night and cooked for the three children. My once oldest sister left and then my brother went to the service, and I was really alone for a while. One of my other brothers

came and lived with us, got me through high school. Um, but it was based basically, you know, we had heat in the house. Um, we didn't have a lot of extra food, and my dad bought food home from work every day because he owned his own business as a tailor and dry cleaner. Um, you know, but we we

ate every day. Uh, a lot of times we had to We had to wait till my dad got home until we could put heat in the house because we had to go buy five gallons of kerosene to get the heat turned on it because it would run all night. But you know, I had a tough, tough home life. Went to school every day, never really took any days off because you could get meals you could eat at school. Um, and you and I was always on a sports team,

so you showered at school a lot every day. You could shower there because at home, without heating the house in the morning, it was too cold. There was no hot water, you know, so we had to heat water to wash wash up in the morning. Yeah, I can relate to going to school to eat that meal, man, because if if I didn't go to school, I probably would not eat some day. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely can't relate to that. You mentioned your brother help you out,

help you get through school household. Um, you know, he helped me dress, uh, and and and we're the right clothes things like that, and uh. But we you know, went to went to the same school for a while then, but he left and then went to live with my mom. Um. But you know, we had a brothers and the sisters and the family kids. We did stick together and uh check in on each other. And you were four sports athlete.

You played baseball, basketball, football, and what was the other ransom track and you ran track and track and field. How did you gravitate towards baseball? Like? And how did you get started with baseball? And how did you figure out like out of all of these sports, I'm gonna take my chances from baseball. Well, really, we had the neighborhood baseball field in our backyard. Um it wasn't that big, but you know, you could, you know, have four or five guys on the team and play a game of

baseball in the backyard. And my father worked inside in his business. He'd come out and check on it from time to time. But the neighborhood games were a lot

of times in our backyard. That's hell of convenient, um, you know, you know, so you know, and I had to hit right handed a lot of times because if I hit left handed and hit the ball or maybe two feet, then it would go in the neighbor's yard and in the garden and they'd either keep the ball or yell at you because going in and chasing the ball, stamping on their plants or you know, garden or whatever. But you had to. If you didn't, you had You could play sports in high school junior high as well.

But if you weren't on the first team, UH, Dad wasn't interested in building your social skills. You had to come home and work if you weren't on the first drink. So if you were sitting on the bench, you quit the team and brought you at you brought you a buttle work and helped you know so. But I made all the first string baseball, basketball, football, ran track UM during the baseball season. UM, and I went to college at Arizona State University. I was a much better football player. UM.

I had size and speed. I was a hundred ninety pounder pounder in high school as a half back UH and safety, and then at Arizona State, I got to about one seven at two oh three, ran a four or five forty, had sized and I was really looking to play pro football. UM. I had played baseball, and I love baseball. I was probably the number one player in the area in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and all around. UM, but I had a you know, I was with a single parent and a lot of racism in my neighborhood

as a black kid. And I was angry and tough, um from the racial slurs and racial stuff that you dealt with all the time. So I had an attitude and I was physical. Um. You know, if somebody would call you a nigger, than you're going to what you? I gotta beat you. You know, I would meet a kid up and then take him to the principal's office. You would take him to the prison to carry him to the office and say I just beat him, beat him up because he called me and nigger. Yeah yeah, boys.

Reloaded podcast will be right back after the set. You played for Kansas City Athletics, Oakland Athletics, You played for the California Angels, You played for Baltimore Orioles, you played for New York Yankees. That's a lot of moving around, you know. I often want to like when baseball players, football players, basketball players, and they get relocated a lot, when they get traded and stuff that, how what kind

of impact that has on your family? Um? Well, I was married for a couple of years with the Oakland A's and so my tenure with the A's was eight seasons, I was married into a single, married, and single again in those eight years. I was only married for about four years. I really wasn't ready to be married, and I my home didn't have a marriage in it, and so I really didn't quite get it. Um, wasn't the

best husband. Didn't really know how to have a friend or friendship in in in your home between a woman and you. So my my marriage failed. Um, and I stayed single for the longest time, never got married again. Um, but certainly have a you know, a lady in my life now that's special. Yeah. You was getting a lot of action though, man, I mean that's kind of hard though to you know, like, especially if you're not ready.

If you say I'm not ready and you got women coming at you from all angles, don't really too much matter what you have at home. If if there was women are coming at you like that, that's kind of hard to resist. Well, I didn't really look at it that way. That happened, but I was not. I didn't have the institution of marriage under the roof I lived in. My parents argued all the time. They finally got divorced.

I was six years old, and I remember the day m HM when I was six, and so, you know, so I didn't have a pattern, and I didn't have the environment. You didn't know it, you know. And I've dated a couple of girls that had wonderful parents parenting and uh parents that um. I dated a girl for a few years and her parents were together for twenty some years and they were still girlfriend and boyfriend in their sixties. And it was so it was wonderful to

see it. Wonderful, you know, to be in a relationship when you could see that the parents had created an environment that the girl was going to make no matter who she married, she was going to make a good wife because she lived in that environment. I don't I don't recall any stories of any wild stories of women coming for you, you know, like we live in the middle.

We live in this meto era where guys get caught up all the time, athletes and rappers, they're getting caught up all the time with these these women coming after them for money and and babies. And they got babies and and they want the money. They're trying to get to the money. Have you ever had a situation like that before? Yes, I have. Um, you know, I had a child at a wedlock, and it's probably the greatest thing that's ever happened to me and the girl that

I had a child. The child with hired Gloria already who was known to this day, and that was my daughter thirty one years old. Glory already was around back when she was four or five years old. Um, And so you know, I went through it. I got through it. Um. I got a wonderful daughter out of it. And I'm blessed and grateful um that I have a spectacular child

that's given me a couple of grandchid grandchildren. She's given me one two a little over two years old, and she's uh seven months pregnant now and doing August, and I'll have another, my grandson. And so I'm grateful for um the gift. I went through a lot of trouble with it, you know, economically, but um, you know I'm gonna go with it just money at the end of the day. Um, those kids, you know, do y'all go out and do fun things, and you know I do

fun things with my daughter. The grandchildren are are a little bit young. Um. You know my grandchild, Um, you know, I've been around him quite a bit, watched him a little bit. But you know he's at an age When I first saw him the first day was born. I was the first outsider to see him. Um, but you know he's two and a half to less than two and a half years or he's still Mommy's a boy, you know. Yeah, you and Brad y'all have and had a number of conversations, right, UM, I won't just want

to know, like, how does a guy like you be friendly? Guy? Like? How does a guy like you be a friend of guy like this? Mean? You know, like he's just him, Yeah, he's he's incorrigible. Um. No, as I am curious to know Mr Jackson, Like, at the end of the day, what would you want it to read up under your name in those lights? What would you want to be said about you? I would want it to be said that, Um, Mr Jackson was a great teammate in life, h Um was a person you could count on, was always there

for you. Um that thought of his friends and family and people that he could help at least as much, uh of he thought as least as much as he thought of himself. Willing to help his friends and give to his friends with everything that he owned or had. Um, honest and honorable. He's a man with a good heart and a person you can count on. I ain't no doubt about Larry knew this. I just wanted the rest of the world. Now you are working, You are working with the astros these Yes, UM, I see you and

Mr Crane together all the time. Tell me about Mr Crane? Is he is? He? Is he cool as I think he is. Jim Crane is a a man that's on a wonderful mission. I agree. UM. You know his level of intelligence, He's he's brilliant. UM has tremendous comprehension of his surroundings UM, his environment, UM, the environment he participates in. UM. He has great understanding of it and does translate his his success. And you would use the term his wealth UM.

And his wealth is beyond h. He cannot the economics of it, but he has a wealth of knowledge of people and has an ability to create solutions for the problems that he can make a difference in. And I find those differences that he wants to make change in. Is leveling the player the playing field of diversity. UM. He does feel for the person that can't that can't help themselves. UM. And I think he's committed to it.

I think he's accept accepts the burden that has been put on his shoulders to make change for the underserved, to make the the playing field, the path, the carved one that has the signs of six says written every mile or two. I'm one in the world here that that's That's how I feel about the jewel. Yeah, he's They're trying to make sure that somebody else's He's concerned

about others. And if you see him walk around and walk through life, um uh, he will reach down and pick up a piece of trash that's in the stadium, that's clutter. He does that on the teabox, Yes, yes, pick up a broken teeth, up the broken teeth. Um. He does want to make a difference for the better. Gets dumbfounded when people are I can't understand. Um, just doing it the right way, just do what's right. Um. I believe that he in my three hours of success.

Um in the business world is the residual of doing the right thing. As revenue, don't worry about margin. I don't worry about how much you're gonna get if you do it right. People aren't concerned about what they pay. People want you to do them right and then they'll pay you. Are there any parallels between George stein Berner stein Brenner and and Jim and Jim Crane that that you see as was the way that they operate their teams. Um. They both have a penchant for excellence. George thought that

we should be perfect as a team. He thought, since he had the highest pay role with his team game, that we should be a hunter s. He couldn't understand how you know you could? Just you're better than that guy. So why can't you hit a home run? Off? And when you want to or when you need to, you got to. You had three chances today. Yeah, you know you're better than he is. Why don't you win? Um? And UM? I see uh, I see some similarities with the demand for excellence and the demand to be the

best you possibly can be. UM. Jim has a penchant for being a champion. He has a pensiont for pensant for being first, for being the leader. Uh. Mostly because he has the capability to understand it, plan it, and do it, and so he's disappointed if if he doesn't, because he knows he has the ability to be number one. You know, to be first, and so he's disappointed when

he's not. You know, we were there last year in the World Series and we were losing to Atlanta in the sixth game, and uh, he said, damn it, I just can't wait till it's over. It's terrible being here like this. I said, well, there's thirty other teams at home that would love to be in your spot. M hm. And he kind of looked at me. So I guess you're right. But you know, he wanted to want to win,

and for that you admire him. And he starts over that day that we lose, he started over again, trying to build a winner and build the champion to get back to the World Series in two thousand and twenty two. We have a chance. M Yeah. That was one of my questions. I want to know, like, what do you think our chances well this year? Um, we're not the best team yet. Uh. We're in first place by eight or nine games, and we're fourteen or fifteen games over

something like that. Um, and we haven't hit yet. We can be better. We haven't played We've played pretty good defense defensively, we need to get better defensively, and we haven't hit well at all, I'll bet you we're in below middle of the pack offensively. Okay, would be interesting, Kyle, look that up, buddy. So so, so, what do we have to do to get better? Your players have to hit. So we have the skills, we have the skill, we

have the um skill positions. You know, we have a player to be able to make us one of the top teams offensively in the league. And they've been that, uh in the last few years. They strike out less, they're on base higher and higher percentage um. We put the ball and play more often than anybody else. We haven't done that this year. We're still in first place.

We're not in a good division, and I think we're the only team in the division playing over five And I'm not really playing paying attention to a lot of that now. Because you're sixty games out, you're sixty two out, you've got a hundred to play. Everybody's gonna win fifty and everyone's gonna lose fifty. It's what you do with the other sixty two. M hm, oh, yeah, you gotta win forty of those. Yeah, you gotta lose fifty on the win fifty. The other forty two. You win those

and you have the other sixty two. You want to win forty forty two of them, and then you win ninety two games and you're in postseason somewhere. Yeah, are the four teams that you played for in your professional twenty one years? Which team did you enjoy playing for the most? I'm gonna answer it in amen, Yes, and that I was there longer. I was groomed and born with those guys eighteen, and I started in baseball at nineteen.

I was in the big leagues at twenty. Um, and I played with Rudy and Bando and Raleigh Fingers and the Blue and kept Fish Hunter and all those guys like Pete Rose, he played with a camp And Arriss, what you speaking of Pete Rose, what do you think about this, him being denied the opportunity to be in the Hall of Fame. Um, Pete made his own bed more than once, so I want. But Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer and should be in the Hall of Fame. There are murderers, racists, all that, and so

Pete Rose gambled. He took him forever to admit it. But he fix on the games. No, he didn't fix the game. He just bet on it right, he should be in the Hall of Fame. Yeah, I mean it's like, well, that's like me and Willie betting. Yeah, he's been on this stuff, right, or he's been on another game. He bet on himself. But it doesn't matter though, right, m he bet on himself. Oh man. The trip part about it is that is that I bet you that some

of the people that punished him also bet Hell. Yeah, you know you have betting now in the stadiums in some places they have betting in the stadium in Arizona Old base Yes, stop in the stadium. But see Peter's passes eligibility now like he's outside, right, they can bring him back because I thought after after a certain amount of years, you're no longer eligible. Draft games is on partially by Major League Baseball. Wow did you hear that? Ain't that something? Yeah? But but but you can't bait

on you can't bet on baseball. Yeah, you can't be on football either, not as a player. But they own part of the gambling um businesses gambit and companies and partners with them using the grade UH system of aid to f What do you think Major League Baseball is in terms of racial diversity? Yes, is that the worst? That's that's that's the worst. That would be the worst, the worst. Why why is it so hard for Major League Baseball? You know too, don't have a real focus

on change. They don't leadership doesn't have a real focus on change. Leaderships does at the top. So we're starting with the commissioner right, which started the commissioner's office, and then then the other leaders of the the most powerful teams. I can say that our team has the highest percentage of minorities working in its organization. We have four hundred employees, which would mean we have more than twenty or more of our workforce is minority women in lb G, t

q UM, African American, Latin American, amor Asian. Is that management positions that is throughout the entire organization, management from the owner on down to you our on down to you know whomever is employed there. Yes, I want to be politically correct by not naming a position that you say from the owner to yes, So you want to you want to be politically correct and safe in all of our employment, well, I want. I would be curious to know how much of that percentage is African American,

is specifically black, management. I want to say that, Yeah, he wants it our team to look like the city of Houston. And I understand the city of Houston is sixteen to eighteen percent minor African American. Can Yeah, we may be hiding that, and I think that I think that's thirty percent. I think Houston's thirty eight percent minority than that. Google it. It's gotta be Will you google,

It's got to be more than that. But you know what, I don't even I don't trust their numbers though, so I'm not gonna even google it because because they'd be live. We've been stuck at thirty percent in this country for the last thirty years, you know, like they keep on saying black people represent We're around six between US and Latin American Latinos. Uh, it's around thirty three to thirty five percent of the population. The third it's Latinos and

African American. And then I don't think that counts indigenous. Let's go to Draft day nineteen sixty six and the New York mess to news. Who were you thinking when they when they picked over you for that number one. I had had a meeting with our coach of the baseball team Bobby Winkles, who was from Arkansas, and I was the first African American ever they for them to ever have on the Arizona State baseball team, the number

one baseball school in the country. And he called me and he said, Reggie, the draft is going to come up in a month or so, and he said, the New York Mets are not going to draft you. While you're heading shoulders above any other player in the country, They're not going to draft you because they think you will have social issues because you're dating a Mexican American. And I said, well, my middle name is Martinez, which comes from Latin America, comes from grandmother being Puerto Rican.

What's the issue. He said, well, they think you're dating outside your race. I said, well tell him my mental name. It didn't matter. The Mets did not draft me because I was dating what they considered out of my race by dating a Mexican American. Did she look white? Did she have white features? She might have had white features and the nose and lips and mouth, but her skin was it's a color like mind, color of mind. You know, New York mess You are some lousy y'all, just lousy

damn y'all allows it. Man, it's just just terrible, hard, just man. Because he was gonna have some issues, social issues. But who he was dating, yes, dating, not who he was married to, not who he had to drag to New York with him, somebody he was dating. First of all. It ain't none of the damn business. That's number one. She unless you some serious killers, some uh international terrorists, you know that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying that that that should not have mattered at all. That should

not have mattered at all. She was a killer, all right, because she was. She was that fine. Man. I just think, Um, just hanging out with you, um the past couple of months, you and Mr Baker, this's the two thousand men himself. I'm just learning a lot and I appreciate that there's a lot of wisdom in the conversations that we have.

And I just sit there and I just listened then, because it ain't nothing else you could do but just sit there and well, you know, and dealing with you scar um, your vantage point you're from whence you have come? H Uh? You get me really quickly. You get dusty of him being able to say things to you or look at you UM in with the conversation going on easily. You're easy to communicate with because you've lived what I've lived. You they have experienced it. UM. I'm the head of

diversity for several companies I'm involved with. I'm probably the top guy here where they with the astros for diversity. I'm an expert. I've lived all the answers. M. There isn't too much you can ask me. I don't know what the reaction is going to be or what it should be. UM. You can get into you can go into a room and feel someone that's got issues with minorities. You can feel them. You know someone's in the room. What why why? Why? Why do you think people have

so much animosity? So why do you have an issue with a minority? It's an insecurity You're you're insecure, UM, that that person is going to be treated as well as you are. And it's a tragedy. Does that matter though? It's who some people are because of their of their insecurity, because their ignorance, because of their lack of understanding of life. UM, because of the of the God that's in heaven, UM, what he's put in their heart. You're going against that um.

To root against or pull against, or believe that you're better than someone else. Um is a sickness. It is a sickness. Who would understand? Who would want to who would want to stand uh over a man? What type of man we want to stand over another man? I mean, I want to be your guy and uncivilized mud. I'm trying to it's it's an It's a very insecure person that's has a psychological or a mental issue, you know,

the word that keeps coming to me. They're just so insecure about themselves that they want to make themselves or to talk to you as though they're better than you. And that's pure ignorance, Pure ignorance as pure it can possibly be by thinking that you're better than someone that bleeds red blood. Come on, UM, When I look across the room and see this young man here, his heart's pure,

he has no negative thoughts in his mind. And so for me to think that he's because of his color, he's less than me with the purity of his heart and mind. M How sick do I have to be to have that thought? Where's where is my head? Have to be or have been? How ignorant am I? What? What a fool, am I I'm I'm in a breach with God. You're you're troubled. I gotta be troubled to think that. I did not think of him as a pure person that's unimpacted with what is told by his

parents or what he hears. It's also pure what he gets help him keep the wind beneath his wings. Why would you want to pull that down? Why would you want to say something negative to a child of God? They're up to one to like. Really, you know, I was in my shop. I have a car shop and General Motors and all the big companies who come into California. I'm connected with some car dealers and they want to Reggie, would you entertain our people have coming in town? Can

they come by your shop? You make time? I said sure. I always have had probably seven or eight visits like that for manufacturers, and they come by my place. And I have a newspaper article from Charleston, South Carolina with the sale of sleeves hanging in my shop. And then people say, well, what do you have that for? I said, I didn't. I haven't forgotten. I wanted you to know

I didn't forget. On my office door there's a plaque made out of metal that I bought in Charleston, South Carolina, and it says no colored, And why you got that on your door? I don't want to forget. And so I've had people there. It was a manufacturer that came through my place. I won't mention it. I'm still acted with him. And uh. The guy asked me if there was a gentleman there, and he said, Reggie, why do you have the sale of colored for slaves? And I said,

I want to remember the term colored. I said, I'd been Nigra color, Nigger, African American, black, multicultural, royd, n Royd, I've been all those things. I want to remember that, dude. And I said there was a children there and grandchildren, and there was a child there that was ten and I said, have you ever heard the term colored before? And she said, oh yes, Mr Jackson, I sure have. Are you serious? And I said to the parents, I said, that breaks my heart. This was about ten years ago.

I said that breaks my heart because I didn't think my daughter, who was oh now or fifteen would have to go through that. But I see that she's twelve and she's ten years in because she's ten and she's heard the term. She heard it at home or in school, in her environment. She didn't make it up. Wow, I said, So that's painful to me. And man, everybody got quiet for three or four minutes. It wasn't an uncomfortable quiet for me, but it was for a lot of other

people that were there. See I called I called bs on On Hayden a person based on that skin color. And this is why our strongest convictions that we have in life comes from people who look like us. In most cases, if you were abused as a child, you were probably abused by somebody who looks like you. If you will or had a French friend who betrayed you, it was probably somebody who looked like you. If you got chased tone from school, it was probably somebody who

looked like you got passed over for the promotion. Probably if somebody looked like you. If you're white, if if if there's a situation where a person cheated on you, that person probably somebody that looked like you. So these things are really what helps develop our character. It makes us who we are. But then you decide, well, I'm not gonna hate all those people that did all that shipped to me personally, I'm not gonna hate them. I'm

gonna hate them because I don't like what they look like. See, that's why I call bs. This is just and and so they these are just excuses that people use two to just to f I bad behavior. That's all it is. It's just just people that you know, like like it's it's like Reggie was saying, like, these are people who are just that have a low they they have a little self esteem, and they have they have a load like a standard for themselves. They just don't like themselves.

It's just like the guy who went out and did the shooting in Buffalo, he called himself a white supremacist. No, you're not a white supremacist. You're a white inferioritist. That's what you are. Because if I'm if I feel superior over someone, why would I throw my life away for somebody As much as I hate you, I'm not gonna go kill you and kill you and kill you and kill you and then go spend the rest of my days in jail. I'm superior. Why am I throwing my

life away for you. I'm not even thinking about you because I'm superior. See so they're not superior. They don't even believe that they're superior. They use the white supremacy thing so that they can get paid after they go do some dumb shit, or so they can be honored in some type of way by the sick bastards out there who think like them. There's no way possible that if I consider myself a supremacist, what I throw my life away over people who I think are lower than me.

This is a guy who gave up on life. He couldn't hack it. He gave up on life. His storas didn't want to get up and go do it. Billions of people do every every day. Get up, go to work, get up, go to school, study, whatever you gotta do. He didn't want to do it. He wasn't good with girls, he was socially awkward, no friends, and so he's filling down and done with life. So let me just go out with a bang and go after them. You did what I'm saying. That's what that's about. It man, Low

self esteem, that's all it is. And it's the people who don't who think very low of themselves. You got to think low of yourself to go out and just like a guy who would be a simp that go out and and and harm a woman because the woman rejected him. Right, this is a guy. Why would you throw your life away? Okay, she she she, she stepped out on you. She's nothing, she's all these names you're

calling her. So why are you sitting in jail. Why didn't you put a gun in your head and kill yourself for somebody who was all of these derogatory words that you just called her? Why that is because you can't hack it. You feel low, you have low self esteem, you feel worthless, and the only way that you know how to make yourself feel some type of relief just for a moment, it's to harm somebody else. Yeah, I get it. That's where we y'all. And so I can just man, I I can imagine some of the things,

like I can't. I can't even imagine because some of the things that I keep hearing about what happened back in the slave days, and I'm going like, wow, man, that's just crazy. I just I have a calendar in the back of my truck right now, and it's a year calendar. But on every day of the year, that's gonna say something that happened to black people. I want to go grab that and I want to see what happened, you know, in the month of June. Just read all

some stuff that happened. I was June tenth. I'm gonna go and pull it up and we're gonna see what happened on June teenth. I'm gonna be like on on on uh July seven, eighteen sixty fifteen, people were hung and like it'll ever tell you what happened on that day on this on me And I think we should keep that in here and bringing up on every one of our podcasts so people can know what happened on this day. Interesting. In fact, I'm gonna go grab it

while you and listen. Jackson The Voids Reloaded podcast will be right back after the poet. Let me mask you something I see I see, I see you sitting there eating this this salad and uh, you know that's one of my favorite pastimes is to sit around eat salads. Uh. But how how um cognizant of view of your health these days? And it's just in terms of you know, keeping yourself fitting and eating the right kind of foods. Is this something you do all the time, Like you

eat salads all the time. UM. I try to eat um for my health. UM. I focus on superfoods, whether it be broccoli or spinach, or whether it be kale or sweet potato. UM. Those types of things avocado, UM deep, the dark greens if you will, the different fruits and nuts that are healthy for you. The berries that are that are the blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, UM. Those that help you with antioxidants UM. Those that give you energy, UM,

those that have cures for pain, if you will. And uh, there are so many of the fruits that we can take and include this part of our diet that help us with our health. Be a diabetes, be a rheumatoidis um. Be at the different pains and joint pain that pains that you get as you continue to grow, old, arthritis, etcetera. Are foods that you can eat um to help you get better and stay healthy. I was reading a book about health and about food and intake. And Uh, I'm

a belief. I'm of the belief that God has put an awful lot of cures on earth, between nuts and fruits and the vegetables and things like that that you can eat UM to keep yourself healthy. You made a career, Yeah, making your body work for you, using your body with athletics, and and I'm just wondering, like, um, I've always been an athletic guy myself. I never played a pro sports

or anything like that. Well, I had a few provides, but being healthy and using my body and my having you know, uh, speed and agility has always been and being in strength has always been important to me. But you know, get the older you get, of course you start losing some of those things, soility, getting getting getting range in the left hook, come, come, come a little closer. So but my question, my question to you is like it's like, when do you do you Like, Uh, you're

twenty years older than me. So when you look back again at that fifty six, when you were fifty six and where you are right now, how much has changed about your body? Um, I've lost a lot of muscle density, uh in my body. Um. You know I do have some arts right to send my body, you know, which is a change. Um. I developed arthritis about eight nine years ago. Um, and I'm seventy six, which is late to develop those kind of things. Um. Miraculously I still

see without glasses. I use glasses um to help my vision at night, but I can read without. I can read the calendar without glasses. Um. You know with that small print there, Um, the muscle density goes away, your strength goes away, your balance and equilibrium goes away. You know, so you meaning your stability. Um. Do you have to be intentional when you're walking? Um? Well, you know I won't say intentional, but you need to pay more attention. UM.

I want to say there's Uh. The greatest percentage of death with elderly people over seventy is a fall and something you hit your head somewhere. Um. So being careful of where you place your feet from time to time, watch what you do, and going up and downstairs, running up and downstairs. When you get to be older, you don't have the spring that your feet have recognized between

the stairs. You can be a bit short. You'll stumble with things like that, which is part of growing Oldso just pay attention, pay attention, learn how to eat, do some kind of exercise. UM. I like to walk to the three miles um three or four days a week. I like to go to the gym. Is many is four to five days a week, even if you're going to gym for thirty forty minutes. You can get a workout in in forty minutes easy. Do you like? You just do it because you know you need to do

I like the results. I'd rather not go, but I like the results of what happens with me. UM. I still walk straight up. I don't slump or hunch uh. And that's from weights and things like that. UM. I lift weights in the in the shower every morning. Five pound weight for my shoulders because my shoulders are arthritic.

But if if you keep them just a little five pound weight, it'll keep your skin tight, keep your muscles toned, and as you uh develop the muscles around the arthritic joint it will help you with the bone on bone action that you have when they're arthritic. It lessens the pain in your body with arthritis if you're strengthening the muscles around the joints where the arthritis is, which means in your hands, your shoulders, your knees, and hips. Yeah,

five pounds five pound weightways, get on it brand. Yeah you can. You can get a three pound weight and five pound weight you can grab in the shower. Gravitate, gravitate. You don't think that's dangers lifting wasting the shower. Not really. I want to get too high black out to hit myself and the head would wait and be knocked that even longer with my luck. Love, bro, I ask you earlier, you know what team you you prefer playing for? You know which team you had. I enjoyed the age, enjoy

But what city you lived in? A lot of places, what city have you enjoyed the motion of it in? Well, I would say that I really did enjoy New York. Um. I love the intensity, love the action, love the quickness and the speed of the city, the pulse of the city. Um. Their appreciation for their their their idols and heroes of which I became one, you know by playing there, like Joe Namath, Willis Ree, Lawrence Taylor, Mickey Mantle, Joe d. Jeter, you know all those guys that have been very successful

and and been honored. Marianna Rivera Um, Oakland is always and will always be a very special place for me. I still own a home there. Um. You know, I always appreciated the fact that they had a significant minority population there, and I enjoyed being successful there for because my people had a great appreciation for my success they shared. I feel like they shared it with me or I shared it with them, and still to this day when

I go back. They had a fifty year reunion with the World Series team of seventy two, and we'll do that the next two years. We have a fifty year reunion in seventy three and a fifty year reunion in seventy four because we won three years in a row. So Gene Tennis, who was the Most Valuable Player of the World Series in seventy two, he had four home runs.

He threw out the first pitch and he walked up in front of the man and I was standing next to Raleigh Fingers, and he said, now, what this is telling me is they're having the m v P throughout the first pitch. So a year from now, you're going to throw it out. And he said, two years from now, it's going to be my turn. He says, I hope the hell I can do it when I'm seventy seven.

So so at seventies, seventies six, seventy seven, seventy eight, seventy nine, eighty, do you see yourself still, you know, working with the Astros or working in some capacity with Major League Baseball. I'll be working with Major League Baseball and I'll be working with the Astros if Jim Crane is here, because he's a special friend and a special guy, and I think he gets success and I think he

we have a friendship that it's long lasting and special. Yeah, we can all take a page out of his playbook, you know, great to be a great human being. Like, yes, we should all take a page out his playbook. He's fair, very very yeah. Yeah, let's see what happened. Let's see what happened to day in this month. I just picked a day jun the fifties. It's the fourteen whatever of fourteen,

nineteen seventy three. Two young black girls, fourteen year old Many and twelve year old Merely Mary Alice Ralph are sterile sterilized at a health clinic in Montgomery, Alabama without their knowledge of consent. He's why black people to this day, I fear going to the doctor because we've been used

as guinea pigs about the years. We'll have a June, eighteen months after the Emancipation Proclamation is signed, enslaved black people in Texas finally learn about it when Union troops arrived and tell them the Confederacy lost the Civil War. What do you think about these UH politicians actively passing laws to prevent critical race theory from being taught in schools? Defiant from it? So so critical race theory is is

putting the information out there about slavery. They're they're saying, you don't want you to teach it, like the true history of America, like stuff that really happened during slavery and and even post slavery, Jim Crown. They don't want that taught in schools because they say it makes white

children feel bad. A lot in Florida right now, they're saying that you can't make um a group of people, a certain group of people feel bad for for you know, the pain that they inflicted or another group of people. I disagree with it because I want young African Americans to know what all African Americans went through and why you're folks. When I say folks, I mean the generations

before you. The younger generation needs to know what you went through, what you think about in quiet moments, why you may snap at someone or why someone may say, young fella. You'll learn one day you'll have an understanding. It's part of the history of the country. It needs to be learned, and I would like whether they teach it or not in school. I think it should be taught in school because it's what the history of the

country is. We as parents should at the dinner table in the life of that young person be told what happened, what his parents and his grandparents and his great grades went through. It's it's it's pretty simple. This gentleman is thirteen. How old are you, son? Fourteen? So his mom, let's give her twenty years. Let's give her thirty four. Her parents are in their fifties or sixties. Their parents are in their nineties. Okay, so nine years ago, it's nineteen

thirty bitter bitter racism. Uh, then that's great. That's great parents, great grandparents. Your great greats are in the eighteen nineties.

That's about as harsh and as bitter as it could be for a black person with castrations when you did something wrong with the um, when they're accused you of doing something wrong with with the passing of your children and and grandchildren at the age of twelve to fifteen, eighteen years old, to go to the house and be slept with it raped by the owner of the house

or the owner of the slaves. Um getting caught when you tried to break away and bring brought back to the plantation and have everyone come outside and watch as they took four horses and tied it to your two arms and your two legs and ripped you apart in front of every one. That needs to be remembered and recognized as to what happened as to why you are who you are today because of the things that were inflicted and the experiences that your folks and your family

and your bloodline went through. Um, why that your your grandparents or why some of the athletes in my era had the determination and the drive to be successful. Um that they were fighting for dignity or for a sandwich to eat or heat in the house. That you're you're strong striving for success was life or death? Three? Yeah. In regrets, I probably wish I would have had four or five children because I had the capability of raising and in a good environment and getting them good educations

and being positive impact to community mhm um. And I would have enjoyed selfishly. I would have enjoyed it. Yeah. Man, this has been a spirited discussion. We really do appreciate you in part your wisdom. I tell you, like as much as I've admired you on the field, off the field even more. Yeah, you know, I think there's a I sense a commitment and Brad scar I then call

me Brad. I don't even likes going on. One wrote we world it out so bad on stage until I I don't ever want to be scarred Jackson JJ actually, um, he used to be. I really do think that what you're doing or you're trying to do is enormously important to pass on from, be it Dr j or Reggie or Michael Jordan's or Jeter Frank o' harris and the guys that broke the barriers and lived it difficulty. They

have stories to tell. And you know Bill Russell who's about ninety now, he's going to take it with him and he hasn't been heard by the youth of today. And young people need to hear your what we experienced and what we lived with and what drove us and why you need to keep the bloodline going and keep the success in the drive um and and what gives you the impetus to to be successful and what you need to prove still you're still less than You're still

not equal. Your community is still being impacted, pushed aside and be down. And you need to hear that and recognize that you've got a chance to make it. And when you make it, get back to your community. Share, tell the stories, Tell the things that gave you the drive and made you keep going. Talk about the things that are important, Talk about continuity and support for family,

talk about support for your community. And going to a grocery store and running into another colored person, black purse and negro minority, nod to them. Acknowledge that you're part of their fraternity. Don't ignore, don't turn the other way, look at the person and let them see you and nod and how are you kind of nod? I see you, I'm here with you. Good to see you with a nod. That we need to promote that teach that needs to

permeate our community. We need to be together and not only blacks, but white stew and Latinos and and Amiration and the Indigenous, the American Indian UM. American Indian has been abused just as much as we have. UM. You take a look at the Jews. I've always had an affinity for Jews. They've been beat down and murdered for no reason at all, none same as us. Six million Jews were murdered, and it's either eighteen million or or thirty million African Americans. Um, and how many of the indigenous?

How many of the Indians? The Indians were here first? This ain't you? This ain't you at land? You know? Um? Of all the Indians that lived in the southeastern part of the country in Florida, and all the names of the towns of Indian names, they went and gathered all those people and made them walk through the the tears of the trail of tears, Okay, and walked to across the Mississippi, no food, nothing, the trail of tears. I'm not quite it's not quite exactly that, but google it.

It's a horrible story of what they did to the Indian in this country and how they've given them um money reparations and then the worst land in the country to live on, trail of trail of tears to yeah, tears of will we gonna have it? Could you find it? Um tears? Kyle? Did you find it? It's approximately six in Hey, God, did you find it? What's it? Say? So? The lot. What's what's the title trailer? Tears? Here you go ts Tears the series of fourth displacements, approximately sixty

thousand American England. Well made him walk sure dead, Yeah, it's sure dead. And I don't even know about that. People. It's always a mind blowing conversation with you. Man, I'm gonna go ahead and let you finish your salad now. But fantastic, man, Absolutely fantastic. I roomed with a guy by the name of Brady Walker and call. I got a note from a guy the other day on one of the social mediums. He said, so and so I went to college with you, and he's really sick. She

passed away and he's going to be honored. And he was your roommate in college. I was sitting with a few guys and I said, let me tell you about this story. When I went to college, there were no color. That room with whites. Said again, when I went to college there were no color, There were no colored rooming with whites. I couldn't room with a white guy. You couldn't. How are you going to room with me? It was sixty four. They allowed me grows to vote in nineteen

I remember that you could you couldn't. I didn't say nothing. I just kind of chuckled to myself where somebody was wanting me to come or say something or pick up in video. Reggie, your root college room may die. He told that story. Well he didn't tell it to a colored person because then somebody would have said, when was that number sixty four? Really? Yeah, Reggie bro No, we'll know white boy won't be rooming with him and weren't allowed. I was the first guy to have a white roommate

in baseball. Guy's name is Joe Rudy. It was big news. Really, that was big news. So I didn't know what to say to that guy. Man, you do you respond? Now? You should? I say? Come buy? Like Mohammed Ali Mohammed said. We were talking and he said, oh he saw a picture of the Last Supper. It said, Mama, I don't see no no colored angels sitting up there. I know there was colored angels, wasn't he? Where's all the color that this is the last super? Are they? They ain't

in the kitchen fixing the biscuits in the honey. I had to tell that story every once in a while to bring some levity to that, to the horror boy levity to the horror Yeah, Brady Walker was my roommate in college. That's the one that's sick and dad. He was six four no, so somebody just Brady was coloring Brady Brother Mississippi, you know. And he had a stammer, stuttered super guy. His family without send him corn bread

and biscuits, you know, out cookies to our dorm. And when we slept in the room, the womb wasn't no bigger than this right here, but it was plenty good for you know, him and me. You know, it's eat. The guy had four or five pairs of pants, one pair of dress shoes, one pair of sneakers, four or five pairs of socks, six pair underwear, a couple of T shirts and then you had you wore your football

T shirts around and there was always your clothes. You know, you went to school and you came home and took your clothes off. Hum. Yeah, And we conversations with the white guys lived in the same dorm, and they would laugh at Brady because he stammered, super sweet guy, and uh yeah, and I used to so he was stammered one day and they were laughing and I said, you know something, Joe, Joe and Jeff. One of these days, Brady is gonna get piste off because you're laughing at him.

He's gonna jump on you and he's gonna beat your ass. For all those kids in Mississippi when he was five, six, seven, eight, nine ten, Levenswum calling him the nigger, He's gonna jump on you and beat your ass and I ain't gonna do nothing about it. I'm gonna then after he beat your ass, I'm gonna drive you to the hospital. He just looked at me like that, and they got quiet, and we went back in the room and Brady, like I said, he would lay down his feet be over

the end of the bed. Reggie, I'm okay. I can't wait to call my mama, tell him what you said. You talk to them white boys like you ain't got no problem. You ain't scared of nothing. I love to see you talk to them, and you want to know something, you gonna be right. One of these days if I

ever get mad. There you when you was, when you was playing, and you know when you got that name, Mr October, did you ever feel any pressure to actually like, yeah, I know it's the postseason and everything, and you got the name because of your your your ability to perform under pressure, but and in the in the clutch. But did you ever feel any pressure, any additional pressure in

the postseason because us you had that title? Mr Otton, I guess if you look at Steph Curry or or Jordan's or any of those guys, Magic Johnson, Kobe Kareem, the greats. I really felt like when the postseason got close, I got better, and so I kind of relied on it. I relied on living up to the stories Paul Bunyan stories or the stories of what I was gonna do. I kind of said, well, getting close October, I'm will be doing the thing pretty quick, you'd better be careful.

I'm come out with a capon. But I kind of got to the point to where I believe that, and then it gave me a confidence. Nice Well, thank you again, man. Play here of two. This episode was produced by Aching and brought to you by The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.