That's right, I bet you'd forgotten that Reggie was an Oriole for one solitary year (1976: 27 HR, 91 RBI, 28 SB). He made about as many friends in Charm City as he did anywhere else, which is to say not many at all. Holding out for the first month of the season won't put you in people's good graces.
Yet for all the stories of Reggie's famous prickly personality, he has shown an occasional ability to laugh at himself. First came his legendary performance in 1988's The Naked Gun, which is almost certainly the best movie I've discussed this week. Jackson (a California Angel at the time of filming) was essentially playing himself, with one catch: he'd been hypnotized and ordered to kill Queen Elizabeth II. I can't even think about one of the greatest home-run hitters of all time walking like a zombie and chanting, "I must...kill...the Queen..." without laughing.
I also enjoyed Reggie's cameo in BASEketball, the much-maligned sports comedy by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Trey's character Joe "Coop" Cooper was lucky enough as a child to grab the third home run ball that Reggie hit in Game Six of the 1977 World Series, and it's his most cherished piece of memorabilia. After Baseketball explodes in popularity, none other than Mr. October himself shows up in the locker room to meet and greet Coop. He starts reminiscing about his great feats in Game Six, and mentions casually that he retrieved the first two home run balls, but that the third was grabbed by "some little shit", causing Coop to visibly flinch. On his way out of the locker room, Reggie calls back to Coop, who blurts out, "I don't have your f@#%ing ball, okay?!". A confused Jackson simply wishes him good luck in the game and walks out.
Reggie has appeared in a handful of other movies (Richie Rich, Summer of Sam, The Benchwarmers), but I haven't seen them and have no inclination to do so.
Cool! I didn't know Reggie had any Oriole cards out there. The Naked Gun is one of my favorite movies ever. It packs in more baseball jokes in th 15 minutes at the end of the movie than Major League did the whole Movie. Ok, maybe not Major League, but certainly Major League 2. Oh, and don't bother with The Benchwarmers, I'm a huge Jon Lovitz fan and I still couldn't force myself to watch that movie long enough to see the scene with Reggie.
ReplyDeleteI love that movie. One of my favorites is the four players running past second base. Cracks me up everytime.
ReplyDeleteThat and when Francis from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure says, "HEY! It's Enrico Pallazzo!"
I agree though, there should be more Oriole cards of Reggie Jackson out there. Topps goofed up big time.