Reggie Has Option and Plans to Play With Angels in ’86

The four-year contract that Reggie Jackson signed with the Angels before the 1982 season does and doesn’t expire at the end of this season.

Jackson has already met the criteria for an option year and plans to play again in 1986, he said here Tuesday.

“I’ll play my fifth year unless I’m an embarrassment to the club and myself this year,” he said, but he doesn’t believe he will be.

He is enthusiastic about Angel Manager Gene Mauch’s plan to play him more in right field, and he is free of the pressures he carried in 1984, when he was chasing his 500th home run while responding to cynics who said he was through.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I had a hell of a year,” Jackson said. “I weigh the same as I did a year ago, but I feel lighter and thinner because the mental pressure is gone.”

Jackson’s contract automatically qualifies him for a fifth year if, during the third or fourth year, he appears in 130 games or goes to bat 400 times Last year was Jackson’s third. He appeared in 143 games and batted 525 times.

Thus, he is assured of 1986 employment and a continuation of his $975,000 annual salary--in addition to other previously unpublished aspects of a creative contract.

The most interesting aspect is that Jackson will be receiving a significant amount of deferred salary, even though the Angels have always insisted that they have a policy prohibiting deferments. That policy was a reason they gave for failing to pursue free agents Rick Sutcliffe and Bruce Sutter during the winter.

Jackson’s contract calls for $3.9 million in total salary, of which $1.9 million is to be deferred, accruing interest at a double-digit rate.

Jackson will begin receiving the deferred money when he retires. The payments will continue for a period equal to his active service with the Angels. His decision to play a fifth year means that another $475,000 will be withdrawn from his salary and put into the deferment package.

Said Jackson: “I was at a point in my career where I didn’t feel it was necessary to be the highest-salaried Angel. My goal was to have the contract structured in such a way that if I played until I was 41 or 42, I could earn $1 million a year until I was 55.”

General Manager Mike Port was hesitant to talk about Jackson’s contract but said:

“Deferments are fine if you’re paying the player a certain interest percentage but making more by using their money. My basic belief is that there are too many complications. We’d rather live in the present tense. If we pay a player $500,000, we’d rather pay it to him now.”

The charismatic and controversial Jackson was apparently too irresistible, however. Buzzie Bavasi, former executive vice president, swallowed club policy on the urging of owners Gene and Jackie Autry.

The Angels presumably have been drawing interest on money they would otherwise be paying Jackson in salary. They have also profited at the gate, as has Jackson.

The contract pays him 50 cents for every admission over 2.4 million, and an additional $50,000 if the club draws 3 million.

the Angels have never reached 3 million, but they established an American League attendance record of 2,8 million in 1982, Jackson’s first year, and surpassed 2.4 in each of the net two, generating attendance bonuses of $203,680, $77,508 and $1,498.

Jackson will turn 39 on May 18. His financial future is secure, but he said he remains fascinated by the dollar, viewing the game of economics as a challenge similar to a sinking fastball.

A student of banking and finance, Jackson has significant holdings in oil and real estate, and remains, perhaps, the most visible and marketable of all athletes. He has endorsement contracts with Nabisco, Panasonic, Wienerschnitzel, Remco Toys, Victory Optical and Pony Shoes.

He has a broadcasting contract with ABC and was told by Autry last week that he could have a job as a club broadcaster when his playing career is over.

Jackson, however, said it is unlikely he will ever channel his interests and energy in just one direction. He also said that he remains happily committee--through 1986, at least--to the field.

“I need to understand that if I have an absolutely horrendous year I should retire, but I don’t dwell on that,” he said. “I’ve talked to friends and baseball people, like Gene Mauch, and they’ve helped convince me that I’m not through physically.”

Jackson batted only .223 last year, but even that was an improvement on his .194 of the year before. He had driven in only 49 runs and hit 14 homers that year, but he came back to drive in 81 runs and hit 25 homers, the 22nd being the 500th of his career. He went to bat 128 more times than in ’83 but had only one additional strikeout.

Jackson said: “I had played with pressure in New York and I had played with pressure in ’82 (his first year with the Angels), but I have never played with the pressure of last year, when there was an opinion hanging on every swing--and rightfully so. I mean, I’d hit .194 the year before. Was my career over? Could I hit the 22 homers I needed for 50?”

Jackson now knows the answers were no and yes. He is 13th on the all-time home run list with 503 and could climb a Hall-of-Fame ladder of Mel Ott, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, Willie McCovey, Ted Williams, Jimmy Foxx and Mickey Mantle into sixth by hitting 33 more.

He said that if he were to play 135 games in the outfield, he might hit more than 33 but that now that he has passed 500, the numbers game is over.

“I don’t want to just hit 10, but my career total doesn’t matter anymore,” he said. “In fact, Gene (Mauch) has told me that I don’t have to hit even one, that he wants me to hit .280 instead of .220 and to be more of a complete hitter because I’m still capable of being a complete player.

“I haven’t had one home run cut since I’ve been in camp, and I know I’ll contribute more by playing a smaller game. I know that if I hit .270 the home runs and RBIs will be there because I feel that good, that strong. It’s best for me and best for the team. I honestly feel I’ll have a better year than last year.

“I mean, 25 and 81 was damn good under the circumstances, but I won’t be satisfied with the same numbers because there were still too many opportunities when I failed.”

Jackson will play right field in a B-team game against thee Chicago Cubs this morning. He knows that Mike Brown will still get first crack at replacing Fred Lynn, but he also believes that Mauch is sincere in his plan to involve him more in the mainstream by using him in the outfield.

That is positive news to Jackson, who said he feels diminished as a player when relegated to being the designated hitter, and that the manager has boosted his confidence no matter what. He was boosted high enough, in fact, to be looking at 1986.