He’s Had an Overdose of Bad News About Athletes and Drugs

Reggie Jackson was hopping mad. This was back in spring training at Palm Springs. He was storming around the Angel clubhouse, waving a newspaper.

It was a sports section, which featured a story on Hollywood Henderson and his drug-related problems.

“Every day we come to the ballpark, pick up the paper and see Quintin Dailey, John Lucas, Joe Pepitone, Denny McLain, Hollywood Henderson, on the front of the sports page. What do you have to do to get your name in the paper? Be a negative for society, a detriment to the community?”

I started to give him a lecture on the definition of news, of the social value of presenting negative stories because, by informing, we may help other people avoid the pitfalls of life. Reggie cut me off.

“Yes, it’s newsworthy, but I don’t think it deserves a big splash. And I guess I got resentful when I read about a guy telling me how he’s reformed now, how he lost it, how he almost died. I mean, come on . You had the same chance we all had. We’ve all had our chances to buy drugs, squander our money, hang out till 5 in the morning.”

So what do you want in the paper, Reggie, nothing but nice stories?

“Why not write about a Rod Carew or a Bob Boone, a success story, rather than dwelling on people that have been failures with handling their lives and handling success? It’s not that I think athletes need to be patted on the back, because we get enough of that, enough being pampered. But it sure would be beneficial to the youths, to young athletes.”

Jackson continued: “They need to hear they should stay away from drugs, because it’s not good for your health, it’s not good for you financially, it’s not good for you mentally, it’s not good for your family, it’s not good for you socially, it does nothing for you intellectually, and there are no vitamins in it.

“Kids need to hear that from an idol. Here’s Hollywood Henderson saying he had looked for a high, was trying to recapture a wonderful feeling. Well how about the feeling of winning a game, the feeling of being around a friend, the feeling of love with your parent?

“Talk to the people that never got involved with drugs and find out why they didn’t. I really don’t care to listen to a rehabilitated drug person. That may be wrong, it may be prejudice, it may be harsh. But I really don’t care to listen to them.

“I saw ’60 Minutes’ the other night, a former ballplayer was on talking about his drug problem. I mean, stay quiet . Stay hidden . Don’t keep bringing up how you’re such a reformed citizen. I’ve had bad press and I’ve had rifts with people. I’m not gonna keep bringing it up. I want to let it quietly go away. Maybe people will forget about it.

“I cannot say that I’ve never tried drugs. But I sure learned at a young age that it is not the damn thing to do. I can say that I’ve never even seen cocaine. I cannot say I’ve never seen marijuana, that would be a lie. I haven’t seen a lot of it, but I’ve sure seen it. I know I’ve never seen cocaine, I’ve never seen a Quaalude or any other kind of speed.

“I would say in all honesty I have been curious, but not curious enough to take that step. I’ve seen what it’s done to a Hollywood Henderson, to a Maury Wills, to a Steve Howe, who had a chance to be one of the finest relievers ever.”

Someone mentioned Vida Blue, a pal of Jackson’s.

“I think Vida’s a good man,” he said. “I think he can come back. I don’t think Vida’s a con man. I think that a lot of people who do drugs are conning themselves and conning the world. And don’t con me when you come back, telling me you’ve been to a rehab center for 15 minutes and now you’re fine.

“You don’t say you’re on drugs, drive through Wickenburg (a rehabilitation center), have lunch and then show up in spring training and everything’s fine. It just doesn’t happen that way.

“And you know, I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with our court system. Baseball player gets stopped for speeding, drunk driving, cocaine, marijuana. He gets off. No! I’m 25 years old and making 500 grand a year, I get five charges against me, I get off. And I’m a two-time, three-time offender? No! And I’m still getting paid, $75,000 a month. Now, are you gonna tell me that I’m wrong? I can’t be wrong. I got off, didn’t I?

“How about a little punishment? How about a little reminder? If I’m out a month’s salary, it’s gonna cost me 200 grand. I’m gonna think about it next time, aren’t I?

“You know, in the business world, I work for Nabisco, Panasonic, TRW, ABC. In every one of my contracts, there’s a morals clause. It’s standard. You know, anything demeaning to the character, the image of the company.

“One of these days, I’m probably gonna wind up in someone’s baseball front office. OK, I bust you two or three times with drugs, I send you to a rehab center, I hold press conferences for you, I take people’s time. I sit down and converse with you. Try. I send you to a psychiatrist, I send you to a doctor. I pay for your medical bills. And I pay you $500,000 a year. Gee, do you think once in a while I can test you, to make sure you’re clean?

“Now you want to sue me for your personal rights. Don’t I have rights? I’m paying you half a million a year, ain’t I? So yeah, I do believe in testing. I think if you’re gonna test a guy like Rod Carew or Brian Downing, a model citizen, no, you shouldn’t do that. But if I give you reasonable cause, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. When you’ve shown me that you’ve lied to me, deceived me, don’t I have a right to test you?

“Another thing that bothers me, as a black man, I’m very hurt that most of the people I read about involved with drugs are black. I am deeply hurt by that. I don’t say that you owe me anything, but you owe God a fair shake. You’re not giving it to Him. At least be discreet. If you want to go do something with three women at one time, go to Indio, go to Needles. Don’t do it at Carlos and Charlie’s (a night spot) on Sunset Boulevard. Have a little discretion.

“I’m no angel. I’m not asking anybody to be a saint. But I am hurt by the black guys. That hurts me more, because I feel that the privilege of making the kind of money blacks have the opportunity to make in sports is a greater privilege because on the outside world, the percentage of us making this kind of money and bettering our families is just not there. So we need to take greater heed of our opportunity in sports.

“When I was 19 years old, a man from Alabama (Charles Finley) walked up to me and gave me $94,000. My father was making $90 a week. I had never seen a full tank of gas in the car. How many people would like to start out at the age of 19 with $100,000? That’s a lifetime dream. And so respect that dream.

“As for all the publicity, I realize newspapers are doing their job in exposing these players and letting the public know what’s really going on, but the public’s also got to be reminded that it is a minority of players doing these things. I go out in public now and introduce myself as a professional athlete, I feel like I have to prove that I’m not a drug addict.

“I’m sure there are great stories about drugs, like the story of Bernard King, a guy who really has turned around. I know that’s a good story. But like I said before, just because you stop at the drug center in Orange County and have lunch, I don’t want to read 6,000 words on how you reformed. Please.”