Angel Notebook : Reggie Wants to Talk First--and Sign Later

Whether Reggie Jackson, at 40, can still hit baseballs with fair regularity remains to be seen, but he still has a great deal of personal clout, even when he speaks softly.

Shortly after making his annual early arrival for spring training Tuesday, Jackson met the press and, in a strangely subdued session, quietly managed to stir up some camp intrigue.

Does Reggie have a 1986 contract?

Is Reggie out of a job?

Has the Reggie-Angel relationship gone sour?

What will Reggie say when he meets Friday with General Manager Mike Port?

“I don’t want things to get bent out of proportion,” Jackson said, his voice barely audible. “I have not signed a contract yet, and there are some things I want to discuss before I do. Gary Walker (Jackson’s agent) is going to come in and we’ll talk to Mike Friday.”

About what?

“Personal business,” Jackson said.

He wouldn’t elaborate, but the inference was clear. During the off-season, Jackson was quoted in a New York Times story as saying that he feels unwanted in Anaheim, that the Angels are trying to phase him out. “No matter what, I’ll get kicked on the way out,” he reportedly said then.

Tuesday, Jackson said that he had been quoted accurately in the story. “Yeah, I said those things,” he said. “But since then, I’ve been trying to lay low. I’ve been playing dodge ball.”

And, he’s still playing the game.

Asked for specifics about his meeting with Port, Jackson would only say: “Honestly, if anybody has something to say, the club should say it first. So far, nothing negative has been said, everybody has been nice. I just want to meet face to face with Mike.”

Could this meeting have a significant effect on Jackson’s status with the Angels?

“It could,” he said. “But then, it could snow here, too. If I’m being realistic about it, yes, there’s a chance.”

A few minutes later, however, Jackson reversed his field.

“It won’t clear up anything,” he said of the meeting. “And it won’t clear the air.”

Confused? So was Port, who said he hadn’t been aware any meeting with Jackson was planned.

“Gary (Walker) always stops by this time of year,” Port said. “He lives in the area, and for the past four years we’ve gotten together and talked. No meeting has been scheduled, but if Reggie has a question, we’ll have a fair and proper hearing and discuss it.”

Port confirmed that Jackson has yet to sign a 1986 contract, but said the signature is virtually a formality. According to the guidelines of the four-year contract he signed in 1982, Jackson would automatically qualify for a fifth year if certain statistical criteria were met.

By hitting 27 home runs and driving in 85 runs in 1985, Jackson met those criteria.

“We’ve agreed in principle and all we need to do is file a signed contract with the American League,” Port said. “He has the contract. He’s been carrying it around with him all winter.”

Port denied that there were strained relations between Jackson and the Angels.

“There’s no tension, no problem, no nothing,” Port said. “Everything is status quo, the same as it’s been the last four years. I don’t know of a year when Reggie hasn’t come in early and hasn’t shown the enthusiasm he’s shown here.

“My impression is that Reggie Jackson is excited to start a new season. If there’s any animosity, why did Reggie report early?”

Jackson, though, maintains that things aren’t status quo.

“I really don’t have a job,” he said. “I have something to prove, I guess.”

The Angels’ response? Jackson is half right.

He has a job--that of the Angels’ designated hitter, they say. If he has anything to prove, it’s that he can still provide adequate defense as a right fielder.

Port said: “I told Reggie last fall, ‘We want to be up front about it. The way we see the outfield shaping up in ‘86, you will being seeing increased playing time as the DH.’ It’s all part of the idea of fielding the best ballclub possible.

“I told Reggie if that was totally unsuitable, totally unlivable to him, we’d try to accommodate him elsewhere.

“At first, I think Reggie was momentarily disappointed. . . . But Reggie is a bright individual. He understands that it’s not inconceivable that Reggie Jackson will be in right field this year. That may be his intent on coming to camp early--to try and prove the club wrong on the field.”

Between swings in the batting cage, Jackson addressed the right field-designated hitter debate in general terms.

“I’ve got to do what’s best for the team,” he said. “Whatever role I get, whether I think it should be more or not, I’m going to bust my butt and do it.

“I might be 40, but you wouldn’t know it if you got in the alley with me. I think I’m different.

“But we’ll find out. We’ll see.”