Reggie Deserves to Be ‘In’

Who’s in and who’s out . . . for this week, anyway:

In: Reggie Jackson.

He’s in, and he’s in all by himself--home alone, Reggie would say--and you know he’s loving every second of it.

A sit-down with Letterman, amid long-forgotten chants of “REG-GIE! REG-GIE!” from the studio audience.

A New York press conference where Reggie brings out his 89-year-old dad, charms the room with nearly two hours of classic Reggiespeak, plugs himself for a front-office baseball job and, in one final play to the crowd, digs out a Yankees cap, pulls it onto his head and declares that he’s going into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee.

This is what Reggie played 21 years for--the applause, the adulation, the ego-stroke--and in those three categories, in baseball, it doesn’t get any better than Cooperstown.

Does Reggie belong in the Hall of Fame?

Of course he does. Even though he struck out more times than he homered; even though he batted .262; even though he played right field as if the baseball were contagious; even though The Sporting News labeled him--and labeled him accurately--as “the most overrated player in the game” at the height of his career.

Reggie gets his membership because he hit 563 home runs. Do that and it’s automatic. He also gets in because of 1,702 RBIs (nearly 200 more than Mickey Mantle) and one of the greatest single games in World Series history (three home runs in Game 6, 1977) and that cursed weakness in all of us--love him or loath him, you had no choice you had no choice but to watch him. He was a bad habit four times a game. Damn that Reggie. When does he bat again?

One thing about this “Mr. October” business, though.

Fact: Reggie had two spectacular World Series, back-to-back, 1977 and 1978, and that was it. He played in five altogether and went nine for 29 in 1973, batted .286 in 1974 and had one RBI in 1981.

Fact: He batted .227 in 11 American League Championship Series. In his last four playoffs, he batted .273 (‘80), .000 (‘81) and, as Angel fans have no doubt memorized, .111 (‘82) and .192 (‘86).

In this case, though, baseball wasn’t about to allow facts to get in the way of a good story, or a good nickname. So “Mr. October” it was, it is, and always will be.

Even though “Mr. October Late 1970s” or “Mr. October 10-22” would be considerably closer to the truth.

Out: Steve Garvey.

He is on the fence and with two other first basemen, Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez, sitting there alongside him, he could be there awhile.

Garvey had a career batting average of .294, which is Cooperstown material, but Cepeda hit .297 and still isn’t in, after 14 years of eligibility.

Garvey finished with 272 home runs--or 107 fewer than both Cepeda and Perez.

Garvey drove in 1,308 runs in 19 seasons. Cepeda had 1,365 in 17 and Perez 1,652 in 23.

Interestingly, Garvey’s postseason numbers are comparable to Jackson’s, at least in the cold type of today’s baseball encyclopedia. Combining playoff and World Series totals, Garvey outhit Jackson, .338 to .278, and had 11 home runs and 31 RBIs in 55 games. In 77 postseason games, Jackson had 18 home runs and 48 RBIs.

Post- postseason performance matters, too, as Pete Rose has discovered, as has Cepeda, still being ballot-whipped for a postcareer 10-month prison sentence for marijuana possession.

How greatly will Garvey’s, shall we say, extracurricular activities cost him in elections to come?

Hall of Fame voters swoon at the sight of Mr. October on the ballot. But Mr. Not-As-Clean-As-He-Claimed-To-Be is an imposing hurdle, and Garvey never was much of a leaper.

In: John Robinson.

There are some fairly weighty arguments against a USC-John Robinson reunion in ’93.

1) The state of the Trojan football program at the time of Robinson’s resignation in 1982--headed toward probation, with the cupboard depleted if not altogether bare.

2) Robinson’s oft-professed distaste of recruiting.

3) The changing face of college football, where it is not only possible but also not particularly surprising for the team from Fresno State to beat the team from USC in a bowl game.

4) Bill Walsh, back in the same conference again, ready to wield more of the same old punishment.

But among the arguments for was this:

Robinson is 11-3 against Notre Dame and UCLA.

When asked by Roy Firestone how important it is for the USC football coach to beat Notre Dame and UCLA, Robinson began to laugh.

It’s important enough to get a coach hired, or fired--and in the past week, we have witnessed both. Robinson knows how to win The Big Two. Just the sight of Robinson on the sideline opposite Lou Holtz--and not Larry Smith or Ted Tollner--will make Trojan hearts beat easier.

But the true measure of Robinson’s second stint will be made by how he fares against Stanford, Cal, Washington and Arizona. Oh, and that once-annual meeting every Jan. 1 with Michigan. Remember that one?

Out: Larry Smith.

When he said the gap between the USCs and the Fresno States of the world had closed, he spoke the truth. This is 1993. A running back from San Diego State can finish second in the Heisman voting. Hawaii can win the Holiday Bowl. Fresno State belongs in the Top 25.

But here’s another truth: USC alumni and boosters don’t want to hear that. They want to bask in 1978, when Trojans ruled and Freedom was just another word for nothing they could possibly lose.

So Robinson, who believes in the power of “names and logos,” replaces Smith, who didn’t. Smith may have been a realist in his post-Freedom Bowl press briefing, but he came across as an apologist--and a big part of the USC myth is never having to say you’re sorry after a football game.

Trojan fans want happy talk, and Robinson will give them that. Allusions to waiting trophy stands inside Heritage Hall, thundering herds and student-body right--that is what plays in Trojanland.

“Fresno has an excellent team” does not, as Smith learned, a little too late.

In: Anaheim Express.

Brace yourself, because it’s coming, and won’t it be perfect for Orange County?

A professional hockey team owned by Disney and sponsored by American Express in the land of a thousand shopping malls and a million charge-account holders.

European soccer teams and Japanese baseball teams do this sort of thing all the time--Hail to the Nippon Ham Fighters--and corporate intrusion has been eating away at sporting institutions on these shores for several years now. Or did you miss the IBM OS/2 Fiesta Bowl?

Or the Freedom Bowl, for that matter.

If Orange County can have a football game named after a newspaper chain, it can have a hockey team named after a credit card.

Out: Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

Love that Express, don’t you?