The 100 Greatest in 100 Days: #37 Reggie Jackson

Towering in at #37 is Mr. October Reggie Jackson. When Jackson wasn’t being programmed to threaten the Queen of England or lighting up the scoreboard in RBI Baseball, he was launching rockets into the darkness of the night, typically in the month of October. Jackson wore three different uniforms over his 21-year career and he mashed in all of them. He’s the only player in MLB history to lead the league in home runs for three different franchises. He won the 1973 AL MVP with Oakland and finished in the top-5 of the MVP voting five times. He led the league in OPS+ four times and finished in the top-10 11 times. He led the league in home runs four times, finished in the top-10 13 times, and the top-five 11 times.  While Jackson’s regular-season exploits made him the premier slugger in the American League in the 1970s, it’s what he did in the World Series that earned him the moniker Mr. October. Jackson’s heroics were never on display more than when he hit three home runs on three pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, clinching the championship for the Yankees and earning him the World Series MVP. Jackson also won the 1973 World Series MVP becoming the only player in history to win a World Series MVP with two different teams and the only hitter in history to win two World Series MVPs. Jackson led five teams to World Series titles in six appearances. He shares the record for most home runs in a single World Series game, most home runs in a single World Series, and his 10 career World Series home runs are the most since 1956.

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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