Josh Wilker of Cardboard Gods fame is now writing at The Classical. So mark your books. In this post, he writes about Reggie Jackson. I'd heard years ago that the nickname "Mr. October" came from Thurman Munson saying something like "go ask Mr. October" to reporters. But I wanted to know the exact quote, and when it was said. So I did some research.

In an AP story from October 14, 1977, between Games 3 and 4 of the World Series, Munson quips, "I guess Billy just doesn't realize Reggie is Mr. October." Six days and five Reggie dongs later, Mike Torrez was saying, "Now I know why he calls himself Mr. October."

So the hot dog that no amount of mustard could contain did live up to the nickname, hitting almost .500 over the rest of '77 and the next year's post-season. But my point is that it was there before his clutch performance in Game 6. Before Game 3 at the latest. Let's take a look at his post-season numbers before Game 3, going back to his days with the A's:

Games: 39
At bats: 140
Hits: 35
Batting Average: .250
Slugging: .421
Dongs: 5
Strikeouts: 31

So he had been a fairly shitty post-season player by the time he or Munson or whoever decided to name him after the month in which it's played. The three-dong game, in other words, did not turn him into Mr. October--he was gonna call himself that regardless.

*Where are they now?*

When not promoting proper uniform button/fly alignment to the children of The Baseball Bunch, forgetting who Trot Nixon is, and ripping off famous speeches, ol' Reg-gie spends his time beneath Reggies Bush, Watts, Miller, Wayne, Lewis, and White on Google Suggestions.

Thurman Munson remains dead, no longer able to call black people "coon" and "nigger."


Pictured: Dan Shaughnessy doing his best Napolean Dynamite impression as he celebrates with his favorite team in the Yankee locker room with Reggie after the '77 Series. In the video this is from (@3:26), you'll note Dan smile when he hears the name Babe Ruth. What a dick.