Reggie Jackson
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
BERGEN COUNTY RECORD
TAMPA, Fla. – Had enough of the Alex Rodriguez-Derek Jeter passion play? Vowed not to waste another neuron reading about who's mad at whom?
You're not alone in your boycott.
If anyone understands turmoil, the genuine, old-school brand, it's the '70s-era Yankees, the champions of clubhouse friction. To hear Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles and Goose Gossage tell it, today's dramas barely would register on the Bronx Zoo scandal-meter.
If you want to know what happens when teammates really can't stand each other, think of Nettles punching out Reggie after the 1981 American League Championship Series, or Gossage and Cliff Johnson in a violent clubhouse brawl in 1979 that left the Yankee closer with a torn ligament in his pitching hand, dooming the season.
These anecdotes aren't new to Yankee historians, but they're reminders of how suffocating our PC world has become. These days, the best (or worst) a player can do to his enemy is to stop talking to him. A generation ago, says Reggie, a clubhouse wasn't much different from a saloon. Tempers often flared, and unless neutral parties interceded in time, "Things got physical."
That's why the elder Yankees have no patience for the constant obsessing over A-Rod and Jeter – a symptom, they say, of our gossip-fueled society. "Believe me, this is nothing," Jackson was saying on Tuesday. "Even if Derek and Alex have a problem, which I don't think they do, it's absolutely nothing."
Not when you compare it to the one-punch knockout Reggie suffered at the hands of his third baseman. The Yankees had just beaten the A's and were drinking heavily in an after-hours get-together. Nettles, who never cared for Reggie in those days, took exception to Jackson bringing too many people to the party, one of whom had occupied Nettles' seat.
Words were exchanged between the two Yankees, and a moment later Reggie was flattened. Although Jackson insists that, to this day, "I don't really remember what happened" Nettles has a clear, concise recollection of the incident.
"Reggie brought some people who shouldn't have been there and things got out of hand," Nettles said.
How many punches were thrown?
"One," Nettles said.
Did you connect?
"Oh, yeah."
Did Reggie throw a counter-punch?
"Didn't have time."
Graig Nettles
Nettles was quick to say the two called a truce on the charter flight home from Oakland the next day, and they now peacefully co-exist as guest instructors in spring training.
But Jackson still has issues with his violent past. "I got into fights with Nettles, Billy North, Mike Epstein and it's not something I'm proud of," he said. "It's still not easy for me to talk about it."
That's not the case for Gossage, who freely discusses his virtual street fight with Johnson 28 years ago. The exchange of blows was so fierce, Goose ended up on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his right thumb, further sabotaging the Yankees in a season in which Thurman Munson died in a plane crash.
"What a horse [bleep] season that was," Gossage said. "The fight, losing Thurman, worst time of my career. It was terrible. And it all started over nothing.
"I remember we'd just lost a game and I was [ticked] off about it. I start taking off my socks, rolled 'em up in a ball and threw them across the room [toward the hamper]. Cliff's locker was straight across from mine, so they must've glanced off Cliff's shoulder because Reggie's walking by now and says, 'Hey, Cliff, how did you hit Goose in the National League?' "
"I said, 'He couldn't hit what he couldn't see.' I didn't mean it as a knock against Cliff; I was just talking about my velocity. So I get up to use the bathroom, and when I'm standing at the urinal, I realize Cliff is over my shoulder, telling me, 'You think you can back that [bleep] up?'
"I'm thinking, 'this guy's not kidding.' Next thing I know he hits me with an open hand across the neck. Bam. So I elbow him right in the chest, and then nailed him with a punch that knocks him right into one of the stalls.
"At that point guys are rushing in, breaking it up, so I stopped hitting him. But I'm shouting at Cliff, 'you worthless piece of [bleep].' So now he tackles me in the shower. I lose my balance and as I'm falling back into the wall, I tear my thumb. Completely tore it up. That was it for my season."
With memories so raw, Gossage says, "it's a joke" that anyone worries about the present-day third baseman and shortstop not speaking to each other. Repeating Reggie's sentiment, Gossage said, "As long as they play hard on the field, and they do, none of that other stuff matters."
Nettles feels just as strongly, having worked with A-Rod and Jeter in camp. He said, "The whole idea that you have to get along with your teammates to win is false. We proved it wasn't true. But I don't think there's a problem between those two. I can't see it.
"I'm not sure I understood what Alex meant about sleeping over [at Jeter's house]. That was a pretty weird thing to say," Nettles said. "Otherwise, what's the big deal?"
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