Una memoria desgarradora, brutalmente sincera y rica en acontecimientos de los dos años, 1977 y 1978, cuando Reggie Jackson pasó de ser una leyenda de los Yankees.

Los Yankees de Nueva York versus los Red Sox de Boston, septiembre 1977:
¿Le pides a Babe Ruth que toque la bola, o a Cookie Lavagetto, Willie McCovey o Phil Rizzuto?
Pero yo estaba aprendiendo. Billy Martin me dijo que tocara la bola y me preparé para hacerlo. Pero Reggie Cleveland me lanzó una bola hacia adentro y no pude sacar el bate, así que tuve que tomarla como una bola. Miré a Dick Howser y el toque de bola quedó descartado. Cleveland me lanzó una bola rápida y cometí un foul.
Miré de nuevo a Howser. Volvió a hacerme señas para tocar la bola. Díganme una cosa, ¿tiene sentido eso?
Me preparé para tratar de tocar la bola de nuevo, pero Reggie Cleveland me lanzó otra bola hacia adentro. Era como si ellos estuvieran viendo las señas, lo cual era muy probable. Era como si supieran con antelación que iba a intentar tocar la bola.
Personalmente, pensé que estaban cometiendo un error. Si fuera mi equipo y Reggie Jackson quería tocar la bola, yo le dejaría hacerlo.
Pero la cuenta se puso a mi favor, el toque de bola quedó descartado y Cleveland me lanzó una bola deslizadora. Me lo pusieron muy fácil. El resto es historia.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

A soul-baring, brutally candid, and richly eventful memoir of the two years--1977 and 1978--when Reggie Jackson went from outcast to Yankee legend
In the spring of 1977 Reggie Jackson should have been on top of the world. The best player of the Oakland A's dynasty, which won three straight World Series, he was the first big-money free agent, wooed and flattered by George Steinbrenner into coming to the New York Yankees, which hadn't won a World Series since 1962. But Reggie was about to learn, as he writes in this vivid and surprising memoir, that until his initial experience on the Yankees "I didn't know what alone meant."
His manager, the mercurial, alcoholic, and pugilistic Billy Martin, never wanted him on the team and let Reggie--and the rest of the team--know it. Most of his new teammates, resentful of his contract, were aloof at best and hostile at worst. Brash and outspoken, but unused to the ferocity of New York's tabloid culture, Reggie hadn't realized how rumor and offhand remarks can turn into screaming negative headlines--especially for a black athlete with a multimillion-dollar contract. Sickened by Martin's anti-Semitism, his rages, and his quite public disparagement of his new star, ostracized by his teammates, and despairing of how he was stereotyped in the press, Reggie had long talks with his father about quitting. Things hit bottom when Martin plotted to humiliate him during a nationally televised game against the Red Sox. It seemed as if a glorious career had been derailed.
But then: Reggie vowed to persevere; his pride, work ethic, and talent would overcome Martin's nearly sociopathic hatred. Gradually, he would win over the fans, then his teammates, as the Yankees surged to the pennant. And one magical autumn evening, he became "Mr. October" in a World Series performance for the ages. He thought his travails were over--until the next season when the insanity began again.
Becoming Mr. October is a revelatory self-portrait of a baseball icon at the height of his public fame and private anguish. Filled with revealing anecdotes about the notorious "Bronx Zoo" Yankees of the late 1970s and bluntly honest portrayals of his teammates and competitors, this is eye-opening baseball history as can be told only by the man who lived it.
About the Author: Reggie Jackson fue ingresado al Salón de la Fama Nacional de Béisbol en 1993. El dio 563 cuadrangulares y metió 1,702 carreras. Jugó en tres Series Mundiales--una con los Athletics de Oakland y dos con los Yankees de Nueva York. Es consejero especial a los Yankees.
Kevin Baker es autor galardonando por sus novelas históricas Dreamland, Paradise Alley, y Strivers Row; la novela acerca del beisbol Sometimes You See It Coming; y, recientemente, The Big Crowd. Fue investigador principal del bestseller The American Century. Ha escrito para The New York Times, The Washington Post, el Chicago Tribune, el Los Angeles Times y Harper's Magazine, entre otros.