1977 Reggie Jackson Third Home Run Baseball from World Series Game Six....

 

1977 Reggie Jackson Third Home Run Baseball from World Series Game Six.

"I must admit, when Reggie hit his third home run and I was sure nobody was looking, I applauded in my glove."

--Steve Garvey, first baseman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1977 World Series


Reggie once said that fans "don't boo nobodies," and he definitely heard his share of them, from friends and foes alike. If there were a Hall of Fame for Humility, Jackson wouldn't even garner a write-in vote. But as another Baseball Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean, once said, "It ain't braggin' if you can back it up." And Reggie could.

The Big Apple was a restless place in 1977, even more so than usual for a City That Never Sleeps. Studio 54 opened its doors, birthing a new age of "cocaine-disco-doorman culture." The Son of Sam's identity was revealed as David Berkowitz, ending a thirteen month reign of terror that took six lives and wounded seven more. A massive summer blackout led to widespread looting and rioting and over three thousand arrests. And the premier slugger of the American League "brought his own star" to the Bronx.

And for just about any New Yorker old enough to remember that tumultuous year, it was Reggie Jackson's three home runs in the World Championship-clinching Game Six that defined the age. Presented is the very ball that completed the feat, earning Jackson membership in an exclusive club populated by Babe Ruth alone (1926 and 1928), and recently expanded to a trio with Albert Pujols' Game Three performance in the 2011 Fall Classic. As Reggie had done in the fourth facing Burt Hooton and the sixth facing Elias Sosa, the Yankee outfielder leapt on the first pitch offered in the bottom of the eighth, a knuckle ball from Charlie Hough, and planted it 475 feet away in the newly constructed center field "black seats" created in the 1975-76 Yankee Stadium renovations.

The lucky placement of this gargantuan blast is the key to its survival. Spared a drowning in the churning sea of jubilant fans realizing an end to fifteen seasons of World Championship drought was three defensive outs away, the ball was retrieved by a field employee and returned to Jackson in the champagne spray of the post-game locker room. The ball was then extensively notated in Jackson's own hand, listing scores of each Series game, a box score of Game Six, and his personal highlights:

This is the third HR of 6th game World Series 1977, MVP World Series, Most HR consecutive in game: 3, Most HR in Series: 5, Most total bases: 31, Most runs: 10, Most HR consecutive: 4, Most HR game: 3 Babe Ruth, Most runs game: 4, Most total bases in game: 12.

The ball was then given to a representative of Standard Brands, who produced the "Reggie!" candy bar, for promotional purposes, touring the country with a marketing team. An included August 1978 brochure documenting the launch ceremonies of the "Reggie!" bar makes specific reference to the ball's appearance at the event. Pages removed from the September 1997 issue of Beckett Sports Collectibles Future Stars, details the provenance and its consignment by a Standard Brands executive to an impending Christie's auction. Our consignor's invoice from that Christie's sale is included, as well as a "Reggie!" bar wrapper and a ticket stub for that fabled Game Six.

The writing on the OAL (MacPhail) baseball has faded considerably over the years but is still largely legible. A more recent signature from Jackson over the MacPhail stamping registers at 9/10. Extensive provenance documentation as listed. Full LOA from PSA/DNA (Jackson autograph). Full LOA from James Spence Authentication (Jackson autograph).

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