Apologetic Reggie Jackson should go silent

The great Reggie Jackson has been humbled and embarrassed by the reaction to his ill-advised comments in Sports Illustrated. He has repeatedly apologized for expressing his opinions about Alex Rodriguez’s use of performance-enhancing drugs, even though many people, including yours truly, agree with him. He has expressed deep remorse for his hurtful words about the late, great Gary Carter’s Hall of Fame credentials. But now what Reggie needs to do is just disappear for a while.

Reports surfaced that Jackson will rejoin the New York Yankees when the team makes a West Coast swing later this month. I think that’s a big mistake. I think Reggie should stay away and stay out of sight. With the Yankees, there is always some new controversy on the horizon. If Reggie stays away until then, the impact of his words will diminish and some people will even forget what the big deal was.

But the heat is not going to die down until Reggie stops talking, if he can. Reggie loves to talk and we love him for it, but right now it’s not in his best interest. I hope he realizes that sooner rather than later, before he says something he can’t take back. 

Did ARod have Jackson banned from Yankeeland?

The New York Yankees effectively banned Reggie Jackson from the team after his inflammatory comments about Alex Rodriguez and other performance-enhancing drug users. While I’m sure that the ultimate decision was made by Hal Steinbrenner or one of his top deputies, I can’t help but wonder how much, if anything, ARod had do with Jackson’s banishment.

Right now, ARod has a lot more pull with the Yankees than Jackson, despite his Hall of Fame pedigree, simply because ARod is a current player. Regardless of the regrets the Steinbrenners must have over the expensive, long-term deal they gave him, they have to do everything in their power to make sure ARod is happy and comfortable, so he can be as productive a player as possible. And that means not allowing Jackson anywhere near the Yankees third baseman.

Did ARod tell someone in the Yankees hierarchy that he didn’t want Reggie around for a while? Maybe, maybe not. I wouldn’t put it past ARod to say something like that. But it seems more likely that the Yankees benched Reggie just for starting an unnecessary controversy that they were forced to deal with, one that took some attention away from the team’s terrific play heading into the All-Star break.

If someone in the Yankees hierarchy made the unilateral decision to ban Jackson, was it an overreaction on his or her part? I don’t think so. It was probably a wise move if for no other reason than to avoid any incredibly awkward encounters between ARod and Jackson that would keep the story alive.

But I doubt Jackson’s banishment will last very long. I would expect to see Mr. October back in the Bronx in October. But until then, Reggie should keep a very low profile to get back into the Yankees’ good graces. 

ARod finally feels Jeter’s pain of betrayal

Alex Rodriguez must finally understand how his former pal and now frenemy Derek Jeter felt when ARod criticized him in Esquire all those years ago.

ARod is getting a taste of his ownmedicine after being called out by Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in Sports Illustrated this week. The former New York Yankees great said ARod has no place in baseball’s hallowed Hall because of his use of performance-enhancing drugs. To be fair, Reggie took shots at plenty of people in the article, including many of his fellow members of the Hall and even one who died very recently in Gary Carter, which has earned Jackson plenty of criticism. But the shots at ARod got the most attention because they are both members of the Yankees organization and supposedly friends and because anything involving ARod is controversial.

The Yankees third baseman invoked the “with friends like that who needs enemies” line before declining to talk about the impact of these comments on his relationship with Jackson. But he is clearly pissed off, as he has every right to be. Jackson has every right to express his opinion that the PED users should not be allowed in the Hall, an opinion shared by me and many other baseball observers. I even give Reggie credit for daring to say what many of his fellow Hall of Famers are probably thinking. But given Jackson’s position as special advisor for the Yankees, it was probably unwise for him to have specifically targeted ARod, even if he is right.

I doubt ARod and Reggie were ever as close as ARod used to be with Jeter. Remember, Jeter opened up his home to his pal when ARod was with the Seattle Mariners and visiting New York to play against the Yankees. I vividly remember a video of the two of them teasing each other (Jeter jokingly once sent ARod a signed Derek Jeter baseball card as a gift). But ARod ruined that relationship completely when he took those shots at Jeter in that Esquire article.

ARod made some ill-advised and insensitive comments about how Jeter was never the threat another team worried about when facing the Yankees. Jeter was blindsided and deeply hurt by the comments and never really forgave ARod. Most of their conflict in the latter years was not about the Esquire article, but about Jeter’s annoyance with ARod’s vanity and selfish ways, according to Ian O’Connor’s terrific book The Captain. But that Esquire article broke their friendship. ARod now knows how it feels to be publicly stabbed in the back by someone you considered a friend.

Reggie better hope ARod is a lot moreforgiving than Jeter is. But as they say, what goes around comes around. 

Jackson: Keep PED users out of Hall, except Pettitte & Clemens?

I don’t blame Reggie Jackson for being angry at Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and the other performance-enhancing drug users. I can’t even imagine how bad it feels to watch these guys pass you on baseball’s all-time home run list, knowing that they cheated their way to the top.

But unlike Jackson, I make no distinction between ARod and Andy Pettitte when it comes to PED usage. It’s clear that Jackson would be okay with Pettitte being elected to the Hall of Fame out of an abundance of affection for the lefty, who grew up in the New York Yankees organization. He clearly does not have the same level of affection for ARod. 

Some writers may follow that route, voting in favor of good guys like Pettitte while ignoring controversial players such as Bonds and ARod. But I don’t think that’s fair. I’ve always liked Andy Pettitte myself, a lot more than I ever liked ARod, but I still wouldn’t put him in the Hall if I had a vote because he cheated. Affection for the player should not be the deciding factor. The damage they caused to the game by cheating should outweigh everything else.

I do wonder if Jackson is right about Roger Clemens being elected to the Hall of Fame. His eligibility begins next year and he was acquitted of the federal charges filed against him, as Jackson notes. But a court of law and the court of public opinion are two completely different things. Just because he beat the charges doesn’t mean he is innocent. A lot of guilty people beat the system, because of incompetence by the prosecutors, weak evidence or even their likability.

I wonder if the Clemens acquittal will give enough baseball writers cover to vote for him, if they are so inclined. But I suspect that too many writers hold my view, that anyone even linked to PED usage should not get in, which kept Mark McGwire out of the Hall of Fame for years before he even admitted his steroids use.

Jackson will always court controversy because that is just who he is, but I doubt that Major League Baseball will be happy to see such a prominent Hall of Famer talking about an issue that they probably hoped would go away for a while after the Clemens trial. But Jackson has every right to express his belief that the cheaters don’t belong in the Hall. I also hope that the Hall remains free of the PED users and I make no exceptions for anyone, not even Pettitte and his pal.