In the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft, the New York Mets, the perennial laughingstock of baseball, enhanced their reputation for incompetence by selecting catcher Steve Chilcott with the #1 overall selection. Chilcott never played a single major league game. The Kansas City A’s had the #2 overall pick. The Athletics’ had become the American League equivalent of the National League’s lowly Mets, frequently occupying the American League basement and hadn’t had a winning season since 1952. But Kansas City’s fortune was about to change; with the #2 selection, they chose Arizona State University outfielder Reggie Jackson.
Quickly rising through the minor leagues, Reggie was called up to the parent team toward the end of another embarrassing Athletics season, and performed just as poorly, batting just .178 in 35 games. Coinciding with the team’s relocation to Oakland, Jackson earned the starting job in rightfield and began show the promise of a future star, belting 29 home runs and helping the A’s to an 82-80 record, their first winning season in 16 years. Reggie continued his climb to stardom in 1969, smashing 47 home runs and driving in 118, as the A’s climbed to 2nd place in the AL West with an 88-74 record. Repeating the 2nd place finish in 1970, the A’s ascended to the Division Championship in 1971 with a record of 101-60 before being swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. With each season, Jackson’s batting average was rising, while his strikeout totals dropped. Entering the 1972 season, with Reggie supplying the power, the “Swingin’ A’s” went on a three-year World Series Championship run.
Proudly offered is an incredible piece of baseball memorabilia that should probably be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but is instead offered to the general public. This is a game-used Oakland A’s alternative jersey, worn by slugger Reggie Jackson during the first of three consecutive World Series Championship seasons. Accompanied with the jersey is a letter from Mark Jordan, noted memorabilia expert, attesting that this jersey is authentic and was personally obtained by him when he was a bat boy, almost 40 years ago. The proper Rawlings size 42 label is stitched on the front right tail (McAuliffe made only the green and white jerseys). Game use is evident, with marks and stains visible on the both sides. The letter “JACKSON” are individually stitched, and the numeral and A’s logo are double tackle twill stitched. LOA from Mile High Card Co.