The Futility Infielder

Perhaps jealous of the controversies in which the current Yankees find themselves embroiled, The Straw That Used to Stir the Drink has found his way into the headlines. Reggie Jackson, a special advisor to George Steinbrenner, is unhappy with his limited role and title with the Yanks. According to NY Times writer Jack Curry: "Jackson yearns for a larger role and a more significant title within the organization, and he is baffled that the Yankees have never offered him a full-time position. Jackson, an adviser to Steinbrenner, the principal owner, for 10 of the past 11 seasons, wants a promotion to become more involved with the team he helped to win two World Series titles... Jackson feels that his baseball knowledge is not being maximized in his current job as a spring instructor and troubleshooter."

The news apparently took Yankee GM Brian Cashman by surprise. Cashman said that the team likes Mr. October right where he is, and had held no discussions of expanding his role. Anonymous team officials said that Jackson makes $150,000 a year in his role and that "Jackson's energy, enthusiasm and forceful personality could cause him to lose effectiveness over longer periods." Joe Torre backs that assessment: "I don't think he could keep up the intensity for that long. His enthusiasm gets your attention. Over a period of time, it would wear out."

Translation: we couldn't take having to listen to him more often than we already do.

If Jackson is serious about wanting a larger role in baseball, he should know better than to use the media as a cudgel to pressure the team into giving him one, and he should expand his horizons beyond the Yankees. A successful organization has much less incentive to bring in somebody as high-profile and potentially polarizing as Jackson; quite frankly, they're doing just fine with his limited input.

As for how much more Jackson has to offer, I'm reminded of the saying, "Better to keep quiet and let people think you're ignorant than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Regarding the recent Veterans Committee Hall of Fame vote which threw up a goose egg this week, Reggie took the latter path. Entitled to vote -- as are all living members of the Hall in the reconstitued VC -- Jackson didn't even bother to return his ballot. Mr. October told the Hartford Courant, "I looked at those ballots, and there was no one to put in."

Obviously Reggie's memory is clouded, because the man most responsible for making him a millionaire several times over, union leader Marvin Miller, was on the composite ballot. As executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966 to 1982, Miller's leadership brought the average annual salary of a major league player from less than $20,000 to over $250,000. In the process Miller unionized the players and fought for arbitration rights, increased pensions, free agency, and the end of the Reserve Clause. Given that Jackson was one of the first big beneficiaries of free agency, his lack of support for Miller is surprising and his sense of entitlement baffling, to say the least. If he can't connect the dots between his own wealth and privelege and Miller's tireless work on baseball's labor front, one has to either a) question his own intelligence, self-awareness, and fitness for a larger front-office role; or b) question his tendency to play political games only when it suits Reginald Martinez Jackson. Clearly, Reggie still cares about his own ass first and foremost. He should know better than to remind people of that every time he opens his mouth.