Reggie Jackson rookie number

[prichmond]

excellent mystery solved my eyes failed me

[prichmond]

as long as we are at it how many other players can you find. I say rollie fingers is the tall skinny guy in the third row

[G1X]

I am originally from Birmingham and saw Reggie many times at Rickwood Field in the Summer of 1967. I can confirm that he wore #34 for the Birmingham A's that season. Although known as the Barons during most of their existence, the team was named the A's from 1964 to 1965, and again from 1967 through 1975 when they were the A's farm team (moved to Mobile for one season in 1966).

There are several books on Rickwood Field, and at least one of them has a photo of Reggie in his #34 uniform. I also have a polaroid photo around here somewhere that a friend of mine took of Reggie that year. Below is a photo of Reggie in his uniform and a 1967 team picture that hangs on my basement wall.

For those who are interested, the 1967 team won the Southern League title and then went on to defeat the Texas League champs, Albuquerque, in the Dixie Series. Kansas City A's owner Charles Finley was from Birmingham and he stacked the Birmingham team that year with many of the organization's top prospects along with several vets with major league experience. Also on the team were two other future Hall-of-Famers, Rollie Fingers and Tony LaRussa (bad knee injury that year), along with Joe Rudi, Dave Duncan, Alan Lewis (Finley's first designated runner), Marcel Lachemann, Ken Suarez, Joe Grzenda, Bill Stafford, George Lauzerique (their best pitcher - better than Fingers, but sadly blew his arm out a few years later), Gil Blanco, and a few others who had a cup of coffee in the majors. They even had a future big league manager in John McNamara.

I could tell a bunch of stories about that season, but I will end this by simply saying that it was one of the best summers of my youth!

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange

Always looking for World Football League uniforms

[G1X]

Here are the players in the photo:

First Row (L-R): Reggie Jackson #34, Art Miranda #17, Bob Frati #23, George Lauzerique #25, John McNamara #1, Hoss Bowlin #2, (cannot ID #3 - possibly Parke Davisdon), Bob Taylor #29, Mickey Dobbins #5, and Vern Handrahan #18.

Top Row (L-R): Santiago Rosario #21, Bob Guzek #27, Dave Duncan #11, Stan Wojcik #32, Joe Rudi #15, Joe Grzenda #41, Gil Blanco #30, Rollie Fingers #26, Mike Olivo #20, Wayne Norton #24, Marcel Lachemann (can't read his number and can't remember).

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for World Football League uniforms

[joelsabi]

I am originally from Birmingham and saw Reggie many times at Rickwood Field in the Summer of 1967. I can confirm that he wore #34 for the Birmingham A's that season. Although known as the Barons during most of their existence, the team was named the A's from 1964 to 1965, and again from 1967 through 1975 when they were the A's farm team (moved to Mobile for one season in 1966).

There are several books on Rickwood Field, and at least one of them has a photo of Reggie in his #34 uniform. I also have a polaroid photo around here somewhere that a friend of mine took of Reggie that year. Below is a photo of Reggie in his uniform and a 1967 team picture that hangs on my basement wall.

For those who are interested, the 1967 team won the Southern League title and then went on to defeat the Texas League champs, Albuquerque, in the Dixie Series. Kansas City A's owner Charles Finley was from Birmingham and he stacked the Birmingham team that year with many of the organization's top prospects along with several vets with major league experience. Also on the team were two other future Hall-of-Famers, Rollie Fingers and Tony LaRussa (bad knee injury that year), along with Joe Rudi, Dave Duncan, Alan Lewis (Finley's first designated runner), Marcel Lachemann, Ken Suarez, Joe Grzenda, Bill Stafford, George Lauzerique (their best pitcher - better than Fingers, but sadly blew his arm out a few years later), Gil Blanco, and a few others who had a cup of coffee in the majors. They even had a future big league manager in John McNamara.

I could tell a bunch of stories about that season, but I will end this by simply saying that it was one of the best summers of my youth!

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange

Always looking for World Football League uniforms

very cool display. I know Chuck Finley was a very thrifty owner. Do you know if these jerseys were retreads from the majors? thanks for the info.

[prichmond]

I would suspect they are. I have several a's uniforms from 68-76 and you can see where the B was attached when you put them on a light table. Some where I recall reading that he also had his players wear the same uniforms from one season to the next.

[Bhawk2]

In this case the unusual number turned out to be a minor league number, but at least for the A's there can be a lot of different numbers in spring training. The 1977 A's yearbook features 25 players, and 16 of them didn't play for the A's in 1976. Of those who are pictured with visible uniform numbers, 7 of 8 are wearing a number other than the number they ended up with. The spring training jerseys don't have NOBs, and in one case there is a 1976 jersey (with bicentennial patch) with a number not used in 1976 and no NOB, so clearly they stripped a game jersey, changed the number and made it a spring training jersey.

[G1X]

I would suspect they are. I have several a's uniforms from 68-76 and you can see where the B was attached when you put them on a light table. Some where I recall reading that he also had his players wear the same uniforms from one season to the next.

Birmingham did not have a "B" on their jerseys after 1965. The vest jerseys they wore from 1967 through 1974 had the A on the chest. Below are a few team photos from the early 1970s along with a nice photo of Reggie Jackson from 1967. I cannot recall if Birmingham wore the vests in their last season as the A's Class-AA farm team in 1975. I was thinking that they switched to the pullover style that year, but I have not been able to find any photos to document.

Perhaps the jerseys that have the outline of the "B" were worn by Burlington who was a long-time Class-A team of the A's during that era.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

Always looking for World Football League uniforms

[danesei@yahoo.com]

very cool display. I know Chuck Finley was a very thrifty owner. Do you know if these jerseys were retreads from the majors? thanks for the info.

I actually think it was fairly standard practice for MLB teams to send used uniforms down to their farm teams in the 70s. I know that I purchased a pair of 1974 Pawtucket pants from Heritage used by Fred Lynn. The Heritage listing basically said it couldn't have been Fred's, since he wore 19 during his Sox tenure. The pants said "LYNN 8" on the inside waist buckle. Anyway, I knew that Fred wore #8 while with Pawtucket, so I took a chance and picked them up. When I got them, I decided that my cousin would appreciate them much more (he went to college in the New England area, so he's a fan of their teams), so I gave them to him as a Christmas gift. One day, I saw Fred Lynn had a Facebook page, so I decided to ask him about the pants.

He said he couldn't be absolutely positive, but they looked like his. He commented that someone shortened them, but the pants overall looked like his, and the "LYNN 8" was in his print style. I asked if he'd be willing to take a look at them and sign them as gamers. He responded that it'd be better not to send them as he might just keep them, making a joke that you can never trust a ballplayer.

Here's the Heritage listing:

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleN...11&lotNo=43180

After I won, I also found this listing that sort of confirmed the original suspicion about it being from Pawtucket (before Fred confirmed it, of course):

http://www.premierauctionsonline.com...-lot32126.aspx

[ossteve]

Hi,
Here's the gauge on Reggie's rookie "numbers:"

"...As a rookie that season, Reggie wore number “31” with the KC A’s for a brief time before wearing number “9”, the number he would wear from 1968-1974. During the 1967 season, Bob Duliba (5’10” 180lbs) also wore number “31” for seven games in Kansas City. Duliba started the season with the club and on May 11, was optioned to Vancouver. He did not return to the A’s thus making his final appearance in the Bigs on May 9, 1967 (confirmed in dated newspapers). Reggie (6’ 195 lbs) was called up on June 3, 1967 and was issued number 31, which he wore until he was sent down on July 3rd. He was also recalled in September of 1967, whereupon he picked up number 9.

Including here are shots of a program box score from late June against the Angels, a KC Newspaper story/photo where you can make out Reggie in number 31 and shots of his gold rookie vest and helmet. Also link to old greyflannel auction where the white rookie vest sold:
http://catalog.greyflannelauctions.c...-lot27311.aspx

Best,
Steve