Reggie, Bar the Candy

On May 18, 1946 Reginald Martinez Jackson came into the world, but his parents didn't notice for 5 months and thus he got the nickname Baby October. Yes, Friday is the 61st birthday of the straw that stirs the drink, which is certainly better than calling yourself the stirrer that sucks the liquid--you have to admit, even in an egotistical moment life, Reggie had a way with words. That way wasn't as wonderful as his teammate Mickey Rivers' adventures in quotability; Rivers said during one contretemps with his slugging fellow Yank, "No wonder you're all mixed up. You got a white man's first name, a Spanish man's second name and a black man's third name." Mick the Quick also said, when someone commented that Jackson had an IQ of 160, "What, out of a thousand?" It's generally considered a good thing that Rivers could run fast. Of course, it might just have been the larger than life (and I mean that in the good pre-steroid way) Jackson just drew such comments, for it was fellow-A (gee, that looks weird) Darold Knowles who said, "There isn't enough mustard in the world to cover Reggie Jackson" (as if someone named Darold should relish in such a joke). That Grey Poupon did not immediately try to sign up Jackson and Knowles for a commerial shows the 1970s were really a simpler time.