Though the Yankees eventually won the 1977 World Series, the title was not assured that summer. The team, one of the most racially mixed in franchise history, had the flash and character of the city. Reggie Jackson joined the Yankees that year, only to clash with manager Billy Martin and several teammates who regarded his ego as outsize and overbearing. But it was also when Jackson became “Mister October” and helped the Yankees beat the Dodgers four games to two. In a season preview published in
New York in April 1977, Peter Bodo wrote: “[The Yankees] are in a number of ways the ball club of the future, given the increasing freedom demanded by the players, their increasing preoccupation with money, the increasingly frantic shuffling of talent by owners who need to make a winner to make a budget.” Sounds like an accurate prediction to us. Except for the budget
part.
Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio [NYM (pdf)]
