Reggie Jackson Says Bear Bryant Once Called Him A Racial Slur

Reggie Jackson is 2-for-2 in viral stories of old racism over the past week. Mr. October doesn’t miss, even in June!

The 14-time All-Star and Hall-of-Famer made waves last week during MLB’s game at Rickwood when he got brutally honest about the racism he experienced during his playing days. You can watch the full video below, but this little quote about his time with the Birmingham Barons was the real eye-opener. 

“I would walk into restaurants, they would point at me and say ‘that n—– can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they’d say ‘that n—– can’t stay here.’ We went to [former A’s owner] Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome-home dinner, and they pointed me out with the n-word, ‘he can’t come in here …’

“Finally, they threatened to burn our apartment complex down unless I got out. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

Not great. It was obviously decades ago, but still a humdinger of a story. 

Anyway, if you thought that was a blast from the past, Reggie’s got a follow-up for you that’ll blow your mind. Or, maybe not. 

Watch:

Regfie Jackson has told the Bear Bryant story before

Look, again – this is all obviously from a long time ago. Doesn’t make it right – it’s not, it wasn’t – but that’s still important context here. 

Still a wild story, huh? This also wasn’t the first time Reggie Jackson has told it. I’d imagine some baseball/Alabama lifers reading this are saying, ‘Gee, that sounds familiar.’ You’re right!

Reggie first talked about his relationship with Bear Bryant during an interview with SI in 1987:

“It was while I was in Birmingham that I met Bear Bryant. His son was the general manager of the ball club. Bryant told me I was ‘the kind of n….. boy’ they needed to show the people in his state that we would be good athletes and be good for his school. 

He said it as a compliment. He said it with his arm around me. Whenever he came to New York, he always made it a point to come see me, and I enjoyed visiting with him. He meant no harm. That’s the way it was.”

I’m sure the media will have a field day with this one even though this story is a billion years old, and that’s fine. I get it. Beyond it being a pretty crazy reminder of how things used to be, as Jackson said, I’m not sure what else to take away from it? 

Bear Bryant’s dead (spoiler alert!), so I’m not sure it’ll do any good to cancel him. Racism was pretty bad 50 years ago, but we already knew that. So, I’m just gonna chalk this up to being another wild example of it from Reggie Jackson and carry on.

Social media, of course, had other ideas when that above video went viral last night. I’m talking opinions ACROSS the board: