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There was a time when baseball was the King of sports in the African-American community. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, and he opened the door for a tidal wave of African-American stars like Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Bob Gibson, and many, many more. The numbers of African-Americans have dwindled mightily in today’s game. In 2013 only eight percent of players in Major League Baseball were African-American. That’s a far cry from the 1970s, when as many as 26 percent of the players in MLB were African-American.
Nonetheless, there are still plenty of African-American fans, and I am pretty sure they are watching the playoffs. One of the most spectacular plays so far in the playoffs occurred Monday when New York Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes absolutely crushed a homer of L.A. Dodger’s pitcher Alex Wood. What was also cool was Cespedes’ admiration of his work. It reminded me a bit of another New York baseball player who had some magical moments in October. His name was Reggie Jackson, and he played in the Bronx for the Yankees. If there was anyone who should get credit for the styling and profiling that goes on after a homer, it is Jackson, aka ‘Mr. October’. Posted below is Cespedes’ blast, plus Jackson’s epic, three-home run game in the 1977 World Series against the Dodgers.
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