{"id":199,"date":"2016-10-23T19:18:14","date_gmt":"2016-10-23T19:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/riveramarketingandmediagroup.com\/Test\/RayNegronV2\/blog\/?p=199"},"modified":"2020-08-28T10:12:27","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T14:12:27","slug":"negron-a-yankees-october-love-affair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraynegronstory.com\/columns\/negron-a-yankees-october-love-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"Negron: A Yankees October Love Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was recently watching the MLB network,\u00a0Bob\u00a0Costas\u00a0was interviewing Reggie Jackson.\u00a0Costas\u00a0asked Reggie if he regretted not being friends with Thurman Munson. Knowing Reggie the way I do, I could tell the question bothered him. I was curious about how he would respond. All of a sudden Reggie said, \u201cThere was a guy back then that\u2019s still with the Yankees today. His name is Ray Negron\u00a0and he set up a lunch, put me and Thurman together and we talked it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

I felt very proud of the fact that Reggie felt it was that important. Thurman was a very important person in my life as much as Reggie has been. Had Thurman lived, he would have been the godfather to my first son, Jon Erik. No slight on Reggie,\u00a0it\u2019s just that I knew Thurman longer.<\/p>\n

It was a long and difficult summer, between Reggie and Billy going at it in the Fenway Park dugout, and Munson and Lou Piniella talking the Boss into letting Billy Martin keep his job.\u00a0 In the middle of all of this, the Son of Sam was going crazy killing so many young girls and we lost the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley.\u00a0\u00a0 But by September, we were slapping the\u00a0Red Sox around like we owned them. Reggie and Thurman were\u00a0getting along glowingly and the team just jelled. It was about being World Champions.\u00a0 It\u00a0was a little scary when we got to the playoffs\u00a0because it took all five games and\u00a0Reggie wasn\u2019t\u00a0even starting game five but had a\u00a0big hit as a pinch hitter.<\/p>\n

Thank God for Sparky Lyle, because he would have pitched nine innings if Billy asked him to. He pitched 4 1\/3. After that you know what happened. We beat the Dodgers in six games and Reggie would hit three home runs in game six.<\/p>\n

\"\"The first home run was a vicious line drive off\u00a0Bert Hooten\u00a0into the right field seats.\u00a0I would tell bat boy and my best friend, Hector\u00a0Pagan that\u00a0no one\u00a0had\u00a0better get in front of that ball because it would go through their\u00a0chest. After Reggie rounded the bases, I told him to take a curtain call but he wouldn\u2019t do it. After he hit the second one, again\u00a0on the\u00a0Fast pitch\u00a0and another vicious line drive, I asked him\u00a0to take a curtain call\u00a0and\u00a0again he declined,\u00a0saying\u00a0that the fans had not\u00a0backed him when things had become\u00a0rough for him this season. I said\u00a0to him,\u201d If you hit a third home run,\u00a0you will take one then right?\u201d \u00a0He saw how insistent I was and said. \u201dYou\u2019re\u00a0crazy but I\u2019ll do it.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Well in the bottom of the eighth inning I had to go to the bathroom real badly and\u00a0Reggie was leading off the inning\u00a0but I just couldn\u2019t wait. I figured that there was no way that he was going to hit the first pitch out. I thought that\u00a0the Dodgers pitcher Charlie Hough would at least waste one pitch.\u00a0I was wrong. As I was putting my zipper down,\u00a0Reggie\u00a0was hitting the first pitch out into the centerfield bleachers. By the time I finished peeing Reggie had rounded\u00a0the bases, shook batboy Joe DiAmbrosio\u2019s hand and stepped into the dugout and into bedlam. If you see the old\u00a0footage you see\u00a0me going to his ear, telling\u00a0him that he promised a curtain call if he hit\u00a0a third home run. He finally\u00a0did it and it was great. \u00a0The fans really went nuts. That was\u00a0the\u00a0real\u00a0birth of the curtain call as we know it today.<\/p>\n

After the celebration, Thurman Munson would give Reggie a new name,\u00a0Mr.October. \u00a0As Thurman was walking out the door he\u00a0stopped, look at Reggie and said\u201d You sure put on a great show Mr. October.\u201d Reggie said, \u201cWow what a great name.\u201d\u00a0and Thurman said, \u201cYou can keep it.\u201d\u00a0Reggie said, \u201cThanks.\u201d\u00a0And they gave each other a big smile, the kind of smile only true friends give each other.<\/p>\n

\"\"The next\u00a0day we had a great parade. The Boss was so proud. New York belonged\u00a0to him that day and he deserved it. Only George Steinbrenner, the PT Barnum of baseball, could have put a team like this together. Seeing Reggie and Billy Martin sitting down together with their arms around each other was one of my favorite Yankee moments. I guess because I knew it wouldn\u2019t last. It was beautiful while it lasted and I actually have a picture of them,\u00a0in\u00a0that moment, hanging in my living room.<\/p>\n

At the baseball writers dinner years later, Reggie\u00a0told the capacity crowd he didn\u2019t want to take the curtain call, but I made him do it. That\u00a0was Mr. October\u2019s way of patting\u00a0me on the back and I always appreciated him for it. Billy, Thurman and, of course, the Boss always had my back that way too. I guess I was just a lucky kid who was\u00a0able to get love and give love to four of the greatest guys ever associated with Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was recently watching the MLB network,\u00a0Bob\u00a0Costas\u00a0was interviewing Reggie Jackson.\u00a0Costas\u00a0asked Reggie if he regretted not being friends with Thurman Munson. Knowing Reggie the way I do, I could tell the question bothered him. I was curious about how he would respond. All of a sudden Reggie said, \u201cThere was a guy back then that\u2019s still … <\/p>\n

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