I tweeted a few days ago about a “fantasy” card (if there ever was
one) I created regarding the 1969 Reggie Jackson rookie, but in this
scenario he is pictured as a New York Met! It created for “Fastball
John” and a book review he wrote for the Casey Stengel
biography, “Baseball’s Greatest Character". Take a look:
The idea behind this is of course the (in)famous 1966 amateur
draft, where Reggie went #2 overall, picked by the Kansas City Athletics
after the Mets chose high school catcher Steve Chilcott, who never
ended up playing a game in the Major Leagues.
There are many theories as to why Reggie wasn’t chosen #1 overall,
too many to get into here (some unsavory), but nevertheless considering
the impact he made at Arizona State University during his collegiate
career, Reggie really should have been picked
1st. That would have given the university two straight overall picks
after Rick Monday was taken 1st by the Athletics the previous year, in the very 1st amateur draft in MLB history.
Of course, it would have been interesting to see how the
personality of Reggie would have played out had he immediately been in
NYC, though as a part of a team that was at the precipice of success
with a youth-core of Seaver, Koosman, et al and a championship
looming in 1969.
Who knows? But it sure is fun imagining!
Anyway, for the card, I had to combine a nice photo or Reggie
around 1969 with a perfect shot of former Mets favorite Tommie Agee.
Just so happened I found two identical poses, though Reggie’s was
flipped.
Through the magic of Photoshop, voila! We Have the young Reggie Jackson shown as a New York Met!
I may have to try my hand at a few other “what if’s” down the line! Keep an eye out to see who…
