By Aris Sakellaridis
Yankees Community Advisor and NySportsday.com columnist Ray Negron is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month in his own pinstriped way. He found time to appear on Rudy Giuliani’s radio program to keep the magnitude of Reginald Martinez Jackson on everyone’s mind, while the 2020 World Series is being played.
Negron took time out from his daily community duties, which has turned into a daily duty since the coronavirus, to remind us of that October 18th day in 1977, when “Mr. October” connected for three home runs on three swings in the Yankees clinching game six against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The half-Puerto Rican Jackson, who was named the Series MVP, became the only position player to win the award twice. The other time was in 1973 as a member of the Oakland A’s when they bested the N.Y. Mets in seven games.
Negron described on the airwaves of WABC how he persuaded Jackson to take a curtain call and actually pushed him out of the dugout, where his hand was shown all over the world. The “curtain call” was officially christened by both Puerto Ricans. It has been shown on highlight reels for the past 43 years.