Minor Leagues
In the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft, Jackson was selected by the Kansas City Athletics. He was the 2nd overall draft pick in the 1st round, behind catcher Steve Chilcott, who was selected by the New York Mets. According to Jackson, Winkles told him that the Mets didn't select him because he had a white girlfriend. Winkles later denied the story, stating that he didn't know the reason why Jackson wasn't drafted by the Mets. It was later confirmed by Joe McDonald that the Mets drafted Chilcott because of need, yet again the person running the Mets at the time was George Weiss a known racist, so the true motive may never be known.
Jackson progressed through the minors quickly, reporting for his first training camp with the Single-A Lewis-Clark Broncs, Lewiston, Idaho in June, 1966, having signed for $85,000 (source: "40 Years Ago Today" in the Lewiston Morning Tribune June 15, 2006,) and playing one season for the A's Single-A teams, the Broncs and Modesto, California and one more season for their Double-A affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama. It was in Birmingham that Jackson got his first taste of racism, being one of only a few blacks on the team. He credits the team's manager at the time, John McNamara, who had previously been the Broncs' catcher-manager, for helping him through that difficult season.
Read more about this topic: Reggie Jackson, Professional Career
Other articles related to "league, minor leagues, minor league":
... debut that year in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL) with the GCL Yankees, pitching to a 3–3 win-loss record with a 2.89 ERA ... Creek Yankees of the Class A Midwest League for the 2004 season, Clippard had a 10–10 record with a 3.44 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.531 in 25 starts ... with a 3.18 ERA for the Tampa Yankees of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League (FSL) in 2005 ...
... Linde's first taste of minor league action came in 1942, when he signed with the Green Bay Bluejays of the Wisconsin State League ... After the season ended, the league folded temporarily, and Linde enlisted with the United States Army Air Forces to serve in World War II ... joined the Greenville Spinners, the Chicago White Sox minor league affiliate of the Sally League ...
... He began his career in 2005, playing for their Rookie League Helena Brewers and AZL Brewers ... to the Class A West Virginia Power, where he was named to the South Atlantic League's mid and post-season All-Star teams ...
... around 24 months playing for the Venezuelan Summer League Phillies, where he compiled a 4–5 record between 2005 and 2006 ... Escalona participated in the 2008 Arizona Fall League as a member of the Mesa Solar Sox ... the Phillies purchased Escalona's contract from Reading and promoted him to the Major League club on May 16, 2009 ...
... Dayton then sold his contract to a Boston Bees minor league affiliate, the Scranton Miners of the New York-Pennsylvania League ... Vander Meer made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on April 22, 1937 at the age of 22 ... He won 3 games and lost 4 before being sent back the minor leagues with the Syracuse Chiefs for most of the season when the Reds recalled him in September ...
Famous quotes containing the words leagues and/or minor:
“By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summon’d am to a tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world’s end:
Methinks it is no journey.”
—Unknown. Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song (l. 57–60)
“If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to “a semi-official statement”; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as “a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable.” It is only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own, and one to which he attaches minor importance, that he defines it as the opinion of “well-informed circles.””
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)