At the start of this documentary a calm, conversational Reggie Jackson says he's nervous about the film because he has no control over it. He needn't have worried. It's more a story about his career-long pursuit of diversity in baseball, all the way to the ownership level, than about his good guy/ bad guy reputation as a player. He's surrounded in this effort by friends, including Henry Aaron, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers and Julius Erving. No contemporaries from his Bronx Zoo Yankee years are interviewed, so we don't get differing points of view about Reggie's clashes with Thurman Munson, Billy Martin, Mickey Rivers and others.
Reggie credits several players on the Oakland Athletics for helping him withstand mid-70s racism, but fails to mention coaches, veteran players or mentors who improved his game other than Joe DiMaggio. The facts about slow acceptance of Black players, managers, coaches and executives are true. It's also fair to say that Reggie confessed to being too aggressive at times in the media. Still, the lack of critics in this two-hour project unfortunately make it more boring than it should be.
Reggie credits several players on the Oakland Athletics for helping him withstand mid-70s racism, but fails to mention coaches, veteran players or mentors who improved his game other than Joe DiMaggio. The facts about slow acceptance of Black players, managers, coaches and executives are true. It's also fair to say that Reggie confessed to being too aggressive at times in the media. Still, the lack of critics in this two-hour project unfortunately make it more boring than it should be.