This October will mark the 40th anniversary of the New York Yankees’ 1977 World Series championship. It was the team’s first title since 1962 and made Reggie Jackson an international superstar. Jackson was already an established star – he had won the 1973 AL MVP and World Series MVP Awards while with the Oakland A’s – but his performance in New York took him to a higher level.
The Yankees had been swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1976 World Series, so George Steinbrenner was determined to bring in a big bat for the following season. Steinbrenner wined and dined Jackson, who had been dealt to Baltimore at the beginning of the ’76 season, and was an unrestricted free agent.