May 18, 1946

Baseball superstar Reggie Jackson, whose career included a stint with Birmingham’s minor league team, was born near Philadelphia. Jackson, known as “Mr. October” for his late-season heroics, especially with the 1970s-era New York Yankees, slugged 563 home runs en route to the Hall of Fame. In 1967, the year in which he made his major league debut, he played part of the season with the Birmingham A’s, then the Southern League affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics. While in the Magic City, he provided a preview of what was to come, hitting .293 with 17 homers and 58 runs batted in.

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Reggie Jackson of the Oakland Athletics. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Photograph of baseball player Reggie Jackson taken before the third game of the 1973 World Series. (Desert Sun, United Press International, Wikipedia)

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