On this date – June 24 – in 1962, Yankee outfielder Jack Reed hit the only home run of his three-season MLB career. Despite the long line of Yankee home run hitters – from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to Aaron Judge – Reed’s homer has a unique place in Bronx Bomber history. Reed’s only career MLB homer, a two-run shot (Roger Maris was on base), provided the winning margin in the longest game in Yankee history – a 9-7, 22-inning win over the Tigers (in Detroit).
Notably, Reed hadn’t even started the game that day. He was, in fact, the third Yankee to man right field in the contest. Mickey Mantle started in RF (Roger Maris was in center). Joe Pepitone replaced Mantle in the seventh inning. Phil Linz pinch hit for Pepitone in the thirteenth and Reed took over right field (Linz going to the bench) in bottom of the inning. For the game, Reed was one-for-four with a run scored and two RBI. (Reed would collect only six RBI in 222 MLB games.
The fact that Reed did not start the game should be no surprise. Reed made a career out of being a late-inning defensive replacement, pinch runner and occasional pinch hitter. In fact, in 222 MLB games (1961-63), he found himself in the starting lineup just 18 times and had a total of just 144 plate appearances, His final MLB stat line was .233-1-6.
Jack Reed’s best MLB season was 1962, when he went .302-1-4, with two steals in 88 games. (In 88 games, Reed had just 48 plate appearances.)
Often a late-inning replacement for Mickey Mantle on defense or on the base paths (Reed was Mantle’s replacement in 64 of his 222 MLB games), Reed was often referred to as “Mantle’s Legs” or “Mantle’s Caddie).” During his career, Reed came in to replace not only Mantle, but also Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Tom Tresh, Johnny Blanchard, Hector Lopez, Bob Cerv and Phil Linz.
Turning the Tables
On September 19, 1961, Jack Reed started in CF for the Yankees (versus the Orioles in Baltimore). In the top of the ninth, with the Yankees trailing 1-0, a runner on first and two out, Mantle replaced Reed (turnabout is fair play) at the plate (and struck out).
Here’s just a bit more background on Reed. Reed was a versatile athlete in high school. He won the Mississippi State Championship in the quarter-mile run and lettered in football, baseball, basketball and track. In college (University of Mississippi), he was a three-sport athlete – baseball, football, track & field.
Reed signed a contract with the Yankees at age 20 (1953). In 1954, he hit .287-5-49, with 18 steals in 99 Class-B Games. In 1955, he moved up to Class-A and went .308-6-48, with 20 steals in 132 games. He then lost the 1956 and 1957 seasons to military service, before hitting .308-19-79, with 22 steals at Double-A in 1958. He didn’t fare as well offensively at Triple-A (.262-7-36 in 1959; .240-4-25 in 1960; and .255-3-13 in 1961). However, he continued to show speed on the base paths and superior defense in the field, which earned him a spot on a Yankees’ roster filled with outfield options (at least in Casey Stengel’s managing system).
In the 1964 season Reed found himself back in the minors, as a player-coach with the Triple-A Richmond Virginians. He went on to manage in the Yankee system from 1965 through 1967.
Primary References: Baseball-Reference.com; Jack Reed Society for American Baseball Research bio, by Thomas Van Hyning.
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