If you’re not following Jeff Pearlman on TikTok, you’re missing out on an airing of the grievances for all time.
The legendary sportswriter, who has penned iconic books about the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers (the basis for “Winning Time”), Brett Favre, and Barry Bonds, just to name a few. Along the way, he’s been around just about every major American athlete of the last 40 years and has plenty of stories to tell.
He’s telling those stories on his TikTok channel. He recently shared his thoughts on disgraced Major League Baseball star Pete Rose, whom he thinks is the “grossest human being on the planet” but still deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His latest screed was against Reggie Jackson, whom Pearlman dubbed “an ***hole” in a new video.
@jeffpearlmanauthor Reggie Jackson has been an asshole for decades. #reggiejackson #mlb #writersoftiktok #journalism ♬ original sound – Jeff Pearlman
“The guy from the media standpoint who was the absolute worst, THE absolute worst, was Reggie Jackson,” said Pearlman. “A colleague of mine had to ask him a question and it was in front of a bunch of people. And Reggie Jackson didn’t like the question, even though it wasn’t that bad. Reggie Jackson puts his arm around the reporter and he’s smiling so everyone thinks he’s being friendly, and he says ‘Do you have any ****ing idea who I am? I’m Reggie ****ing Jackson. How dare you ****ing ask me that question. You’re lint between my ****ing shoes. You have the audacity to ask me that question? Alright, man, it was good talking to you…’
“He was just a d***. He was such a d***, over and over and over again. The arrogance of Reggie. The need to be sort of idolized. The whole thing about him. Just the absolute worst.
“Of all the baseball players, if you talk to a million writers from his era, he was brutal, cause he was a ****ing fraud.”
Well then.
Sure enough, a quick Google search revealed more than a few stories from reporters about their “colorful” interactions with Reggie Jackson. Though to be fair, he’s had positive interactions with the media, too.
