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6 baseball books to launch the 2014 season

For true aficionados, here are excerpts from six must-read baseball books.

3. “Becoming Mr. October”

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

By Reggie Jackson with Kevin Baker

Doubleday

292 pages

(Reggie Jackson earned the "Mr. October" nickname with his 1977 World Series heroics, when he hit three home runs in the clinching victory over the Dodgers.)

"I had to learn on the spot how to say things [when I got to NY]. And I didn’t do a very good job of that my first year in New York.

"I tried to be honest, open. But you have to be guarded in what you say. I needed to learn to read what I was saying, when I was saying it.

"Look at someone like Derek Jeter, he’s got it down to an art. In addition to being a great ballplayer, he knows how to say exactly what he wants to say. And nothing else, nothing that somebody can take and twist. He’s the best, always has been remarkably mature for his years. He knew how to do that from the beginning as a Yankee. He knew how to say a lot and give nothing.

"I’m still learning."

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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