A $100 Fine for Reggie Jackson: A 1986 American League Letter Signed by Dr. Robert W. Brown

By 1986, Reggie Jackson was 40, a designated hitter in his fifth year with the Angels, and still one of baseball’s most combustible stars. This official letter, dated May 30, 1986, comes from the American League office and is signed by AL President Dr. Robert W. Brown, notifying Jackson of a $100 fine for throwing equipment during a game. Brown was a former Yankees infielder and practicing cardiologist, known as Dr. Bobby Brown, who served as league president from 1984 to 1994, so the man who disciplined Jackson had worn pinstripes himself. Jackson hit 563 career home runs, made 14 All-Star teams, and was nicknamed “Mr. October,” and he played for the Angels from 1982 to 1986 before closing out his career in Oakland in 1987.

The fine is a small piece of a big year. The 1986 Angels, managed by Gene Mauch, finished 92-70 and won the AL West, then lost a seven-game ALCS to the Red Sox in one of the most famous finishes in postseason history. A formal league letter about a $100 fine isn’t a headline moment, but it is a documented record of a specific burst of temper from one of the game’s biggest personalities, in the season when his team came closest to a pennant.