In a recent telephone conversation, Mike Epstein spoke to me about the incident, cautioning that his memories may have become blurred by the passage of thirty-plus years. He did recall seeing a television report of the massacre of the Israeli Olympic contingent. “We [Epstein and Holtzman] walked around town for hours” and were “in shock.” Epstein did not remember whether the idea came from himself or Holtzman, but the two players agreed that wearing the black armband “was the right thing to do” and “expressed solidarity [with the Jewish people].”
After the game, Epstein explained his actions to the press as follows: “It hit us like a ton of bricks. Of course, Ken and I are Jewish, but I’d feel the same way if it was any other team. The Olympics are supposed to foster international brotherhood.”
Ken Holtzman’s memory was consistent with that of Epstein’s. During a phone conversation we had, Holtzman emphasized to me that wearing the armband “was the appropriate thing to do” and that the two players “decided on their own” to do it. When queried about the reaction of their Oakland A’s teammates to their plan, Holtzman commented that they “understood,” “being intelligent guys.”
The reasoning behind Reggie Jackson’s participation is unclear. Ron Bergman’s account of the game in the September 7, 1972 edition of the Oakland Tribune attributes this quote to Jackson: “I don’t think the Olympics should go on after those killings. I know that if somebody assassinated a couple of our players here in Chicago – some nut who didn’t want us to win – I wouldn’t want to play the rest of the season, World Series, playoffs, nothing.”
As multiple attempts to arrange an interview with Jackson proved unsuccessful, I can only guess as to his intent. Holtzman indicated that neither he nor Epstein knew beforehand that Jackson would also wear a black armband. When discussing his tenure with the Oakland A’s in his autobiography (Reggie – The Autobiography), Jackson does not specifically address this episode.
Still, Jackson’s memoir contains several possible clues as to his mindset. In various places, Jackson seems to go out of his way to evince respect for Jews and the Jewish faith generally. Perhaps most tellingly, in discussing the underlying rancor and bile in the New York Yankees clubhouse in 1977 – his first season with the team – Jackson relays how one day in March, several of his teammates as well as the manager at the time (Billy Martin) “were making Jewish jokes about [Ken] Holtzman.” Jackson added that he found the incident “disturbing” and “walked away.”
True, Jackson did not intercede on Holtzman’s behalf. Such a confrontation, however, might have been too much to expect, as Jackson himself was not accepted by his new teammates: from Jackson’s perspective, he “wasn’t one of them.”
At another point in the book, Jackson recalls that as a youth living in the suburbs of Philadelphia, “a lot of my friends were Jewish.” Beyond this, Jackson looks to “Jewish people,” among other ethnic groups, as a paradigm in combating the racism inherent in American society.
Perhaps, when taken together, these statements signify a special sensitivity on Jackson’s part toward Jews. Maybe, as an African-American man who was stung by racism and hate in his own life, Jackson felt compelled to make a public statement by wearing the armband.
Notwithstanding his reputation as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense baseball man, A’s skipper Dick Williams supported the players’ decision to wear the armbands: “I thought [White Sox manager] Chuck Tanner showed some class by not saying anything about the arm bands. There could have been a flare-up because Kenny [Holtzman] is a pitcher and he was wearing one. I’m all for it. I understand. I don’t see how the Olympics can go on. I think the killings were a terrible thing, a terrible thing.”