UPDATE: Disregard all that wild speculation below. Turns out it was Evan Longoria’s car that was stolen, not Reggie Jackson’s. Oh well, I never was that good a detective.
3: 33 P.M.: I’m bored, so I’m going to channel my fictitious hero Daryl Zero and play detective with this story from Arizona that reader Bloodysock sent in:
A Major League baseball player was having his classic 1967 black and white Camaro RS, valued at $75,000, upgraded by a Gilbert company only have it purloined from an overflow lot in Chandler, police said.
That car and a Buick GSX , valued at $25,000, were stolen between late Saturday and early Sunday from an overflow lot at 260 E. Comstock Rd. in Chandler, said Chandler Police Det. David Ramer.
The article does not name the player, but says that he “lives in California, but was having work done on the car in Arizona. He plays in the Grapefruit League, not the Cactus League, and the car has Florida license plates.” There’s not a ton to go on, but I’m going to make a guess: Reggie Jackson.
Yes, I know he doesn’t play anymore, but he is at least in the Grapefruit League right now doing his little spring training instructor thing with the Yankees. And he’s a major, major classic car collector, with a specific emphasis on muscle cars. I’m not sure where he makes his home, but given his time in Oakland and Anaheim and the fact that he owns auto dealerships in California, it wouldn’t surprise me if he lives there.
In January he sold multiple cars at an auto auction in Arizona , which would give him a reason to have cars in the Phoenix area. And perhaps he throws service business to old friends from his ASU days, explaining why his car would be serviced on a lot in Chandler. The Florida license plate is somewhat problematic, but perhaps he owns property there registers cars there for some reason. Or maybe he bought it from someone at that auction who had it registered in Florida.
Total guessing and Googling. But I’m goin’ with Reggie Jackson based on my use of the two obs and a hunch. A retraction shall be printed in the highly likely event that I am wrong.
