After a long playoff run that left aggravating questions from Mr. May left in the inbox of Yankees MVP Aaron Judge, it would be a lot of fun to meet Mr. October back in the good graces of the franchise. Fortunately, after the latest update from Houston, that seems possible soon.

After nearly four years of advising Astros leader Jim Crane on personnel decisions and rubbing shoulders with Jose Altuve, Reggie Jackson has let the Yankees’ foe know he’s eager to move on.

Jackson, now 78 years old, plans to step away from the game (for now) to spend more time with his family, but in the process he endeared himself again to a Yankees fan base that wasn’t quite sure how to handle his previous apostasy.

As Jackson said New York Post“(New York) has always been home to me. I’m a Yankee. I’m still a Yankee.”

Yankees could lure Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson back to New York after he finally left the Astros

He cemented that link by reportedly visiting Hal Steinbrenner during the 2024 World Series, a departure from previously held animosity.

In 2023, during the postseason, Jackson reiterated – to Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on FS1’s pregame coverage in the playoffs – that he had felt like his opinions were no longer valued at the time he left the Yankees . Jackson was, of course, a trusted confidant of the late George Steinbrenner, but felt disconnected in the years following the Boss’s death.

Whether he returns to the organization as an active participant or simply as a link to its past successes, it obviously feels great to see Astro’s hat put aside and replaced with an interlocking NY. Since 2017, Houston has been the gold standard of winning at all costs, and the Yankees have not been able to match their penchant for hogging the spotlight. Based on recent interviews with Brian Cashman, the Yankees organization remains unconvinced that all that success was legitimate.

The Astros cheating scandal predated Jackson’s 2021 defection, but it didn’t hurt any less. Ideally, these fences will be fully repaired soon.