Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson is a free agent again after leaving the Astros, The Post has learned.
Jackson recently told Astros owner Jim Crane he was leaving the team after nearly four years there as what he termed a “pseudo executive,” Jackson told The Post.
Jackson said he “stepped away” from the Astros to spend more time with family in California. But he also didn’t rule out a return to baseball — or the Yankees.
“It’s always been a home for me,” Jackson told The Post by phone. “I’m a Yankee. I’m still a Yankee.”
The man known as “Mr. October” visited with Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner at a World Series game in New York last month.
Could this mean he’ll be back in the Bronx?
While the subject of a job wasn’t broached, a Yankees person didn’t rule out bringing Jackson back to the Yankees, where he spent five years as a superstar player and more than two decades as a club official.
There’s no job on the table yet for the player who won seven of his 12 World Series rings in pinstripes — two as a player (plus one extra, unofficial one for his historic three home run game) and five with “[Derek] Jeter’s crew,” as he put it.
But he said for now his goal is to spend more time with his daughter, his three grandkids and five siblings, four of whom are in their 80s.
Jackson is closing in on 80 himself.
“I might look 77. But I‘m 78,” he joked.
He said all the time away was wearing.
“I enjoy being around the ballpark. But the road gets a little bit old,” Jackson said. “I still like being around the game. [But] I don’t want to be gone as much. I want to see what this is like.”
He joined the Astros early in the 2021 season after leaving the Yankees.
His influence with the Yankees faded after the death of George Steinbrenner in 2010, and he later said he felt like a “hood ornament” in those last years with the Yankees.
The new emphasis on analytics was an adjustment, which made the switch to the analytics-heavy Astros a surprise — although Houston has been balancing things lately with the hiring of longtime scout Dana Brown as general manager and prominent roles for former stars Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.
“The game is changing,” Jackson said. “But you still hit the ball, you still catch the ball, and there are still clutch performances…”
Jackson noted that he was traveling “two or three times” a month in his Astros role, which got to be too much.
But he enjoyed the job.
“I really loved working with Jim Crane. He’s a wonderful guy, a great leader,” Jackson said. “I learned a lot being around Jim Crane. He’ll always be a friend. And that fanbase is special. Man, they love their ‘Stros.”
Jackson didn’t deny he has that same feeling about the Yankees.
But for now at least, he will concentrate on his other endeavors. “I’ve got so many other businesses,” he said. He also has a car collection, a car dealership and endorsements.
He also noted, “The Reggie bar is back.”
For a day in his month of October, he was back in The Bronx and saw old friend Willie Randolph and other buddies.
He also felt the tough Game 5 World Series loss.
“You can’t give a team 28 outs. We gave them 30,” Jackson said of the fateful fifth inning and the Yankees’ 7-6 World Series deciding Game 5 defeat. “You can’t give a team six outs in an inning — even if you have the best pitcher in the game, and Gerrit Cole certainly is one of the best.”
For a few moments there, he sounded like a Yankee again.
