The 2023 Mecum Monterey auction is just around the corner, scheduled to run from August 17 through 19. If you’re at all familiar with Mecum auctions, you know to expect a certain level of collector cars and bikes on offer. However, there are a pair of exceptionally special bikes that are about to cross the auction block at Monterey 2023.
Two Yamaha FZRs belonging to one of the greatest baseball players to ever play the game, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, are scheduled to be sold as a pair. Over the course of his legendary career, Jackson played 2,820 games. Throughout 21 seasons, he racked up 2,548 hits, scored 563 home runs, and had 1,702 RBIs. The five-time World Series champion was also a 14-time American League All-Star and was officially inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Those are the stats about Jackson that are well-known—but for those unfamiliar, Jackson has also been a major motorcycle (and car) guy since the 1960s. He first became interested in motorcycles in the ‘60s, but career demands from his day job prevented him from spending as much time riding as he would later pursue, following his retirement from baseball.
Gallery: Reggie Jackson's 1990 Yamaha FZRs at Mecum Monterey 2023
There’s a great piece from a 1990 issue of Cycle World profiling Mr. October’s dawning love of sportbikes, and how he both fell in love with motorcycles and sought to improve his riding skills. From approximately 1982 to 1988, he rode Harleys on weekends. Then the sportbike bug hit after a fast rider zoomed past his Porsche while he was out on a drive. Soon, he found himself buying a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10—which was suitably fast and suited both his tall frame and his bodybuilding habit.
Anyway, back to the pair of 1990 Yamaha FZRs that’s about to be auctioned at Mecum Monterey 2023. Individually, both are coveted gems among enthusiasts—but together, they’re something else entirely. The first is a Japanese-market 1990 Yamaha FZR400 RR-SP with an aluminum Deltabox frame (not steel) and a carbon fiber exhaust. It has 251 kilometers (just under 156 miles) on the clock. When new, it made a claimed 66 horsepower.
While the FZR400 is rare enough, the second bike is rarer still. It’s a 1990 Yamaha FZR-R 750 0W01—one of only about 500 or so ever made and sold worldwide. This legendary sportbike is one of an even smaller number with a horn, turn signals, and a taillight added for street use. However, despite that fact, the odometer on this Japanese-market example reads 3,246 kilometers (just under 2,017 miles).
Both of these rare, desirable classic 1990s Yamahas have been owned by Jackson since they were new. They were reportedly gifted to him by Yamaha as a thank you for promotional work he did at the time. They’re listed together as Lot F14 at Mecum Monterey 2023 and are expected to fetch between $70,000 and $90,000 when they go up for sale.
To see more photos, find out more, or bid for these or other machines that strike your interest, please check out the link in our Sources.
