The Thrill of Bo Jackson Is Taken Away
An IBWAA co-director recalls the injury that ended Bo Jackson's career
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Over the first five years of his career, Bo Jackson hit 109 home runs and stole 81 bases. Only 20 players in the history of the game have ever accomplished that feat, and incredibly, only one began his career before 1980, Bobby Bonds, who hit 126 home runs and stole 179 bases from 1968-1972.
. . . After being elected to the 1989 MLB All-Star Game, Jackson was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 1990 NFL season, his last in the league. He remains the only athlete to be selected to the all-star game of two professional sports. Jackson had the longest run in the NFL in three of his four seasons with the Raiders. Only two other NFL running backs had the longest run in three seasons (Bob Hoernschemeyer in 1947, 1950, 1951 and O.J. Simpson in 1972, 1973, and 1975) - none have ever done it in four seasons.
Leading Off
The Odyssey of Bo Jackson Comes to an End
By Benjamin Chase
As he sprinted down the field in a game on January 13, 1991, Raiders running back Bo Jackson hoped to help his team to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals in a playoff game. He tried to gain some extra yards along the sideline, and he was tackled from behind as he attempted to twist away. The combination of his own momentum and the defender landing on him caused his hip to come out of socket. When Jackson rolled over, he says that he felt the hip pop back into socket.
It seemed like an easily recoverable injury, especially for the man who was seen as easily the most impressive athlete on the planet at the time - and many will still argue that he’s still the most impressive athlete to walk the planet. However, it was misdiagnosed and scans were not ordered that could have caught the internal bleeding that was caused by the hip dislocating and then popping back in and clipping a blood vessel inside the joint.
The length of time before the injury was properly diagnosed and addressed meant that Jackson would end up having a hip replacement right at the peak of his athletic career in both baseball and football. He would never play football again. His baseball career would eventually be reclaimed, though he never was again the physical specimen on the field that he was before the injury.
Bo Knows Background
Vincent Edward Jackson, affectionately known as Bo, was born in a small town in Alabama. He was blessed with unique athletic abilities from a young age, and his multi-sport talent caught the eyes of many colleges. He was drafted by the Yankees in the second round in 1982 out of high school in baseball. Wanting to play football and baseball in college - as well as possibly participate in track and field, Jackson did not sign with the Yankees.
He instead began his college career with Auburn, quickly establishing himself as a star running back, sparking debates among Southeastern Conference fans whether he or Hershel Walker of Georgia was the better back. Jackson would win the Heisman Trophy in football in 1985 after he turned down the California Angels, who selected him in the 20th round in the 1985 draft after his only full season of college baseball.
He would be drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but a pre-draft flight that the Buccaneers paid for to do a workout at their facility led to Jackson losing his eligibility for college baseball midway through his final baseball at Auburn. Bo was upset with the Bucs for costing him that final baseball season and refused to sign with Tampa Bay. The Royals took a gamble and selected him in the fourth round in 1986, and he signed.
Bo Excites Baseball
Jackson was sent to Double-A Memphis by the Royals, but he earned his way to the majors by the end of the year, playing 25 games in his draft season for Kansas City. Jackson would hit 22 home runs and steal 10 bases in his rookie season in 1987 with the Royals, but he didn’t garner a single vote in Rookie of the Year voting (not that he would have beat Mark McGwire, but not a single vote is surprising).
He would go on to hit 107 home runs and steal 78 bases in his first four full seasons with the Royals, though he would hit .252 and struck out 604 times in 1,919 plate appearances (31.5% - extremely high rate today and outlandish in the late 1980s). Jackson was a master of the highlight reel play, though, hitting home runs that many swear went farther than anyone had hit a ball in particular stadiums and making defensive plays that even the most gifted outfield defenders in the game couldn’t get to.
After the injury, the Royals cut Bo and he signed with the Chicago White Sox. He didn’t make his 1991 debut until September, playing on his injured hip for one month before having hip replacement surgery that offseason. He missed all of 1992 before returning in 1993 with the White Sox to hit 16 home runs in 85 games. He would have a very solid season as a part-time player with the Angels in 1994, but he chose not to return after the lockout, ending his career with 141 home runs, 82 stolen bases, and 8.3 career bWAR.
Bo’s Legend Forgotten?
For those who saw him play, it would not be an incredible comment to say that Bo was the best athlete who ever played two sports, despite Deion Sanders earning Hall of Fame recognition in the NFL and Brian Jordan having a notably better MLB career among two contemporaries who played in both MLB and the NFL.
His lack of impressive saber-friendly statistics likely will discount his incredible career for those too young to have seen him play. Hopefully, his highlight videos can help to push his legacy on for many years to come.
Benjamin Chase is one of the co-directors for IBWAA. He works as a newspaper editor in rural South Dakota and enjoys writing and podcasting about baseball for various outlets. He’s the co-host of the Pallazzo Podcast prospects podcast. Benjamin is on most social medias under the handle @biggentleben.
Extra Innings
Arguably the greatest highlight of his career was Bo’s performance in the 1989 MLB All-Star game, when he was the leading vote-getter in the game, and he led off the game for the American League with a home run off Rick Reuschel. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully was talking with former President Ronald Reagan in the booth when the home run happened: