I always wondered if the tree people had an issue with Bo Jackson destroying his baseball bats. How many trees were cut down to supply lumber for one of the greatest athletes in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s? Jackson played two professional sports and was pretty awesome at baseball and football. It would be on the grid iron, a hip injury, that would pretty much derail Bo’s career. He would make a comeback in baseball as football he was no longer going to play. His comeback story is amazing to the game of baseball and just sports in general. Bo was the first athlete to play a sport and compete with an artificial hip. What if Bo never got injured? Could he have been a two time Hall of Famer in Canton and Cooperstown? I always thought he was a better athlete than Deon Sanders, another two sports star at that time. At 61 years old, Bo Jackson will get his due. It’s not Canton nor Cooperstown. It’s the Royale with cheese, the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame where he played 5 seasons. The Royals this weekend honored their former left fielder before the game between Cleveland and Kansas City.

Bo Jackson played 511 games for the Royals. Jackson batted .250 with 109 home runs driving in 313. Bo’s 8 year baseball career, his life time numbers has him with a .250 batting average with 141 home runs driving in 415 runs while racking up 598 hits. He played a total of 694 games and he was a 5 tool player with speed as he swiped 82 bases. Jackson had some amazing web gems out in the outfield.

In 1989, Bo scaled the wall in Baltimore to make an unbelievable catch. Everyone will talk about when he gunned down Harold Reynolds at home plate from left field. In 1989 was Bo’s finest season in his MLB career when he hit 32 home runs drove in 105 and earned his first all-star game. In the summer classic he hit a mammoth home run and was MVP of the game for the American League squad.

After the baseball season would end, Bo Jackson would play roughly ten games on the schedule for the Raiders. Bo played 4 seasons in the NFL all with the Raiders. In 1989 his best year in baseball was also his best in football. In 11 games that year he rushed for 950 yards missing the 1,000 mark by 50. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry that season, so no wonder he was the best player in the Tecmo Bowl video game.

In 4 seasons he had 515 rushes for 2,782 yards with 16 touchdowns on the ground. Bo also caught two touchdown passes in his career giving him 18 in 4 seasons. He played 38 NFL games and averaged 5.4 yards per carry which is outstanding. Bo had two rushes for over 90 yards in his NFL career. He also had an 80 yard run. The game where he ran over Seattle’s linebacker Brian Bozworth, aka the BOZ, was priceless.

Then it was the AFC playoffs in 1990. The Raiders vs the Bengals one play, one tackle & Bo Jackson’s football career was over. Bo’s hip was dislocated as it basically came out of the socket. During that playoff game he had six carries for 77 rushing yards. One of those plays was a 34 yard run by Jackson.

In 1993, it was Bo Jackson’s 3 run home run that helped the Chicago White Sox clinched the AL West at the time. Bo was released by the Royals after the injury in football. The White Sox signed him as he rehabilitated with the team and played two seasons in the black and white. I was in high school watching those early 1990’s White Sox play. Landing Bo Jackson was awesome. His comeback earned him the comeback player of the year award in 1993. Bo played in 109 games for the White Sox over two seasons and had a batting average of .231 with 19 long balls and drove in 59. In 1994, Bo’s baseball career ended with the California Angels at the time. You have to remember 1994 was the strike year. Bo played in 75 games for the Angels, batted .279, and hit 13 home runs. If the league did not go on strike, he could have had 20 long balls or more. For some reason, he called it a career after that season. Even with pretty good numbers with the lumber. I’m glad the Royals are honoring him in their Hall of Fame. You think he should be in some kind of Hall of Fame because he was a freakish athlete and mastered two sports playing both games at a high level. Which is very hard to do. The commercials were the best part of Bo Jackson. BO KNOWS!! You know he will never starve with those ads.

Back then Michael Jordan with the Air Jordan sneakers and Bo Knows campaigns had people buying Nike shoes.