There will never be another Bo Jackson
The star goes into the Royals Hall of Fame this weekend.
Baseball history has long been subject to folklore and exaggeration. Did Mickey Mantle actually hit a ball 600 feet in Washington DC? (Probably not) Did Babe Ruth call his shot in the 1932 World Series? (maybe?) Did Satchel Paige really intentionally walk the bases loaded so he could face Josh Gibson and strike him out on three pitches? (Probably!)
Tall tales in baseball faded away once television broadcasts became ubiquitous. But one player was able to maintain folklore status in the video age, a man who defied gravity, who made you think the video had been altered in some way because your eyes did not believe what you had just saw. That man was Bo Jackson. And this weekend, he will be inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame.
If you look at Bo Jackson’s Baseball Reference page you see a player with 7 career WAR in just over four seasons in a Royals uniform - a career .250 hitter who nearly had a 30/30 season twice, but also led the league in strikeouts and was just 15 percent better than league average. But he was a player that could not be defined by his statistics. He was larger than life, a human highlight reel, he was viral before viral was a thing.
Is Bo Jackson among the greatest baseball players in Royals history?
No.
Can you tell the story of the Kansas City Royals without Bo Jackson?
No.
His first hit was a routine grounder to second base that he beat out for an infield single. His first home run is still the longest-recorded home run at Royals Stadium.
He once stepped out of the batter’s box to call time out against the Orioles, but when it wasn’t granted, quickly stepped back in and hit a home run.
He once hit a ball 461-feet off legendary fireballer Nolan Ryan.
He hit a ball into the upper deck at the Metrodome - in right field.
He ran up the wall. He broke bats over his head. We wanted to believe he was capable of anything.
“Everything I do, people tend to exaggerate it,” he moaned. “With me, they want to make things bigger than they are.”
Then there’s “The Throw.”
This was 1989. The Royals were good, really good. They also trailed the A’s and Angels by 3.5 games in early June. Bo Jackson was having his coming out party this season. At this point he was second in the American League in home runs and fourth in steals. He would eventually be the leading vote-getter at the All-Star game that summer.
Harold Reynolds was at first - he was a very fast baserunner, once leading the league with 60 steals. Scott Bradley laces a line drive off the wall in left. Bo plays the carom perfectly, and just in front of the warning track, unleashes a throw. Bo wildly overthrew the cutoff man by 20 feet, according to the broadcasters (who must be the Mariners crew because they argue the Royals “caught a break” because the umpire was out of position, but concede that Reynolds was probably out), and catcher Bob Boone has the wherewithal to field his throw and make an amazing tag.
People have seen this throw many times, but I think what gets a bit lost was that the throw saved the game. Had Harold Reynolds scored, the game was over. That’s why he’s so apoplectic at the call. The Royals would get out of the inning and win the game in 13 innings.
He did stuff like this all the time. He became the first player to hit a home run and steal a base in the same All-Star game. In a much-hyped matchup against two-sport athlete Deion Sanders and the New York Yankees, he homered three times (and also injured his shoulder diving for a ball Deion hit, allowing an inside-the-park-home run - people think he only dove because he didn’t like Deion). I have fuzzy memories of him sparking a rally by striking out - the pitch was so wild it went back to the backstop and he reached first base easily. He did stuff like THAT all the time too. I remember a game where a Blue Jays hitter laced an easy line drive to left - and Bo completely missed it.
But that was the fun of Bo. I had a poster of him in my room - it wasn’t his iconic football poster, but one of him hitting where it looks like muscles were just poured into a powder blue Royals uniform. I read his autobiography with Dick Schaap, “Bo Knows Bo”, where he has the incredible line, “And when I come back, I want to be reincarnated as a dolphin - or as an F-16.” Considering Bo, I believe this could actually happen.
George Brett was famous, but Bo Jackson was FAMOUS. He had a national ad campaign for Nike. He had a Saturday morning cartoon.
And then, it was all over in a flash.
Bo injured his hip playing football - a threat everyone worried about the day he decided to play two sports. The dislocation severed a blood vessel and many worried he would never walk again. The Royals released him a few months later. That pissed him off. He worked his ass off to prove he could come back. He did, with the White Sox. In a way, you can’t really imagine his career going any other way.
Bo was pretty quiet in his days after baseball, understandable for someone who had been gawked at for so long. But he returns this weekend, to be honored by the team that took a chance on him, celebrated by fans, and inducted into the Royals of Fame.
Congrats Bo!