It’s possible that there has never been a more larger than life athlete than peak Bo Jackson. Maybe Babe Ruth? Even Michael Jordan seemed more human than Bo did.
Bo was a truly great football player. He played parts of four seasons, and put up some great per game numbers in three of those four seasons. One Bo football stat I love is this: In three of his four seasons, Bo had the single longest run of the season. In such a short career, he had runs of 92, 91, and 88 yards. No other player in the history of the NFL has three runs that long.
He was much more raw on the baseball diamond. It sometimes felt like he was learning how to play baseball in the big leagues, which is nuts. But look at his OPS+. From 1986 to 1990, his OPS+ went 67 – 94 – 108 – 124 – 142. He improved every single year. From 1988 to 1990, his plate discipline got better every year. Were it not for the hip injury, there is a chance Bo could have been a truly great baseball player.
I’ve been wanting to pick up some premium Bo Jackson items for a very long time. I worked some overtime at work, so I finally bit the bullet. I picked up a white Raiders jersey and a black White Sox jersey from Fanatics. I had a pretty good coupon code that brought them into my price range. Both jerseys are Mitchell & Ness authentics.
I hope to get them framed together as a sort of Yin and Yang piece. Something like the image below:
Once these bad boys get framed up, this will be one of the center pieces of my collection.