I remember Bo Jackson all over TV and print media, but he just disappeared almost overnight. This was before the days of the internet. Just how good of an athlete was he considered at the time?
Bo had a legitimate shot at the HoF in both football and baseball. He was incredible. Much better than both Brian Jordan and Deion Sanders, the only other players I’m aware of that could have starred in both sports.
I hip injury ruined him. I’m sure youtube has tons of stuff on him. Bosworth probably STILL has nightmares!
Not nearly as good as Deion Sanders. He’s known for two things: breaking a bat on his shoulder (which he later admitted was already cracked,) and running over bosworth.
Compare with Sanders:
Only player to win a championship ring with two different teams in two different sports.
Played in an NFL game and an MLB game in the same day.
Is considered the best to ever play the position (cornerback.)
Is ranked in like the top 5 in kick returns.
Had the record or close to it in interception returns for a TD.
First ballot hall of famer after attempting a comeback at 40.
Come to think of it, Bo Jackson probably got at least half his reputation from a nintendo game at the time where he would always get 5-6 ypc.
I’ll agree that Jackson didn’t have remotely the career Sanders had, but had he not gotten injured I think he’d have had a great career. He won the Heisman in college and at the start of his career was living up to the hype, but injuries did him in.
Unfortunately, he’s hardly the first running back to be done in by injuries and he won’t be the last.
I can’t and wouldn’t try to argue careers Bo’s was too short. I LOVE Deion but Bo was better. A better athlete in both sports Deion is probably the best corner ever but Bo was showing that potential. We’ll never know for certain what would have been.
A direct comparison won’t work in football because their positions are too different, but in baseball he was clearly a better offensive player, Deion might have had better range in the outfield but Bo also had a cannon.
I’m DEFINITELY NOT knocking Deion.
Bo was just incredible.
Saying he had a shot at the baseball HoF is a stretch: unlike Deion he was a legitimately good major leaguer – an All-Star – but he wasn’t *that *good, and he never would have accumulated the counting stats necessary to make it into the Hall even if he stayed very healthy.
In the NFL, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long he could have kept up his level of play (RBs have notoriously short peaks, and Bo was already 28 when he got hurt). But while he lasted, he was an incredible RB, as good at the position as Deion was at his. Maybe the best size/speed combo in league history (at any position), he was extremely efficient statistically, and he certainly passed the eyeball test. (Cite.) Basically a faster, stronger Adrian Peterson.
The 30 for 30 on Bo Jackson is up on YouTube for now, if you want a good retrospective on his legacy (it’s also on Netflix).
You really are selling Bo Jackson short. The guy averaged 5.4 ypc in his NFL career, which had he played enough games, would have put him in the top 10 in the entire NFL, and the third best RB ever. To try and pretend that he was more hype than substance is to ignore his actual performance on the football and baseball field. He was the first person to make an All Star team in both sports, something Deion, with all his hype, never did. Deion also had a negative WAA over his career, and a career WAR of 5.5 over 9 years, while Bo had 8.3 in 8, including two years after his injury.
I’d take a healthy Bo Jackson over a healthy Deion Sanders anyday and twice on Sundays.
I was acquainted with Deion while he was at FSU, and I can tell you that he is, without doubt, a better basketball player than Bo Jackson. I think Deion was a better fielder than Bo, but Bo was a better hitter. In football, I think they are as close to equivalent as you’ll find given the disparity in positions.
But, in answer to the OP: Yes, Bo Jackson was the real deal. He was an amazingly talented and gifted athlete, among the best 5 or 6 all-around athletes that we’ve seen in the last century or so, IMO.
Going to agree with the rest here.
Bo Jackson was a stud in football, and i believe without his injury, he had a shot at the HOF. The only reason he might not have made it is because he played baseball first, and came into the NFL season close to halfway through the year. (I think he missed the first 5-6 games of each season).
He was a very good baseball player, but I don’t think we saw enough to suggest he could have been HOF in the major leagues. I think a lot of it would have depended on his HR stats.
Remember, he was very popular wi the public, so he would have most likely been voted onto the All star team by the fans every year.
So, if he had 10+ all star appearances (and won another MVP award or two in the All-Star game along the way) and learned to hit a bit more for average (maybe shoot for a .270-.280 or higher lifetime batting average), win a few gold gloves (he was a better than average fielder with an absolute cannon for an arm), hit an average of 30-35 HR’s over a 10-15 year stretch, i think he would have had a decent shot at the HOF.
Sadly, we’ll never know how good he would be in either sport,
As for comparing him to Sanders, i don’t think it is an apples to apples comparison. I think Jackson was a better baseball player than Sanders, period. However, in football, Sanders had a HOF career, even if he never tackled a sole in his entire time in the NFL (at least not on purpose.)
One interesting note. He ran a 4.2 40 at the NFL combine, the second fastest ever recorded. The fastest? Bo Jackson.
I never thought of Sanders as a great NFL player while he first entered the league, because he never hit or tackled anyone. But as his career continued, I began to appreciate the impact he had on each game he played in. Offenses had to game-plan around him. His peers were more than impressed, also. He was a 6-time first team All-Pro, which is pretty amazing. His contemporaries all speak very highly of him and his playing ability.
Both were amazing athletes, but if I had to choose one, I’d take Jackson (assuming he never got injured). I think his dual career numbers would be legendary.
The odds of Bo Jackson ever being a baseball Hall of Famer were maybe a hundred to one. He was an exceptionally fast and strong player but he wasn’t actually very good at baseball, by pro standards, and was a good player as far as he was more or less by virtue of overpowering the game. He was an undisciplined and inconsistent hitter, and for all his speed and strength he was not a very good outfielder; he didn’t read the ball well and got bad jumps.
Bo’s best year was in 1991, when he was 27 (which is the normal peak age for a baseball player) and it was a pretty darned good year - but it wasn’t great. He was at his peak and when healthy not nearly as good a player as Cecil Cooper, and nobody thinks Cecil Cooper is a Hall of Famer.
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emember, he was very popular wi the public, so he would have most likely been voted onto the All star team by the fans every year.
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Well, they had their chance, and chose not to. Jackson was a regular for four years and was elected to the All-Star Game once, and the next year he wasn’t. I doubt he would have gotten more selections unless he had started playing better.
Even had he not gotten hurt as quickly as he did he would have ended up looking something like Joe Carter, a guy who could hit home runs but wasn’t really good enough to merit serious HoF consideration. Even healthy it is exceedingly unlikely he could ever have piled up any significant counting stats, like 500 homers and stuff, because he started his career a little late and he just didn’t appear to be capable of putting up the monster years. A guy whose understanding of the strike zone was as bad as Bo Jackson’s is never going to get much better than Bo already was.
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that had he stuck with baseball, Deion Sanders would have been a much better ballplayer than Bo Jackson. Although he didn’t have Jackson’s power, he had a much better understanding of the fundamentals of hitting and was a good outfielder. He just didn’t stick with it.
If you really want to know, play Tecmo Bowl and choose the Raiders.
Bo Jackson was built like a Humvee with the speed of a Vette. He’d’ve wiped the field with Deion Sanders. In fact it was his own strength that he ripped his hip out of its socket trying to get loose from a tackle.
It’s funny you should post this. I saw an ESPN “30 for 30” on him not too long ago. He was even more amazing than I remember. Hitting the top of the “crown” at Royals Stadium (I don’t remember what that stadium is called now, not being a baseball fan. Kauffmann Stadium, is that right?) in his first practice at-bat; making smooth transitions from baseball to football after he decided to give pro football a go; the very well-documented run over “The Boz” on national television back in 1987 (or perhaps 1988). I’ve seen that he actually ran a sub-4.2 40 (take THAT “Neon” Deion!!). And, of course, dislodging his own femur from his pelvis in trying to get out of a tackle in a playoff game against the Bengals (“Bungles”). The guy was an absolute freak of nature.
I found an old (as in: from the 1980s) NFL simulation last year that I downloaded. One thing you can do within that simulation is pit each franchise’s (well, at least the ones that existed in 1989) best players against one another. So I’ve been spending time (a LOT of time) updating the rosters for all those teams in an effort to make the simulation as “genuine” as possible. Despite the fact he played in the NFL only a few years he is - with absolutely no “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts” - the guy I have pegged as the Raiders’ #1 all-time FB (according to Pro Football Reference that was his position with the Raiders until they traded some guy named Marcus Allen away). Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson, and Kenny Stabler in the offensive backfield. Who’s gonna top that?
I’ll have to backup from Bo being a baseball HoFamer, somewhat. I do believe had he concentrated on a single sport he had the talent to do so. My memories of his awesomeness may be clouding my judgement. The numbers he did put up are good for part-timer but not great. The highlights seem to bear that out at least, but if potential mattered Mark Whiten would have been the greatest baseball player ever. 
Still, I have to say he earned his hype.
Don’t EVER mention “Neon” Deion on a list of “all-time greats” ever again. Yeah, he gets TONS of accolades because he supposedly is “the greatest cover corner of all time” and I won’t argue with the fact that he had speed. But I’m not sure I’ll ever see an NFL player as “tackle-averse” as “Neon” Deion again. For several years I’ve been saying this (and I mean it): “Neon” Deion might very well go down as the ONLY NFL player, EVER, that I honestly think I could beat the crap out of (given sufficient motivation to do so). As far as I’m concerned he’s one of the greatest football players ever…FLAG football, that is.
Deion earned his accolades just as much as Bo did. Offensive coordinators didn’t stop throwing to his side of field because of hype. Deion got beat, but less than other dbacks and most other dbacks weren’t as likely to go to the house with a pick.
A lot of people didn’t like his persona which is fine, but just like Bo he is definitely legendary with good cause.
If “Neon” Deion had ever tried to tackle Bo Jackson the way “The Boz” did on that Monday Night game that one time (which he wouldn’t have because “Neon” Deion might just be THE biggest pu88y ever to wear an NFL uniform) it would’ve made what “The Boz” did look like Bo had run into a brick wall. Just like Michael Spinks with Mike Tyson - “Neon” Deion would’ve wanted NO part of Bo Jackson!!
Thanks for posting this. I found this surprising. I guess that is what 20 years does to the memory. I thought Bo was much younger when he made his first appearance and he was hurt soon after that game. I didn’t realize he was in the majors that long, and I didn’t realize he didn’t make the all-star game the following year. For whatever reason, I thought he had his all-star game, then football injury, then rehab, then White Sox career.
I have to disagree with you here. We will never know, of course, but Jackson had all the speed and then some of Sanders, and his arm was one of the greatest I ever saw. I don’t remember Sanders being any great hitter, either.
I’m not slamming him. Playing one sport is amazing, two at the professional level is incredible. But I would take Bo over Deion.
I agree with this. I have always believed this. However, I concede that I may be a grumpy old man, and Sanders was before his time.
What I mean by that is that if he was a shutdown corner on the Steelers, and the offense never threw to his side of the field, I would love it. And that’s what started happening with him. I never understood why offenses wouldn’t go straight at Sanders, because one-on-one, he wasn’t tackling my grandmother. But the fear of his coverage was so great that teams stopped throwing his way.
I think I would have tried a number of wide receiver screens on his side, and let the blockers push him out of the way and pick up an easy 15-20 yards, but no one ever did. I assume there is a reason no one tried this, so I defer to the football experts. But to me, getting a player with a ball headed for the end zone, and having only Sanders between the ball carrier and the end zone was about as guaranteed a touchdown as it would be if Sanders was returning a punt and the only man left to beat was the punter.
I grew up watching Mel Blount, Donnie Shell and other hard hitting secondary players who would hit and hit hard. Sanders was the antithesis of a physical football player. The older I’ve become, I have become less concerned about Sanders not hitting folks. The bigger thing was if he impacted the game in a positive way for his teams. He won 3 rings with 3 different teams, so I guess he was doing something right. However, I still have a hard time calling him one of the all-time great defensive players. I thought Rod Woodson, who played with Sanders in Baltimore was comparable in his effectiveness in his prime, and he would hit and tackle receivers and running backs.
Sanders? Never. However, he is in the HOF, he has never had a concussion (as far as I know) and he seems to have walked away from his playing career relatively injury free. So, I can’t blame him.
Sanders didn’t win any championship rings in baseball, unless you count the 1992 NLCS. He did have an excellent World Series that year, batting .553 with 5 stolen bases.
He certainly had his time to develop as a player before he really got hurt. It’s worth noting, again, that he did not get to the majors until he was 23 and was not a regular until 24, which is a bit late for a true A+ prospect. He then played regularly until age 27, so four years.
Jackson had, without doubt, incredible physical tools. He just didn’t know how to use them to the level needed to be a Hall of Famer.
Jackson was much, much stronger than Jose Bautista, but never led the major leagues in home runs. He was obviously a LOT faster than Rickey Henderson, but he never stole a great many bases. He had a terrifically strong arm but was a clearly sub-par outfielder and his career high in outfield assists was 12, which is good but it’s not comparable to someone like Jesse Barfield or Roberto Clemente. So while I concede Sanders wasn’t nearly the physical specimen Jackson was, he was objectively a much more skilled player. He was better at controlling the strike zone and was a good defensive player. I think it pretty clear that in baseball, physical skill trumps pure athleticism. Henry Aaron wasn’t very big or strong, nor was Willie Mays, nor was Stan Musial.
Perhaps most importantly though is that he was not a skilled hitter at controlling the strike zone. It really does not matter if you’re as fast as Mercury and stronger than the Hulk; a hitter who cannot control the strike zone has an absolute upper limit on how good he can be. (His deficiencies as a fielder were, likewise, one of underlying fundamentals, not physical skill.) For Jackson that limit was 1990, when he was a pretty good hitter in about two thirds of a season, but he was never that good in any other year.
I have to stress that I’m not knocking Bo. He was an okay major league hitter - nothing special, no chance at the Hall of Fame, but he was okay. He was about as good a player as Joe Carter, just in a much shorter career. I think, given his truly awful understanding of how to play baseball when he first came up, that that is actually really impressive. Most players with plate discipline that terrible won’t last four years. If you want to see a good contemporary example, look at J.P. Arencibia, a very strong hitter with plate discipline similar to Bo Jackson, who is perfectly healthy and at just 28 years old is about two months from the end of his career because his lack of hitting discipline is killing him.
Jackson managed to basically blast his way through a lack of hitting skill to become an okay major league ballplayer. I can’t think of anyone else who ever did that. If there is any other ballplayer who was that bad at controlling the strike zone that late in his career age-wise who made himself into a decent ballplayer, I honestly cannot tell you who it was. I can’t think of a single one except Jackson.
Jackson was really unlike anyone else, and the fact hsi career ended so swiftly has done much to keep his legend alive. If he’d stuck around, though, his athletic skills would have become something people would have gotten used to and they would have focused on the results, which weren’t going to elevate him to Hall of Fame status; he’d end up regarded like Joe Carter or Ruben Sierra, someone who was a hell of a ballplayer at times but weren’t really at that upper tier.