Tuesday, June 05, 2007

 

Yes, Virginia, there really is a Superman

The wonderfully readable Joe Posnanski wrote a thrilling piece Memorial Day weekend on Bo Jackson.
• May 15, 1989: Legendary baseball writer Peter Gammons was in Minnesota to write a Sports Illustrated cover story about Jackson, so he watched Bo take batting practice. It was a typical Bo hitting session — he cracked rockets all over the field. Then it was time for his last swing. Bo jumped into the cage and hit left-handed.

He hit a titanic shot 450 feet off the Hardware Hank sign in right field.

Left-handed.

“I got work to do,” Bo said to the other players, whose jaws had dropped. He ran out to the outfield to shag some fly balls.

Much, much more here. (ÞSports Guy)

Comments:

that was a great read... he was a hell of a football player too

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4iIwb_Y3Tyw
 


It's a damned shame that he blew out his hip. The guy was unreal.
 


Goddamn. All I remember about Bo Jackson is Pro-Stars and that ridiculous Nike ad campaign, and that suddenly makes me feel sad.
 


Amazing athlete, no doubt. To tie this to hockey, that "Bo Knows..." commercial with Gretzky is still one of my favs. I was thrilled to find it on YouTube, too.

Diane
 


All I remember about Bo Jackson is Pro-Stars and that ridiculous Nike ad campaign,

If by ridiculous you mean ground-breakingly awesome, good call. The demolition of Brian Bosworth is still my favorite Bo moment. Dude averaged 5.4 yards a carry, which is just ridiculous. Probably not the best all-round athlete of all-time--that would probably be Jackie Robinson--but easily the best pure athlete I've ever seen.
 


As amazing as he was in real life - he pails in comparison to Tecmo Bowl Bo.

Colm in Belfast
 


Posnanski mentioned that Bo occasionally broke a bat over his knee (which is an outrageous feat of strength). He didn't note that Bo also broke (at least one) bat over his neck. That is, held it over his head at both ends, then brought it down sharply on his traps (cervical vertebrae?) and busted it in half. Unfrickinbelievable.
 


I thought that bat was already broken? YouTube unfortunately hasn't done its job in terms of Bo. There are very few clips on there. I'd love to see that one.
 


I guess by now its OT, but CFP just won the Stanley Frickin' Cup.
 

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