Bo Jackson - Injury and Comeback

Injury and Comeback

During the 1990 playoffs, Jackson was tackled by Kevin Walker of the Cincinnati Bengals, causing a serious hip injury that ended Jackson's football career and seriously threatened his baseball career. After Jackson was tackled and lying in pain on the ground, he allegedly popped his hip back into place. In an interview on Untold, his Royals' teammate George Brett, who attended the game, said he asked the trainer what had happened to Bo. The trainer replied "Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that's just impossible, no one's that strong."

Following surgery and rehabilitation on his injured hip, it was discovered that Jackson had avascular necrosis, as a result of decreased blood supply to the head of his left femur. This caused deterioration of the femoral head, ultimately requiring that the hip be replaced. Amazingly, Jackson was able to return to baseball toward the end of the 1991 season as a member of the White Sox after the Royals released him. Jackson missed the entire 1992 baseball season. When he announced soon after his surgery that he would play baseball again, many thought that goal to be unrealistic, especially at the Major League level.

Before returning to baseball, Jackson tried his luck in basketball; he played briefly for a semi-pro team in Los Angeles before quietly retiring to focus on baseball.

Jackson was able to return to the Chicago White Sox in 1993, and in his first at-bat, against the New York Yankees, he homered on his first swing. The next day Nike ran a full-page ad in USA Today; it simply read "Bo Knew." He would hit 16 home runs and 45 RBIs that season. Jackson was honored with the Tony Conigliaro Award.

Yet while his power remained, he no longer possessed his blazing speed. During his time with the White Sox, Jackson had no stolen bases, though he did play in his only career postseason games. For the 1994 season, he was signed as a free agent by the California Angels for one final season, where he hit another 13 home runs in 201 at bats, before retiring during the strike.