Word: boing
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...always said he would make his choice when the time was right. But his prodigious athletic gifts and the rewards they brought made choosing between pro football and pro baseball difficult for Bo Jackson, 28. For four remarkable seasons he didn't have to: in winter he was a devastating running back for the Los Angeles Raiders, and in summer a power-hitting outfielder for the Kansas City Royals. Last season he became the first player ever selected for both the All-Star game and the Pro Bowl. But last week, when the Royals suddenly dropped him because...
...this year is not immediately at risk, but it will be if the effects of the injury persist. And a foreshortened sports career may truncate his higher-paying second job as the endorser of Diet Pepsi, AT&T and various sports medicines -- plus his starring role in Nike's "Bo Knows . . ." commercials. All that off-the-field effort brings in about $5 million a year...
Royals management had made no secret of its displeasure with the physical risks Jackson took moonlighting as a backfield star. Says Royals owner Ewing Kauffman: "It definitely was not best in the long run for Bo to play football. It destroyed potentially the best talent ever to put on a baseball uniform." Several major-league managers said they would never take a two- sport athlete, even one of Jackson's caliber, because of the risks of injury. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner last week loudly announced that he wanted Jackson on his squad, but Steinbrenner is no longer allowed...
...Bo's departure is the spectators' loss. In an era when less talented ballplayers pull down equally towering salaries and occasionally indulge in public temper tantrums, Jackson's grace and zeal on the playing field brought fans out in admiring droves. "When I'm playing, I'm relaxed," Jackson once said. "I'm like a fish in water." Fellow Royals star George Brett noted that fans fell out of the hot dog lines and hurried back to their seats when Jackson stepped to the plate. They were frequently gratified. In July 1988, he hit a blast off Boston...
...though he would be lofting long drives over center field fences instead of lofting 75-yard TD passes if it were baseball season when he had to make the decision. But he is quick to sidestep any questions about whether he will join fellow football star and cross trainer Bo Jackson in training camp next month...