Bo Jackson Ten Best Plays As A Royal (Video)

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Bo Jackson’s best play’s as a Kansas City Royal player: 8. Diving Catch Against Baltimore

Now, this catch made on April 18, 1988 is one of my favorites for an, admittedly, odd reason. You can see not only Bo Jackson’s acrobatic ability, but also the lack of experience that made him a slightly below average defensive outfielder (note the negative DEF ratings on Fangraphs.com).

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Yes. Bo makes a diving grab. Bo also doesn’t get a good read on the ball off the bat. See his hesitation and uncertainty which causes him to take some half-speed steps. When he realizes the ball is going to land out of his reach, he launches himself into a full-out dive.

And makes the play.

Notice also he lays out on carpet, which would give you rub burns. Not only that, fibers from the carpet could get into the wound. If you were busy playing, you’d just brush it off. By the time the game was over, it would be half-healed, with the fibers in the wound.

That would itch like crazy.

Ok. Ok. Bo Jackson also walked to the field up hill, through the snow drifts from the primitive clubhouse wearing a uniform made of animal fur…

All exaggeration aside, this was an era where most players did not carry cell phones. As you can see, there was also a distinct lack of HDTV. Many of the videos we have are blurry. Ask most baseball fans what sabermetrics were, and you might hear them profess to have no knowledge about sword fighting.

As undeveloped as that era—in retrospect—truly was, it still looks like baseball on the field. You just have to ignore, God help us, the frigg’n bleachers that you could see in the background in Baltimore in video no. 10.

Who said tunnel vision was a bad thing?

Next: July 11, 1989

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KC Royals: Bo Jackson Ten Best Plays As A Royal (Video)

By John Viril | Feb 25, 2015

Bo Jackson’s best play’s as a Kansas City Royal player: 8. Diving Catch Against Baltimore