Baseball is Back, As Are Our Bo Jackson Memories

The 2026 Major League Baseball season opens today (March 26), unless you count Wednesday’s solitary Yankees-Giants game. We’re not. One game does not an opening day make.

The Los Angeles Dodgers will try to become the first team to win three World Series in a row this season since the aforementioned Yankees completed the feat in 2000, which we mention chiefly because the Heisman Trophy and the Yanks have been neighbors for almost a century.

That said, The Dodgers played just a borough away in Brooklyn for the first 22 years of the Heisman and it took only a few trolley lines to navigate from the Downtown Athletic Club to Ebbets Field. The New York Giants, playing at the Polo Grounds in Washington Heights, was a bit more of a haul, as was a trip to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Of course, both the Dodgers and Giants left for California in 1957, leaving a void the New York Mets filled in 1962.

The Yankees stuck it out in New York, as did the Heisman, the trophy still as big of a part of America’s pastime as baseball.

Which is a round-about way to say Play Ball!

It also gives us an excuse to talk about our favorite Heisman winner-slash-Major Leaguer, Bo Jackson, who was drafted by the Yankees out of high school with a second-round pick of the 1982 draft, 50th overall.

Jackson, selected 11 spots behind Barry Bonds and one ahead of Barry Larkin, eschewed the Yankees to become a Tiger. An Auburn Tiger.

The 1985 Heisman winner knew no bounds. No one knows what Bo knows.

He was one of the greatest college running backs of all time. He was a career .335 hitter in three seasons in college. He was an NCAA All-American level sprinter, posting a 10.44 100 time at Auburn. He even dabbled once as a diver, crashing an Auburn diving team practice and promptly performing double front flip. We swear.

Jackson was drafted by the California Angels in the 20th round in 1985. The Angels’ prayer went unanswered, however, as Jackson returned to Auburn and promptly won his Heisman.

Jackson was drafted a third time, lastly by the Royals with a fourth-round pick on June 21, 1986. Despite being taken No. 1 overall in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jackson chose to play for the defending World Series champion Royals. After a stint in the minors, he was called up in the fall of 1986.

By next spring, Jackson earned a spot in the Royals’ opening day lineup. On April 6, 1987, Jackson was KC’s starting left fielder, hitting two spots behind Hall of Famer George Brett. Jackson took the collar that day, going 0-for-4.

It was the first five opening day starts for Jackson during his eight-year baseball career.

In 1988, Jackson was again in the Day 1 lineup in left, batting seventh and securing a double. In the 1989 Royals’ season-opener, he singled, doubled and scored a run. Hitting sixth, he was one spot ahead of new Royal catcher Bob Boone. Boone, of course, is the father of current Yankees manager Bret Boone.

Jackson made his final opening day start for the Royals in 1990, batting cleanup and getting on base five times thanks to a pair of singles and three walks.

Jackson played for the Chicago White Sox in 1991 and 1993, missing the 1992 season while recovering from hip replacement surgery following an injury that ended his NFL career with the Los Angeles Raiders.

He played his final season in the big leagues with the Angels in 1994 and made his last opening day start on April 5. Hitting fifth, he had a two-run single and enjoyed a season-opening victory for the first time.

Lingering hip pain effectively ended his baseball career after the strike-shortened 1994 season. He returned to Auburn to complete his undergraduate degree and then focused on his family.

But the joy he played with, the exploits fans savored, will live on forever.

Like this example below.