- [Narrator] This photo contains four outstanding sports careers. Bo Jackson played pro
baseball and pro football, and he played them both well. The same goes for Deion Sanders, who followed closely behind Jackson into major league baseball and the NFL. Attempting the same dual career
at roughly the same time, Bo and Deion managed many
of the same pressures and logistical challenges. Each had his own approach, and each had plenty to
say about the other. Amid all that hype and comparison, these simultaneous year-round
athletic spectacles only shared a ball field
on a few occasions. One of those occasions was special. Let's see what happened, how two different athletic forces opposed and influenced one another. Let's examine the brief,
fascinating overlap between Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders. (soft upbeat music) Bo and Deion actually met once in college. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner tried to sign Jackson out
of high school in 1982, but the Alabama native chose
to attend Auburn University, where he did track and
field, and baseball, and played running back for
the Tigers football team. Supposedly without lifting weights, Jackson bulked to well over 200 pounds with startling speed and
mythic-sounding feats of strength. Bo was already a living legend in 1985, when Florida high schooler Deion Sanders passed on an offer from
the Kansas City Royals to attend FSU, where he'd play the same three sports as Jackson. As a freshman defensive back, Deion got a little taste of
the Bo Jackson experience. In a game at Auburn, the
soon-to-be Heisman winner bulldozed the visiting
Florida State defense. Jackson scored one long touchdown
by stiff-arming Sanders, just face smushed him into oblivion. After peeling himself off the turf, Sanders spent the late '80s building his own collegiate
legend as a multisport terror, leaner than Bo, but dynamic
and clever and incredibly fast in a way that worked
for all the same sports. While Sanders matriculated, Jackson embarked on an
unusual forked pro career. Initially, it was just MLB. The NFL's Tampa Bay
Buccaneers had misled Jackson into breaking some dumb NCAA rule, which screwed up his eligibility and cost him most of his
senior baseball season. So even though Tampa
drafted Bo first in 1986, he stiff-armed the NFL and signed with the Kansas City Royals. Baseball, after all, was his first love. Nevertheless, during Jackson's
second season as a Royal, L.A. Raiders boss Al
Davis took a flyer on Bo in the seventh round of the '87 NFL draft, then made him an enticing proposal. Keep playing baseball, but whenever that season ends,
come play with the Raiders for the rest of football season. And so he did. For four straight years, Jackson played a full
season with the Royals, then relocated to join Marcus Allen in a mighty Raiders backfield. It worked for a few reasons. The Raiders promised from
the outset to be patient and accommodating, and crucially, the Royals never tested that patience by qualifying for the postseason. Jackson was usually free
to pick up his hobby by mid-October around week seven. It also worked because Bo was
good as s*** at both sports. He struck out a lot,
but also slugged and ran and generated absurd outfield highlights, becoming an American
League All Star in 1989. And even in half seasons as a Raider, Bo racked up impressive rushing stats, enough to be named a 1990 Pro Bowler. Around this time, Nike made
Bo a signature athlete, airing ads like this that hyperbolized his
all-sport excellence. It was also around this
time that Deion Sanders entered the chat. Sanders conveyed preferences
opposite Bo Jackson's. Football was his wife,
baseball, his girlfriend. But Deion was careful not to commit. Before his senior football season, he played some minor league
ball in the Yankees system. Sanders referred to that as leverage, and that's exactly how he
operated after college. After the Atlanta Falcons picked him early in the 1989 NFL draft, Sanders kept right on playing baseball. The Yankees actually called
Sanders up to the majors for some games during the 1989 season. People said he'd have to let one sport take priority like Jackson. As Falcons contract negotiations dragged late into the summer, Deion
and his agent publicly hinted that the priority might be baseball. After getting called
up again in September, Sanders spoke about
divorcing his football wife. He drew dollar signs on his
baseball socks. Leverage. Steinbrenner stirred the pot by saying Deion could eventually
be an everyday starter and that he projected
to have a longer career than Bo Jackson. Bo did not like Deion's style. The man known as Prime Time and Neon Deion was brasher, flashier, chattier than the understated Jackson. Deion's crackers did not sit
well in Bo's bowl of soup. So Bo told him to shut up. He said Sanders would get
knocked off his high horse if he ever made it to the NFL. He said Sanders had diarrhea of the mouth. Diarrhea of the mouth! Fittingly, Sanders expressed
every possible opinion on Bo. He said he was tired of
hearing Jackson's name. Then he called Bo his hero. Sanders was featured in a
1989 "Sports Illustrated" with a cover that Bo
definitely wouldn't want in his bowl of soup. In there, he called Jackson a sorry dude, jealous someone else caught the limelight. Jackson made patronizing comments about Sanders' call up. Sanders didn't like being called a kid. His agent said that so-called
kid was more like Bo with a personality. Deion also thought
Jackson's quieter persona, even in those Nike
commercials, sold him short. Anybody can say the
three words, just do it. Dion wanted to talk, wanted to show people he was an intelligent person. On the "Arsenio Hall Show," Bo reiterated that Deion
could follow the forked path, but he should let his game do the talking. - I wish him the best of luck, but the way to do it
is not with his mouth, because he has to go out
and show what he can do instead of sit up and talk about it. - [Arsenio] He talks a lot? - You could say that. (both laughing) - [Narrator] Speaking of which, the Falcons eventually delivered
the offer Deion wanted. So he literally walked out in
the middle of a Yankees game to go be a football player. In the same week he'd hit a homer, Sanders scored a touchdown
in his NFL debut. Deion played the full season as a budding shutdown corner
and slippery return man for the '89 Falcons, but he hadn't closed the door on baseball. And indeed, Sanders made
the opening day roster for the 1990 Yankees. Sanders, though, wasn't an everyday player in the crowded New York outfield. He spent most of May in the minors and was still there when Bo and the Royals visited Yankee Stadium. But the Dave Winfield trade
cleared space for Sanders, who got a much longer call
up in late May and June. That freaked out the Falcons, who worried Deion might
get hot in the majors, then pull a Bo Jackson and make them wait for the end of Yankee season. In the meantime, the Yankees visited K.C. Bo Jackson and Deion
Sanders played baseball against each other for the first time without much on-field excitement. Media-wise, though, it
was comparing season. Their performance had
been compared before, often to diminish Deion's baseball skill, but now it really took off. Deion's agent once again floated the idea that his client would favor
the so-called girlfriend over his wife and sacrifice football to play a full baseball season, the Bo situation Atlanta feared. Deion insisted the Falcons
had reason to worry. And meanwhile, despite
those prior hints of beef, Deion and Bo did a joint
interview for Kansas City radio. Each was asked, gun to head,
which sport would you pick? Jackson said baseball. Sanders did his own thing. Weeks later, after another
frustrating stint in the minors, Deion returned to New York. Reporters wanted to know
if he'd consider playing both sports simultaneously. Sanders said a running
back like Bo could do it, but as a defensive back, he was asked to be the best athlete and cover wide receivers, a little positional condescension there. By mid-July, when the Royals
and Yankees met again, Sanders and his camp sounded like they might leave baseball behind. Deion didn't want to admit failure, but his football agent said his client was Prime Time on a football field and just regular Deion on the diamond, a line Sanders has himself repeated. He bemoaned his relative lack of control over baseball games, but also said he didn't want to choose. For now, Bo and Deon
remained baseball opponents, and on July 17th, 1990, in the second game of a
series at Yankee Stadium, America got a show. In the first inning, Bo took
a pitch from Andy Hawkins and smacked it to deep center. There's Deion attempting
a robbery in vain. Third inning, Bo's second at bat. See ya, don't even bother climbing the wall this time, Deion. Jackson told teammates
he didn't want to hit a third home run. His next one would be
the 100th of his career, and he hoped to reach that
milestone at home in K.C. It was an emotional time
for Bo and his family. But sometimes you're hot. Fifth inning, same pitcher, same result. Three at bats, three homers,
seven RBI for Bo Jackson. Yankee Stadium held its collective breath to see what the visiting
muscle man would do with a fourth and maybe
even fifth plate appearance, but then Deion struck. With a man on third, Deion
slapped a liner Bo's way. Jackson leapt for the highlight
catch, but fell short. While Bo ate grass and
the ball slipped free, Deion blazed around second,
took a wide turn around third, then beat a messy play at home plate for a rare inside-the-park home run. Sanders had his own
little slice of history. Jackson, as you can maybe
tell from his expression, partially dislocated his left shoulder. He had to interrupt a
career best performance for a hospital visit. Afterward, Jackson didn't
have too much to say about Sanders, but Deion
sounded awed by Bo. "I didn't want him to hit more homers, but I did want to see
him have another chance." Sanders almost sounded like a fan. Whatever was said before, Deion said he never disliked Bo, Bo's one of the best athletes ever, they just had a regular old rivalry. That rivalry would never grace
a playing field ever again. Bo's shoulder kept him out of
the final game in that series, the last of the season between
the Yankees and Royals. NFL season went as it had before. Sanders staged a dramatic
public negotiation with the Yankees. He reached the verge of
signing a substantial contract that would keep him in MLB
well into football season, one that made his Yankee
teammates want to vomit or remark that you're supposed
to be good at baseball to get that kind of money. Then negotiations broke, Sanders bailed, accepted a fine for arriving
late to Falcons camp, and played another full NFL season. Deion said only Bo understood
what he was going through. Bo once again suggested Deion shush. As usual, Jackson played
out a losing season with the 1990 Royals, then joined the Raiders in week seven. He put up Pro Bowl-worthy rushing numbers and helped L.A. qualify
for the first post season of his professional career in any sport. And then, disaster. On January 13th, 1991, in his first ever
professional playoff game, Bo Jackson went down on what
looked like an ordinary play and came up hobbling a bit. It turned out to be a
devastating hip injury, one that would eventually
require replacement surgery. Bo Jackson's NFL career
ended on this play. His MLB career continued over
a few brief, delicate stints, but none that intersected
with that of Deion Sanders, because starting in 1991, Deion
became a National Leaguer. Sanders simplified his two-sport lifestyle by joining the Atlanta Braves, who actually shared a
stadium with the Falcons for the first season of Deion's tenure. From that point forward, the athlete regarded as Bo
Jackson's inferior in two sports would push boundaries and
reach heights Bo never got to, like playing two sports at once. Unlike those Yankees and Royals, the early '90 Braves were good. Deion, though, did his usual thing and left them for Falcons
camp at the end of July, 1991. But come autumn, the Braves were trying
to make the post season without suspended outfielder Otis Nixon. They wanted Deion back, and they got him. Sanders used his off days to play five more regular
season Braves games in the middle of Falcon season. Then he watched them
march to the World Series while he carried on playing just football. Deion went even further in 1992. He played really well for the Braves, so well that he opted to
hold off joining the Falcons, even missing their season opener. People were throwing around
words like Bo Jackson with another gear. Deion left the Braves to be a Falcon in NFL weeks two through six, then hustled back to
baseball for the post season. And then Dion attempted
the ultimate maneuver, the most extreme version of Bo Jackson's original experiment. Sunday, October 11th, 1992, Sanders joined the Falcons
in Miami and actually played on both sides of the ball. Then he hopped on a helicopter
and zoomed up to Pittsburgh in time for game five of
the Braves-Pirates NLCS. The only thing that prevented Sanders from playing pro football and
pro baseball on the same day was the Braves being too
annoyed with all the excitement to put him on the field. When those Braves advanced
to the World Series, Sanders skipped several weeks
of football to join them and he f---ing raked. Teammates agree that had
the Braves won it all, Deion Sanders would have
been World Series MVP. Deion eventually settled
into a more balanced, Bo-style existence. With much less whiplash, Deion played out a solid baseball career and excellent NFL career. Numerous Pro Bowls, two Super Bowl rings, and a bust in the Football Hall of Fame. And these two have become
regular correspondents with mutual admiration
and lovely anecdotes, like an hours-long chat in
the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse or a lighthearted phone call
after a long-retired Jackson needed surgery on the shoulder he wrecked trying to rob Sanders. In retrospect, Deion
Sanders kind of got to be Bo Jackson 2.0. Bo was the serious yet
showstopping trailblazer, he struck a balance that
heralded greater success ahead. Then fate derailed his upward arc, leaving only the brasher Deion to carry the two sport project to its upper and outer limits. But that wild night in July, 1990 gave us a glimpse of what could have been. Two otherworldly athletes, colliding on multiple fields
over multiple seasons. We should have had many years
of these crackling contrasts, stunning one upsmanship, and
increasing mutual admiration. As it happened, the overlap was too brief, but plenty amazing. (soft organ music)
For the record, while this is officially an entry in Secret Base's new series "Overlap"...
...it sounds an awful lot like their longer-running popular series "Beef History". There's some tasty, tasty drama here :D.
God I wish I could have seen Bo Jackson play live.