
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 20, 1991                   TAG: 9103200427
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

RELEASE/ SAY IT AIN'T SO, BO

THROUGH force of personality and breadth of athletic prowess, as power-running tailback for football's Oakland Raiders and slugging outfielder for baseball's Kansas City Royals, Bo Jackson has become a household name. Even households without sports fans know Bo, from his TV commercials.

But in January, Jackson suffered a hip injury in a Raiders' playoff game. This week, after learning that he probably cannot play baseball for the rest of the season and perhaps forevermore, the Royals released him.

Traditionally, a player of Jackson's age (28) and caliber (28 home runs in 1990) would be put on the disabled list, so his club could retain his services should he be able to play again. Not, however, when salaries have reached the point that the Royals would have had to pay Jackson nearly $2.4 million for an idle summer. And not when a two-sport star's disability is apparently the result of an injury incurred in the other sport, which relieves the Royals of the contractual obligation to continue paying an injured player.

Jackson's sport in college was football; as a pro, however, he eschewed football until he had demonstrated his ability to play major-league baseball. That trying both sports might shorten his career in each was not unpredictable, and many in baseball warned him against it.

But it was Jackson's decision to make, and the same competitive fires that made him an excellent athlete may have made it inevitable that he would pursue a dual career.

by CNB