Vincent Edward Jackson: 1987 Topps Football
Player: Bo Jackson
Card: 1987 Topps Football Card #327
Team/Position: Oakland Raiders / Halfback
Cost: $5
Bo Jackson was absolutely one of the best football players of all time, if you’re basing the list solely on talent. Unfortunately, Jackson’s career, in both football and baseball, was cut far too short by a devastating hip injury.
For this reason, I’m not sure whether or not to list Jackson as a Bonus! Bonus! card or not. The card itself can be had for 99 cents, but personally I think it’s worth it to spend the extra few bucks to buy a graded copy. This card was graded by PSA which ends up costing about 15 bucks if you were interested in submitting it yourself, but I don’t particularly care about the grade. What I do care about is a well protected card — Why not get it sonically sealed for an extra couple bucks?
Canada isn’t like Arizona; cards will absorb every drop of humidity in the summer, only to give it right back when winter arrives. If a couple bucks is all it costs to stop your cards from resembling Marty McSorley’s stick against the Habs, it seems worth it.
Bo Knows…
Bo definitely knows that his Nike commercial took him from a star and turned him into a superstar. Athlete’s faced an uphill battle in the late-80′s and early 90′s when it came to marketing and branding themselves and this was Bo’s break. You could tell by simply looking at the man that he was the perfect athlete. To this day, it’s still hard to think of a man that looked more athletic than Bo Jackson.
Jackson was the first athlete to play in both the MLB and NFL All Star games, but I’ll focus on his football career.
At Auburn, there was little doubt that Jackson was a once in a lifetime player. Whenever Jackson took the field, there was an opportunity to see something that you’d never seen before. It’s almost impossible to fathom, but Jackson could’ve been both the fastest and the most powerful runner in college football during his career. Jackson eventually won the Heisman Trophy in 1985 before being drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers first overall in the 1986 Draft.
The Bucs decided to take Bo on a little plane ride which eventually cost Bo his College eligibility. Jackson was also given the choice of Football or Baseball by the Bucs, which resulted in Bo Jackson playing for the Royal’s minor league affiliate and the Buccaneers forfeiting his rights.
In 1987, Jackson was once again eligible for the NFL Draft. The Raiders, in all of their brilliance, snapped up Bo Jackson in the 7th round and thus began history. Al Davis wasn’t always Crazy-Lizard Man, as he allowed Jackson to play only part time for the Raiders until baseball season was over. Davis may not have been Crazy Lizard Man, but he still valued speed above everything and anything else: Bo Jackson ran a HOLY-WTF (mechanically timed) 4.12 second 40-yard dash at the combine.
In ’87, Bo Jackson played 7 games for the Oakland Raiders behind the soon to be washed-up Marcus Allen (Right, Al Davis?) In those 7 games however, Jackson received 81 carries and posted…554 Rushing Yards and 4 Touchdowns.
That’s almost 7 Yards Per Carry (6.8 YPC) for someone who’d just finished a full baseball season (434 Plate Appearances).
Everyone, absolutely everyone, remembers Bo Jackson’s Monday Night Game against Bustacular Brian Bosworth’s Seahawks.
When the Monday Night affair finally came to an end, Jackson had put together one of the best MNF performances of all time: 221 Rushing Yards, 2 TD’s and 12.3 YPC.
Jackson would only play four years in the NFL amassing 2782 Yards on 515 attempts (5.4 YPC). Jackson’s career was cut terribly short when his hip became disjointed during a tackle, cutting off blood supply to the head of his left femur. Jackson would require a hip replacement and while he continued playing baseball, his football career was over.
Jackson was one of the most talented runners that’ve ever played football and much like Gale Sayers, we’re just left to wonder What If?
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