The Tar HeelThursday, July 24, 19867
-Bo Jackson sets zero .-.when ...battiiig-against O's
By SCOTT GREIG
City Editor
CHARLOTTE It was billed as
"Bo and Beverage Night" at Crockett
Park. The Memphis Chicks of the
Class A A Southern League had come
to town for a weekend series with
the Charlotte O's.
It became a showcase for the
miseries that have befallen Bo
Jackson.
Jackson, as you remember,
decided to forego a career in pro
fessional football with the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers for one in profes
sional baseball with the Kansas City
Royals organization.
As the Heisman Trophy winner
from Auburn University, Jackson
was expected to do nothing but great
things in the NFL. However, he
became the fourth consecutive Heis
man winner to pass up the NFL and
unfortunately for him and the
Royals, he is doing nothing but
terrible things in minor-league
baseball.
His batting average is somewhere
in the realm of .100 and dropping
fast, mainly due to the fact that he
strikes out more than half of the times
he comes to bat.
After Jackson struck out his first
time at bat, it became apparent that
the emphasis of Charlotte O's owner
Frances Crockett's theme night
would quickly shift from "Bo" to
"Beverage" as the crowd turned on
Jackson in an ugly fashion with
constant insults.
Jackson, who saw an average of
just over four pitches every time up,
played one of the worst games
imaginable.
His second time up you guessed
it another strikeout. It was not
as bad as it sounds, though; Jackson
actually fouled off two balls before
watching the third strike sail by.
As he walked back to the dugout
following his little fiasco, one of the
more symbolic fans tossed a football
in his direction. Jackson denied
himself the pleasure of picking up
said object and the O's first baseman
had to fling it into the Chick's dugout.
Jackson kept the ball as a souvenir.
It was one of the lighter moments
in a game that would see Jackson
go 0 for 4 with four strikeouts and
a fielding error.
Trying to throw a runner out at
home plate from right field, Jackson
firmly planted the ball about 15 feet
above the catcher's head. If it were
not for the backstop being so tall,
it is a good bet that a Waxhaw farmer
would have found the ball on his
"back forty" the next morning.
Jackson's chance to redeem him
self could have come in the bottom
of the ninth inning. Memphis is down
Red Cross
to hold CPR
courses
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Red
Cross will hold cardiopulmonary
resuscitation classes July 28 and 29,
Aug. 5, 7, 16, 19, and 21. Standard
first aid classes will also be held July
26, Aug. 12, 14 and 23. All classes
will be held at the Chapter House,
105 W. Main St. in Carrboro. The
. fee for the courses is $15, which is
refundable if reserved space is can
celed 48 hours in advance. Call the
Red Cross office at 942-4862 for
more information.
by a run, 9-8, alter giving up six runs
in the eighth to the O's. The Chicks
have runners on first and third with
two out. Jackson is on deck with the
count three balls and two strikes on
Memphis batter J ery Longenecker.
It would have been sweet revenge for
Jackson who had endured the crowd
up to this point. But like everything
else in this game and the season so
far, it just was not to be for Bo
Jackson. Longenecker struck out,
and Jackson followed the dirt to the
dugout a path he has become very
familiar with.
Jackson got a single in his first at
bat for the Chicks earlier this season
as a designated hitter. Great things
to come not really. He would
promptly go 0 for 10 as a DH.
Management thought that involving
him in the game more would help,
so they began starting him in right
field. Again, not really. He was at
last count 1 for 27 as a starter and
his fielding has been less than average
and painful to watch.
Jackson's contract will pay him
$100,000 this year including a
$100,000 bonus. In 1987, he will
receive $333,000 and providing the
Royals still want him in 1988, he will
get $383,000 and a $150,000 bonus.
Jackson is a versatile and highly
skilled athlete, but his play at present
shows a growing lack of confidence.
The consensus is that he needs some
exposure in the rookie league to get
his confidence up as well as his
mastery of the game's fundamentals.
While all that is true, Jackson will
not find himself in Kansas City if he
keeps up his present journey to the
bottom of every major offensive
category in the Southern League.
As he has said on numerous
occasions when asked why he chose
baseball over football, "Bo is going
to do what Bo wants to."
Maybe Jackson wants to be the
next great sport-switching wash-out
like Danny Ainge. Their cases are
similar.
Ainge left Brigham Young appar
ently headed for the National Bas
ketball Association. Somewhere on
that road he exited and ended up in
the Toronto Blue Jays organization
for four years, where he played
shortstop and batted .186.
It has to be remembered also that
Ainge's batting average, although
gruesome, was achieved against
major league pitching. Jackson is
struggling against what will be "bad
stuff' coming from today's major
league arms'.
As an endnote to this story,
Jackson has started to come around
in his last ten games. He has raised
his batting average Jo .333, cut down
on the number of strikeouts,
increased his run production and hit
three home runs one of which was
a game-winning grand slam of
Ruthian proportions. It measured
554 feet. Maybe "Bo can do whatever
Bo wants to do."
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