Bo Jackson Hit a Home Run on a Prosthetic Hip

On April 9, 1993, Bo Jackson walked to the plate at Comiskey Park in Chicago and the crowd of 42,775 fell silent. He had not played a regular-season game in over 18 months. He no longer had his original left hip joint. And according to every doctor who had examined him after his injury, he had no business being there at all.

The Injury That Should Have Ended Everything

On January 13, 1991, Jackson suffered a devastating hip injury during an NFL playoff game while playing for the Los Angeles Raiders. The joint damage led to avascular necrosis - a condition that cuts off blood flow to bone cells, causing them to die. His natural hip was beyond saving. In April 1992, surgeons replaced it with an artificial hip joint. The operation ended his NFL career and left his baseball future deeply uncertain. He spent the entire 1992 season in rehabilitation, relearning how to move.

The Return

The Chicago White Sox signed Jackson and gave him a chance. After spring training in 1993, he made the roster. On April 9 - the home opener against the New York Yankees - manager Gene Lamont sent him up as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning. Jackson stepped in against left-hander Neal Heaton. He took the first pitch for a strike. On the very next pitch, he drove the ball over the right-field wall at the 347-foot mark, deep into the bleachers. The crowd erupted and gave him a thundering standing ovation as he circled the bases. The White Sox lost the game 11-6, but nobody in that stadium was talking about the score.

What the Ball Meant

Jackson had made a private promise before the game. His mother had died not long before his comeback, and he had told her that when he got his first hit back in the majors, he would give her that ball. After the game, a 16-year-old fan who had caught the homer in the bleachers returned it to Jackson in exchange for an autographed bat. Jackson had the ball bronzed and placed it on his mother's grave.

A Season Nobody Expected

The comeback did not fade after one at-bat. Playing in 85 games that season while managing the wear on his prosthetic hip, Jackson hit .232 with 16 home runs and 45 RBIs. The White Sox won the American League West Division title. At the end of the season, the baseball writers named Jackson the American League Comeback Player of the Year - an award that, in this case, felt like a significant understatement.