good evening I'm uh I'm Steve weiberg I'm with the public affairs staff of the Kansas City Public Library and want to thank you for for being with us uh particularly with uh you know when the weather forecast would make it very easy to not be here so uh thank you very much and um let's start with a little Jeopardy of the game show which which I'm sure a few of you are probably more than a few of you feel like you're pretty capable of uh of of holding your own for the record I am not one of them but uh um so for eight hundred dollars here's your answer a few career highlights he won the Heisman at Auburn ran for 221 yards in one game for the Raiders and was an Al All-Star so this actually came up on a Jeopardy episode last March three contestants none of them even could buzz in they they didn't have a clue which was kind of stunning enough to take a take on a life of its own on Twitter and there were I saw a number of kind of snarky uh news items about it who the hell doesn't know Bo Jackson so Bo as we all know uh was a sports hero who transcended Sports so stunningly gifted at two sports football and baseball and famously featured in a a pretty brilliantly executed Nike campaign he and his exploits almost became the stuff of myth all the more so because his career his athletic career was was cut short by injury as as Jeff Perlman calls him in his book um which you'll talk about tonight he's the last folk hero now of course for the Five Seasons that Beau played for the Royals making the 1989 All-Star game where he hit a memorable 448 foot home run I think lead off home run literally literally running up Outfield fences as he made catches snapping bats like matchsticks when he struck out he was Kansas City's folk hero and I would suggest from the number of you who who joined us tonight that it speaks to the fact that he still is um I picked Jeff up at the airport last night he flew in from his home in the Los Angeles area and on our drive into Kansas City he asked me if I'd had a chance to read his book and I had to admit a little sheepishly that I hadn't yet but I really didn't explain completely why so I work at a library right so the three biggest library systems in the city or the Kansas City Public Library and Mid-Continent and Johnson County and between the three of them they carry nearly three dozen copies of the last folk hero only all 35 have long been checked out and there are 78 people on the holds list I could not get my hands on a copy at least [Applause] I was just about to say I was too cheap to buy one so yeah Bo is still our folk hero and I think he'll always be larger than Larger than Life in in this city um we're gonna we get our deepest and most definitive look at him thanks to to Jeff's book talk very briefly to him 30 minutes I think uh at the start of his work on this project and then politely declined to to really do anything more he's he's always been a pretty guarded uh close to the best guy hard to get to know even for his teammates as he was going through his careers so all Jeff did was talk to more than 700 other people about him the most exhaustively that he has reported one of his books and believe me that is saying something last folk hero is his 10th book he's written about the 1986 Mets who were something of a piece of work in winning the World Series that year he's written about Barry Bonds Roger Clemens Walter Payton Brett Favre Dallas Cowboys 1990s Dynasty and he's highlighted a couple of different eras of the Los Angeles Lakers one of them adapted into the HBO series winning time the rise of the Lakers Dynasty which uh just finished its second season okay so and at least six times out of those 10 books it might be more he's landed on the New York Times bestseller list just spent close to seven years as a writer for Sports Illustrated you might recall a particularly memorable piece he did in 1999 on a former Atlanta Braves pitcher and nutcase John Rocker um he's also written for New York's Newsday espn.com Bleacher Report among other outlets he's originally from New York he's a Jets guy and you may sense a little bit of quarterback Envy as he's here in Kansas City and as I said he now lives and and works in the Kansas City area he was gracious enough to make the trip halfway across the country to be with us in the middle of winter temperature at freezing snow on the way oh and did I tell you by the way when I picked him up to the airport last night he comes off the plane in shorts and flip-flops very la so Jeff thank you it's great to have you here and with all of you please join me in giving a warm Kansas City Welcome to Jeff Perlman all right thank you thanks thank you [Applause] appreciate it you guys can hear me right yeah okay I just want to say first of all so um I used to be when I was a baseball writer at Sports Illustrated I would call my wife and I'd be like uh Kansas City is great like I'd be I'd come here like I did my first Royal story ever was about the best Outfield in baseball which I still think is one of the best outfields I've ever seen very briefly was Johnny Damon Jermaine dye and Carlos Beltran and no pitching staff to speak of I mean no pitching at all but they had this great and it was like Mike Sweeney at first and uh uh Carlos Feliz at second and Ray I remember that team Randa at third and it was a great team but no pitching to speak of and um I come out here am I wrong about that no no Jose rodelis I think was the uh yeah right what was the starter's name the number one pitcher remember he was an All-Star twice he was like the records that no he was he was Latin American anyway Jose yes Jose Rosario it didn't work out well by the way I just want to say I got my t-shirt on so yeah yeah um I do that for a fact just get cheaper flowers um so I'd come out to Kansas City and uh I'd call my wife and I'd be like Kansas City this place is great like we should think about moving to Kansas City um but this is my first time here in Winter and I've totally changed my mind I got off and I was like I can't deal with this oh my God I know my wife's like what's the temperature I'm like 38 she's like that doesn't sound that bad I'm like it's terrible I can't I'm very soft La is soft no I know I'm flying out tomorrow morning so yeah um all right so it's funny I I was looking um this the book the last folk here it's my my tenth book I put everything I had into it um I spoke with Bo early on and it was pretty friendly and when the book came out he tweeted something and um he wrote If someone releases a quote unauthorized biography it means they're using someone else to profit for themselves don't be fooled into thinking this is a true representation and if you want to hear the real story wait for me to release it and it's a I totally get it it's a very common sort of thing and how dare this guy tell my story and um it's funny a couple days before my book came out uh and I love Bo Jackson I just want to be clear like love Bo Jackson but a couple days before my book came out Bo Jackson appeared on the Rich Eisen show some of you guys may listen and and uh he was a guest on the show and he was great and Rich Eisen said what is the um what's the most memorable moment from your career and here's Bo Jackson right Harold Reynolds throw climbing up the wall in Baltimore All-Star game he played in Pro Bowl he ran over the buzz everything like all these things what's the most memorable moment in your career and he said oh that's easy and he gave the date so and so date 1990 I was playing for the Royals we were in Kansas City we're hosting the Milwaukee Brewers and um I took deliberately took a call third strike screamed at the Umpire so I could get thrown out out of the game um and then I was able to go because my daughter had just been born in the hospital I think it was July 2. right it's a beautiful beautiful story and he told it and I just my book was coming out this is five days before my book was coming out he was on Advertising show it's October 20th last year and I'm thinking I don't know I interviewed 720 people I've never heard the story so I I go to like you know baseballreference.com and I look at the date and he said the Royals were hosting the Brewers and uh and if they weren't they were hosting the Red Sox but all right easy mistake right easy mistake it was a Red Sox it wasn't the person I look and he's not in the lineup and I'm thinking I don't know maybe he got thrown out before his first seven and I'm looking and then I'm like wait four months earlier he he injured his shoulder and he was actually wasn't playing for months he was out for months so he wasn't even in this game and and then I looked and he was never thrown out of a baseball game ever like literally ever and he definitely wasn't thrown out when his daughter Morgan was born when his two sons were born and I just want to be clear uh he was not lying like I don't think he was lying I think memory is a very tricky thing and we remember things and we forget things and we you know as time passes and I really think like in a lot of ways him telling that story made me feel really good about writing a biography because I think like there is something to be said for researching someone's life there is something to be said for combing through it and the thing about Bo Jackson is um to me he belongs on I don't know what Mount Rushmore it is besides greatest athletes but I have two kids my daughter's 19 and a college sophomore my son is 16 and a High School junior and if it weren't for me they would have no idea who Bo Jackson is and like I don't think most kids under 30 have any idea who Bo Jackson is and I hate that like I hate that so I really do believe in in biographies for the very reason that story like we forget things and it's important to remember him and um I would say like Bo Jackson's the greatest athlete who's ever lived there's no close second I don't care how much you love Tyreek Hill or how much you love maybe Jim Thorpe or Carl Lewis or Dion there's no close and this is I always make this case this is my case for Bo Jackson when Bo Jackson was in high school he said a uh he went to McAdory High School outside of Birmingham in Bessemer Alabama he said a single season record for home runs in a season uh 20. it was a single season National High School record he missed seven games to run track right so he hit 20 set a record seven games he's running track he set five individual state track and field records in Alabama right um I mean he cleared six eight on the pole vault and his high school literally did not own a poll a poll he would borrow the poll from other schools right he won back-to-back State decathlon championships his Junior and Senior year he hated distance running so much that he deliberately got so far ahead he wouldn't have to run the 1500 which is the last event so the scores actually looked deliberately close but they weren't he just didn't run to run the damn 1500. um his um it's ridiculous he his senior year he won the state decathlon in his sweats he did not take his sweats off or any of the events just to mess with the other competitors and basically say I'm so much better than you that I'm going to win this event wearing sweats he uh I mean it's utterly preposterous he wanted the senior year he won the state decathlon championship and um sprained his ankle on an event the next day the baseball team had a state playoff game and they needed a pitcher Bo Jackson hated pitching did not pitch a game that year started the game struck out 13 in a win he go he goes to Auburn he runs a four one three forty right which is I mean I just said Tyreek Hill Tyree kill is probably the fastest guy in the NFL tyreik was not sniffed a 4-1340. you know like it's ridiculous he wins a Heisman Trophy obviously he plays baseball coming out of high school he was a second round pick of the Yankees in the in the Major League Draft he would have been the number one overall pick but the odds are he wasn't going to sign he uh he runs a 4-1-3 uh at Auburn all right he signs with the Raiders I mean it's just like fiction he signs with the Raiders and Tom Flores is the head coach of the races in 1987 and one day he says I wanna why don't you run the 40 we want to get you in the 40 in pads on grass he run he runs a four one nine Tom Flores doesn't believe it he has the guy the trainer measured off and that has him run it again and he runs a 4-1-7. in pads like there's no one in the NFL naked running a four you know like in tracks he's running a forward it's it's ridiculous how great of an athlete he was just otherworldly and in a lot of ways my I mean I just I kind of just ramble about different things about both but like a lot was anyone here for Bo Jackson's first major league game anyone no all right it was uh September 1986 he's a call up and he's with the Royals and I'll get into the background of how he ended up here but um Kansas City Royal Chicago White Sox and Bo Jackson is called up he's super raw he was just at Auburn briefly briefly he played half a year for the Memphis chicks double A he's with the Royals and his first step back is against Steve Carlton Steve Carlton one of the all-time great major league leaders a four-time Cy Young Award winner blah blah blah and Jackson comes up and like it's worth watching this on YouTube if you've never seen on YouTube Just put in Bo Jackson First Step app he looks like a giant muscle in a latex glove like he's so basically like me you know he's like so like I'm just kidding he's like so rough and like it's all just popping out like it's ridiculous and he has his head back he comes up and it's like Steve Crown the greatest pitcher modern era right there with Nolan Ryan at the time and Jackson comes up and he's super loose and he has a seven pitch at bat and one of the pitches he uh he hits a ball and it flies over the left field pole and he swears it was a home run but the UMP called it foul okay foul but he does some things are just crazy at one point in this at-bat just like he's just stretching and he just does he takes a bat if he wants a replay you see it and he goes like this with a bat and then he brings it back and he does it again and he doesn't Bend his elbows like he just he just does it because it's him and at one point he does this thing that is so insane any rookie any other rookie would get the next ball to his head he fouls the ball off and he does this I swear to God he does this like he just decides he's going to walk around the plate and the catcher because he can because he's Bo Jackson right I mean it's so utterly preposterous you would never do this okay seventh pitch he's up and he hits a ground ball to second base second base White Sox second baseman is Tim ulit timulet has to run over a little he feels a ball he turns the throw Carlton is covering first the pitcher and Beau beats it by three steps was first ever Major League hit is a ground ball to second now here's the crazy thing behind home plate all these Scouts are sitting there and um art Stewart with some of you guys might know the name art Stewart yeah Legend around here great guy since deceased and um he clocked it and someone says already where'd you get another Scout a bunch of skeletons Artie's like I get it right it's like what do you get he's like I didn't get it right he's like what'd you get I didn't get it right well Artie what'd you get you guys I got three one six it's like holy I got three and six I got it was the second fastest recorded time in major league history from home the first for righty hitter the only other one was Mickey Mantle who ran a three one five but I'm really skeptical of that one like because I think Mickey Manor was like tick and Bo Jackson's like a digital clock like his first at-bat ever in the major leagues he ran the second fastest time from home the first he was so preposterously gifted it is it just blows my mind and that was the one thing like he's the do you guys remember Joe poznanski he was a comments here Joe great great guy great writer and um Joe was the one who originally called him the last folk hero when he was a writer and I love that I said to Joe I'm going to name my book I'm going to steal your title it's it's great because like he did all these things that nobody ever saw he did so many things that nobody ever saw it's not like nowadays what's the guy's name the the French basketball player right now is going to be the number one pick anyone know yeah something like that right you can go on YouTube right now on Twitter on Tick Tock and you can see video of him right he's this guy he's an 18 year old he's kind of a mystery but you can see before shohei Otani came to the angels you could see him in Japan you could see him as a 12 year old in Japan just by going on Twitter Bo Jackson there are so many things he did that are just like Preposterous and part of my job my job in this book was almost like a it was like a treasure map of like trying to find out these things and like perfect example um too that I love is um he grew up in Alabama and he played at McAdory High School and everyone kept telling me they're like uh hear about the time he hit a ball so high that by the time it touched grass he was rounding third base and I'm like I'll just be honest I was like that didn't happen there's no way to happen there's no way that happened and everyone's like nah you got it you gotta look into this y'all look into I swear I was there I was there and then they're like uh you gotta call Eddie Scott oh who's Eddie Scott you gotta call Eddie Scott Eddie Scott was the left fielder at Fairfield High School in Alabama he was playing The Outfield all right I'll call Eddie Scott I find Eddie Scott I trout down Eddie Scott he's like uh yeah it's true he's like I was playing Left Field and he hit this ball so Preposterous Eddie Eddie's guy ended up playing uh baseball later on at Samford so he played college baseball he's like he hit it so high I just it went up and it went up and it kept going and kept going and I got under it and I kind of lost it and it plopped down on the grass and I bent over to pick it up and Bows rounding third and running to Home and I heard that story from 10 different people like I heard that story from 10 different people and then the one that's even better in a lot of ways all right it's the first night game in a lot of ways the baseball stories actually lend themselves to more myth than football in a weird way I don't know why but it's uh he's playing at Auburn and it's the first night game at the University of Georgia so in the history of the University of Georgia first night game Foley field it's a big deal Auburn's coming to town first night game and uh behind right field at Auburn right it wasn't a nice Stadium it was a dumpy stadium with like the big light poles like a high school light post is a thing called Kudzu Hill and kudz Hill where these Vines had grown the South some of you might know about it and on this hill yeah they're paying right yeah and on this hill behind right field people would sit and kind of hold on and wrap themselves in the country and Bo Jackson's playing right field for Auburn first night game and the fans are all over him like all over him you suck blah because he was a celebrity at this point a college celebrity you suck here losing blah blah blah racial stuff homophobic stuff like the worst kind of vibe Moe Jackson playing The Outfield and he comes up first step back first step back flies out Outfield and uh goes back out to right field you suck you're nothing blah blah blah you suck comes up for a second about first night game Auburn Alabama uh Georgia history he hits a ball to left the yard that slams into the light fixture and falls down and This is 40 39 days before the natural came out in theaters literally 39 days before the natural came out jogs back out to the Outfield at the end of the inning the fans do this all of them stand on the news all right next up bat comes up again Home Run next up at comes up again home run last at bat hits a double and they boo him it's like it's just like he's just like myth he's it's and and the number of people I talked about that game was this infinite outfielders and players and coaches and announcers and the whole thing chip carrier was the announcer for the University of Georgia team at that time um so it's amazing and the thing like it was I worked on this book during covid so it was hard I couldn't travel I usually really like to travel and I really got one one major trip in for this book like I didn't get to come to Kansas City I didn't get to I mean I'm from California but I didn't get to really get the Raider experience um but I did get to go to Alabama and um he's a he's a phenomenal story like he's a phenomenal phenomenal story and um he's from this he was first of all he's one of 11 kids right his his mom Florence um was never married to his dad and uh his dad lived across town with his own family had almost nothing to do with Beau um Beau had a severe you guys might know had a severe stutter he was held back a grade he used to go to school in either his sister not brother sisters hand me down shoes or just socks like just socks um and he he was a he was a troubled kid he used to throw rocks at cars and his nickname is kind of a phenomenal story and I really worked to track this one down because he talked about how there's a story about he used to beat up a hog and it was a boar hog and Bo is short for boar and if you gain more but what really happened is and I met the farmer's son where this happened is um where he grew up is very rural in the middle of nowhere Alabama and he and up a bunch of his friends went to a neighbor's farm when they were about eight years old I think he was nine actually with a bunch of sticks and they decided they were going to find the biggest hog and beat the crap out of it until it dies which is disturbingly disgusting and you know blah blah it happened so so day after for three straight days they're showing up at this Farmer's yard just beating up a hog beating up a hog beating up a hog beating up a hog uh finally the farmer catches them chases them home blah blah blah blah but that's where borja bow actually does come from boar hog so Bohr borgh and um he was a really like a really really troubled struggling kid he wasn't a great student um back then it wasn't like back in you know rural Alabama in the 80s if you had a severe stutter they would give you Services they saw you were dumb it wasn't dumb you just blah blah but he had this he had this phenomenal athletic ability and um you know he was going to go to uh he was going to go to he really wanted to go to Alabama actually the funny thing is he's a senior in high school he really wants to go to Alabama Alabama doesn't have interest in him the team that really wants him are the New York Yankees so the Yankees are coming and they're scouting him Non-Stop and they're hardcore into Bo Jackson and they're sending a scout uh Gill pool Gus poulis to watch him and Gus poulos loves Bo Jackson he's all about Bo Jackson this guy is special he's calling George Steinbrenner he's like this guy is Mickey Mantle this guy's Mickey Mantle I'm telling you this guy's Mickey Mantle and um meanwhile Auburn which really wants him has a booster shadowing him so every game wherever Bo Jackson is playing Auburn has people basically like this following him everywhere when his mom would come to games Auburn would have a booster sitting next to his mom right as a bodyguard basically keeping anyone away and um and the Yankees draft bow in the second round they take him and the Scout Gus Palouse caused Bo Jackson's house to start negotiations nobody answers the phone he caused the the coach at Auburn but was I mean excuse me a McAdory Bose High School baseball coach uh hey can you can you get us Beau he doesn't want to talk to you what do you mean like we're the New York Yankees what do you mean you know he doesn't want to talk to you he doesn't want to talk to you they offer he's like the Yankees literally tell Bose High School coach Mr Steinbrenner wants to fly you and Beau to New York to New York to watch the Yankees and the Red Sox I was like yeah I don't want to do that Bo Jackson didn't even know the Yankees and the Red Sox were Rivals like he know anything about anything I want to do that I want to do that the Scout flies down to Alabama knocks on his door they won't let him in the house like literally they're like we're not doing this and it was it was important to beau's Mom that he go to college he would have been the first person to go to a four-year School but it was also um Auburn was all about getting Bo Jackson and there's definitely money you know it was the SEC back then there was definitely money involved and things like that and yeah is that surprising it's a shocking shocking I have a shot I'm shot um my favorite thing is he goes to Auburn obviously he has his amazing career and um you know he's coming out he's a senior at Auburn and the uh the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the number one pick in the NFL draft right Tampa Bay Buccaneers horrible they're two and fourteen they stink their coaches Lehman Bennett and they're terrible but they do have the number one pick in the draft and Bo senior year he's playing baseball at Auburn and um the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to fly him on an off day to Tampa Bay just to take a physical before the draft so um Bo has this guy he's kind of an agent he was the booster looking out for him they both say it's okay well both flies to Tampa Bay and um and he gets his physical and the head coach of the baseball team at Auburn is Hal Baird and one of the players late to the next baseball game and one of the players says um or Hal Barrett says to play where's Beau and the players like he flew to Tampa Bay to get a physical he did what he flew to Tampa Bay the Bucks flew him there he did what so Beau comes back and um how bear dislike they have a game that night against Alabama Birmingham and Halbert is like uh oh please please tell me you were not on the Buccaneers jet and he's like yeah yeah I was but they cleared it and he's like no you you like your eligibility is done like you can't play anymore and they call the SEC and the SEC said he can't play anymore he violated rules it's so stupid like the SEC all these football players are getting paid like every school was paying guys left and right and they basically disqualified this kid for making a mistake I mean it was really crap I mean Bob was getting paid too so it's not but like it's really garbage so okay this is the best part the NFL draft comes and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the number one pick and Bo Jackson's basically said f the Buccaneers I'm never signing with that team I'm never playing with that team but the owner is this idiot named you Culver house uh owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he's like nah he'll want to play here you know I definitely want to play here and the coach of the Box Lehman Bennett is like I don't know if we should draft him like I don't think I don't think he's going to play here and the owner's like nah he'll play we'll offer him money he'll want to play NFL blah blah well the NFL draft comes Tampa Bay Buccaneers the number one pick 19-5 NFL drafts like Bo Jackson running back Auburn University and um Bose agents are like uh you should go just go they want to fly you in go talk to the Buccaneers go in so it's one of my favorite parts of like he he flies to Tampa Bay to meet with the bucks but he hates he blames them specifically for ruining the software but he goes and Steve Young was a quarterback with the Buccaneers at the time the great Steve Young and you called her house the owner of the box says to uh Steve he's like I really want to make an impression on Beau um let's take him out for dinner can we take him out for dinner will you come with me and we'll take them out to a nice steakhouse in Tampa and be great and Steve Young's like okay I'll do that so they go out to dinner and it it's Steve told me the story it's so good it's Steve Young you call her house Bo Jackson and Colorado has this plan he's like I'm going to leave you two alone and you can you know woo him on the bus tell him how great it is here so Culver house is like I'm Gonna Leave You guys alone I'm gonna you know go use the men's room blah blah you call her house leaves I'll just give a direct quote Steve Young is like yeah so Bo and bogos Steve there's no way I'm ever signing here just so you know there's no way I'm ever there's no way and Steve Young is like all right my work is done I don't know what else I have to do and uh he's just like he was never and it's funny because the next day a bunch of the buccaneer players took him fishing and um Scott Brantley was a linebacker of the Buccaneers the box was such a joke back then that Scott Brantley said to Beau he's like we would love to have you but this place is a mess you don't you do not want to come here so it's interesting the Royals had a scouting Kenny Gonzalez it doesn't even mean anything to anyone he was a really great Scout back in the day here his son is now with Scout with the Royals too and um Kenny from the was knew about Beau very early on and he was really in with Beau and with his mother and he kept saying to Art Stewart he's like I'm telling you I'm telling you I think he wants to play baseball I think he wants to play baseball and they brought Bo in at one point and John sureholz was a jam of the Royals and sure hope said to him directly he he really didn't think Beau was being honest he thought Boze is using them to for leverage with the Bucks and sure Holt says to uh Beau he's like I just want you to be honest with me and Beau was like sir I promise you I want to play baseball so um the draft comes majorly draft June and uh art Stewart's famous line is like they use a trivia question who is the first round pick of the Royals at yours anyone know Tony Clements shortstop exactly did not work out does not work out well but Stuart's like we'll just use a if we use a fourth round pick on Bo Jackson he doesn't sign it's not going to ruin the organization right so they draft Beau and Bo does not want to play in Tampa Bay he does not want to play football and um they basically he meets with the Royals and uh Richard Woods was beau's agent and he's negotiating with the Royals and he says to them he said Beau real they were offering him like 980 000 and he said uh bo really wants to be a millionaire like that means something and I you can understand that like he's a kid from nothing like from absolute abject poverty in the middle of nowhere and the idea of being a millionaire being able to say I'm a millionaire so the Royals say do you think that would get him to sign and he's like yeah and they made him the original contract is 1.028 million dollars Bo Jackson was a millionaire and um he signs and actually my he uh he signs it's a big deal the Buccaneers are like oh you think I guess you call him I was like I guess he's not coming here is he not and um he goes to play he has this amazing contract he goes and play for the Memphis chicks and he sucks like he's terrible he's so raw he goes there it's a circus and the um George Lapidus was the owner of the Memphis chicks and um he basically saw but it was double A baseball he saw Bo as a cash cow and he basically like every day Bo Jackson would sign up and there'd be a million baseballs for him to sign every single day he'd have to do they would do they would do like post-game autograph signing with Bo Jackson Next Day post game autographed Center Bo Jackson and my favorite thing is I found um I found a bunch of the ball boys for the Memphis chicks and um one of them uh told me that Beau taught him how to sign his name and I just think it's really funny his name is Danny Zitch and I think it's very funny that like somewhere in Memphis Tennessee right now above a fireplace is like Grandma you know Grandma Molly's beloved baseball signed by Danny Zitch you know where do we go wrong so um yeah it's funny so uh you know that was it but he was like he was basically a cash cow in Memphis and once he got hot though he got super hot and he hated everything about Memphis I like the players but he hated the whole experience and in his contract there was a guarantee that he would be called up on September 1st he had to be caught up he wasn't ready but he had to be caught up and on the day before he literally just left Memphis like the the manager was making like that night's lineup and Bo Jackson is nowhere to be found the trainer's looking for Bo Jackson they literally go to his apartment it's empty like he just left he's like I'm done it's in my contract I'm gone and he comes to Kansas City and um I mean you know he he's basically here and he has this he has this option to play football and the Royals really don't think he's going to do it but he always he always kind of knew he would he and the the Raiders took him the 87 draft it's an interesting story Chris Woods was a teammate of his at Auburn he was a wide receiver and he recently signed with the Raiders and Chris Woods told me that Beau called him and said can you talk to Al Davis and see if he'd be interested in drafting me and they used a seventh round pick and they get bow and um you know it's utterly ridiculous and and the thing is the Royals inside the Royals so something about bother trade funny is um sorry about that he um he wasn't beloved by his Royal teammates like it was a real mixed relationship I don't know if have any of you guys ever met Beau anyone no he's I don't know I just did all my glasses he's um he's he's prickly like he's not he's not easy I don't know if you've ever heard this like he's not you're not gonna walk up to him when he's eating and he and asked for an autograph and he's going to be like hey buddy let's take a picture too like he's definitely not that way he's he's he's tough and he's difficult and you never know and with her like he also he didn't always read things one thing I forgot is he shows up with the with the Royals on his first day after he signed before he went to Memphis and he had with him no joke a stack of autographed photos of himself and he went around the clubhouse and put one on every player's stool so you're like Frank White you're like Willie Wilson you're like Jim Sundberg and Hal McRae was the team's 40 year old DH and he literally was following Bo around picking them up and going like this and it's raining Bo Jackson photos and they're like what are you doing you know like what are you doing and George Brett is watching this whole thing and he actually like is gathering him up and he hangs it up on his thing like it's just like he just was kind of toned up and when he decided to play football and he said it was a hobby that was his line Half football's gonna be a hobby he endeared himself to nobody first of all he didn't endure himself to Kansas City because he was playing for the Raiders he didn't endear like you're Willie Wilson just as an example William Wilson was a great High School football player he hit a scholarship to go to Maryland I'm like his contract says he can't play basketball in the off season like pick up basketball you're Frank White you've been you've been here for a decade you can't go water skiing in your contract but we're gonna let Bo Jackson who's been here for basically a week and a half play football like that's insane you know and when he showed up with the Raiders it's actually funny he shows up with the Raiders in 87 and they're all the same way like hobby like hobby really like like really a hobby and it's funny he showed up in 87 and this was during the end of the NFL strike 87 was an NFL strike season and the Raiders had this week where strike players are basically coming and the other players were returning I mean we're going the strike players are kind of fading away the players are returning there were a couple of days where all the players are there together for workouts and uh Matt Millen he doesn't know Matt Millen is a former announcer and a long time Raider linebacker he told me a great story he said um it was the first day of workouts for the returning players and there are a lot of scabs still playing the replacement players and they're just like they just want to hammer the scabs they hate the scab so every time some replacement running back gets a ball damn you know another guy bam you know like talking trash from the whole thing so this one running back gets a handoff and Matt Millen goes to tackle him he goes right by him Matt Miller goes back to Auto he's like gosh I'm so sorry I don't know I'm off they give it to him again hmm other way now Miller's like I don't know what's going on here they give it to him a third time hmm and Matt Millen is like am I losing a step like I don't know and Jerry Robinson was another player on the team he goes you dumbass that's Bo Jackson and he's like oh thank God I'm so thank God it's horrible you know it's horrible um yeah it's really funny I'll tell you a few little things too I mean just like um number two questions is um how are we on time just want to check wow this goes fast I'll go Rook say that again 6 45. but it started late right it started kind of late okay um some quick highlights here from the Bo Jackson catalog first of all to me when Joe when to me the most memorable moment from Bo Jackson's career is not the event he made up or like climbing the wall or whatever this guy played two major league seasons on an artificial hip and like which is it do any of you guys have artificial hips like I don't think you could play Major League Baseball I'm just I'm just judging from afar wait but it's even more crazy than that this is this is a 1990 artificial hit right so I learned more about artificial hips than anyone who doesn't have one could possibly know like the artificial hippo Jackson had the hip was made of plastic and the bolts are made of metal and it wasn't made for any kind of physical activity so when you would run the metal would scrape off the plastic and little shards of plastic would come off into your he you know the injury he had which some of you most of you probably seen against the Raiders like his hip was destroyed it was it's called evuncular necrosis a vascular necrosis and basically like the blood supply to your hip stops and the bone dies and you don't return from that like you don't return from that he played two years when he played his final Major League season with the then California Angels they kept a stretcher in the Angel's Dugout because they were afraid that his hip could explode at any moment and they might need to like rush out to him like it was terrifying and he couldn't when he played he couldn't stop like if you watch him with the angels when he would come after a ball he kind of have to round off his turns because he couldn't you couldn't plant anymore you know and he played two years with an artificial freaking hip which is just Bonkers insane um it's just crazy it's really crazy the you guys have all seen the video of him running up the wall which I gotta say like it's so utterly you're a young guy have you seen that do you know wait right behind you I know you're a young guy have you ever seen the video of him running up the wall it have you ever seen anyone do that before since never right it's insane like I always say like we'll see another Pat Mahomes no disrespect we'll see another Joe burrow we'll see another Demar Chase we'll see all these guys nobody before since has ever literally run to the wall run up the wall run across the wall run down the wall and it was in Baltimore and I talked to a bunch of guys who played for the Orioles at the time first of all the wall is not a firm wall it's not like running up this it's like running it was like a wobbly wall it's really thin so it's not easy and he was so high up that wall that the pitchers in the bullpen behind the wall recoiled because they thought he was coming over which is insane like it's just freaking insane um he let off the All-Star game with a home run you guys don't know that 1989 All-Star Game couple of things about this I love number one in the booth calling that first inning Vin Scully and recently retired President Ronald Reagan right it's like the weirdest like run and it's like it's this beautiful day in California Tony larussa was a manager for the American League team and the day before the game he pulled aside Wade Boggs and Bo Jackson and he said uh I talked to Wade Boggs about this he told me he's like Bo I think you should lead off and he's like I just think it's a moment I think it could be a Moment Like This is a moment let's make a moment and you know Bo comes up and like Rick Russell who's 40 years old is pitching and he throws his crap Sinker ball one and the second Pitch to me it's the most beautiful of all his highlights in a lot of ways it's like it's a dead center it flies over Eric Davis's head playing center field and the lands on this tarp and a law student from BYU comes running out and he looks like he's going to crack his head any moment he's like ah you know and he like he finally he holds it up in the air and this is the amazing part of this for real the that later that game fourth inning Nike was premiering the bow nose ad right the whole stadium was Bono's everything was decked out in Bonos the programs had a bow node node uh ad inside fourth inning Nike he was doing the big one Bo Diddley and like Jim Everett Bono's football and uh Michael Jordan all these guys boners that ad is coming out so in Manhattan New York City not Manhattan Kansas um oh that was good right uh there's a in Manhattan all the Nike executives are watching the game at Mickey Mantle's restaurant which is located on Central Park right bordering Central Park Beau hits that home run and these Nike Executives just go crazy they're like jumping up and down high-fiving like crying like this they put everything into this ad and both leads off the game with a home run and what do you see next the bow knows ad campaign it was just like the most marvelous ridiculous all-time greatest thing ever um so I just I you know and like I'll try one more thing I should not allow take questions um I loved writing this book like I loved writing this book I really did I love Bo Jackson I do it's a it's a love letter in a lot of ways of Bo Jackson and one of my uh my funny moment is um I went to Bessemer Alabama and I went to where Bo Jackson grew up and I went to the address it's middle of nowhere very rural very poor and where he lives there's a where he grew up there's a empty lot and it's covered with like trash and crap and all this stuff and kind of walking there to the middle of the day it's you know and um I'm all by myself and I see the foundation for the house I see the foundation and it's just it's not certainly not a Historic Landmark it's like a bunch of bricks and broken cans and I reached down and I take a brick I take a brick from Bo Jackson's house right again it's not like taking like you know it's not like going to like the Nixon Museum and like stealing pen you know it's like this it's like a brick and I I have this brick and I call my wife and I'm like I got a brick and she's like why you know why do you why and uh I'm like no because it's cool it's a brick from Bo Jackson's house he's like I don't I don't know and um I go to the airport and I'm so happy I have this break and I my dad goes to the TSA and they pull the bag aside and I'm like uh they're like sir what is this in your in your bag and they're looking at the brick and I'm like oh it's a br it's a brick and he's like sir you can't travel with a brick in your bag and I'm like well it's Bo Jackson's from Bo Jackson's house and he's like Marge Marge come here Marge and Marge comes over the other I don't remember her name and she's like uh yeah and I'm like do you know who Bo Jackson is and she's like yeah and I'm like well I'm writing this book blah blah blah I got this brick in the house and I found him my wife thinks it's down the brick and she's like all right go ahead and uh on my desk in California is Bo Jackson's brick sitting there inexplicably so uh anyway do you want to do questions or is that I go long enough thanks Jeff yeah um so we've got two microphones I just bet for me um no you're doing a great job so we've got two microphones and we will ask you to use those microphones if anybody shouts out from the audience Jeff has been instructed to treat you like your Joe burrow okay wait can I ask you a question real quick I know I'm gonna regret this wait how many of you are Chiefs fans by show of hands all right I have a serious question I'm honestly wondering just be honest how many of you are like very confident that Chiefs are going to win this game yeah how many of you think that she's going to lose this game I know it sucks that really sucks also I hate to say is I'm not saying like teacher bangers are really good like they are really good like factually like they're just I agree I got Zach Wilson as my quarterback man I got nothing to say in this conversation that's the quarterback Envy I was talking about yeah it's terrible yeah uh questions right here okay hey Jeff um I really have enjoyed your books and uh I really enjoyed I just read Gunslinger I really enjoyed that book and and uh also sweetness I give just so so a couple plugs for your prior Works they're really entertaining but I'm looking forward to reading this book but I wonder like with Gunslinger the brook about Brett Favre you really didn't have an opportunity to interview Brett Favre and it sounds like for this one you haven't you didn't get an opportunity to talk to Bo much I think you said a half hour so I wonder can you talk about the challenge of doing a biography when you your subject is alive and they don't they either they don't want to talk to you or you you just can't arrange it great question wait first I have a funny story Brett Favre related by the way there's a segment on Brett Favre on Real Sports I think is not pretty about Mississippi and anyway if you guys aren't following Brett Favre it's kind of crazy um are you following Brett Favre yeah yeah it's no good um wait this is the weirdest thing one of the weirdest things that's ever happened to me this is an answer to your question part I was working on this Brett Favre book Brett Favre's in Mississippi he's from the kill Mississippi middle nowhere and I had I didn't know if he was going to talk to me yet but I dm'd him his sister Brandy randomly I was like hey my name is Jeff Perrone I'm working on a book I'm Brett Favre and um I would love to interview you I'm coming down to Mississippi and she said well uh DM me this is over Facebook when you're when you're here and we'll see so I DM her and I said hey would you want to meet for coffee and she goes well why didn't you just come by the house me and Mom are at the house this is Brett Favre's sister Brett Farr's mom and I'm like okay so I go to the house and it's Brett Favre's mom Bonita who I freaking love is Sister Brandy and Bonita says to me so is Brett helping you with this book and I said I don't know he hasn't yet I don't know and she goes Ari what do you want to know and uh basically for the next three hours I hung out with Brett Favre and Brett Favre's mom no joke sent me home with scrapbooks like literally 70 home with scrapbooks and I called my wife and I'm like you're not going to believe this blah blah and she's like don't you think that's a little weird and I'm like no why and she's like like don't you think that's a little weird and later I was like yeah that's a little weird but still um someone gave me advice this is going to sound callous but I don't mean it this way when someone doesn't talk to you you kind of think of it like they're deceased I don't mean it like you're happy you know they're not rooting for under stuff but like it's like okay if Bo Jackson is going to help me I'm calling everyone like I am calling everyone I am calling every the first thing I do when I work on a book is I go to eBay and I buy every media guide you can find and every book you can find but every media guide so I got all the Auburn media guides baseball football everything and I make a file for every single person right and Beau also did me a favor because when I talked to him he didn't say I have a problem with you writing a book he actually was kind of cool about it he just said I'm not going to help you so that allowed me to say when people are like does Bo know you're working on it I could say yeah he does know like that's fair I mean he does know like he knew I'm not it's not lying or anything if you told me not to I would tell them yeah I would say you always not so you just go about it like you just you just got to be dogged like I'm working on a book now about I'm not doing my first non-sports book it's about Tupac the rapper Tupac Shakur and like he is dead I mean I think and uh so like I'm calling everyone I'm calling every I'm going through every album every liner notes everything it's the same with these athletes and like um most of the time they usually just like kind of accept it after a while and sometimes even embrace it a little bit after a while you just have to be dogged just dog it uh it's not a great answer but it's true do you want to borrow Brett Favre scrapbooks I still haven't oh I'd love to no I don't actually I'm kidding I sent them back yeah all right thank you for picking the books yeah go to the other side here thank you hey thanks Jeff you're a great Storyteller I sure did enjoy myself this evening um so so you just mentioned you just only only spent about a half an hour with Bo Jackson did you get a feeling during that course of time like how Bo would make decisions or was decision making like uh was there a process at all I'm just curious about how you know some of the decisions in his career makes you wonder in the aftermath and did you get a feeling like who we relied on or people I wouldn't say for my half hour conversation yeah I but I would say like he was really interesting he was really a guy who like he really enjoyed going against what people thought he would do like he got a real kick out of that I'm like I think he he loved that everyone thought he was going to play football and he played baseball I think he loved that people thought he was going to do this and he would do that he kept a very very small circle he had very few friends like in he probably keeps in touch with three people from baseball probably keeps in touch with nobody from football um he just was really guarded and really closed and he really trusted his instincts um he just liked he liked shocking people you know he really did it's kind of weird but that I would say that was his main thing is he just liked shocking people yeah yeah thank you let's do two more questions here and then Jeff's gonna sign copies of the book out front uh when we finish here last I saw there were maybe a few copies left if you haven't bought one yet and still would like to get one okay thanks for showing up in Kansas City in January we really enjoyed it so before I came tonight I was curious of what kind of teammate Bo Jackson was and I'm perplexed by his locker room Antics it the Royals and was it kind of like and you're welcome or was it kind of like hey guys yeah I'm here like I'm just perplexed by he's a weird guy could you get in his mind about that he's a weird guy like he's a weird guy he's not a normal like he's not like you know like um this is kind of a funny story actually and this relates to it I uh I talked to a a former Raiders lineman I don't know why his name is escaping my head but these things happen when you get older um no wow good reference though way before his time though nice though um Greg Townsend was a Raider lineman and maybe 10 years ago 15 years ago Greg Townsend and Bo Jackson were doing an autograph show together in Anaheim California the convention center and Greg Townsend brought with him like a Bo Jackson Jersey and a helmet and they hadn't seen each other in years and Greg Townsend is like hey Bo and was like hey Greg great to see you the hug and the handshake and the whole thing hey uh bo would you mind uh would you mind signing these and Bo's like yeah it's fine but just you know I have to charge you and Greg Townsend's like wait what and he was like uh I gotta charge you you know if I if I give it to you free then I have to give it to everyone for free and Townsend actually paid the 450 bucks and said his quote was his direct quote was you were an then and you're an now as I said to him and I just think like he was prickly he was when he was with the Royals one thing he used to do which is just insane he's a big bow hunter a very good Bow Hunter he would set up a Target Where You Are walk over here in the clubhouse and shoot arrows and the guys would be like Bo what are you doing but like he just like that's what I'm gonna do I like shooting arrows you know like he would sleep during meetings like he just didn't really like meetings he didn't like he didn't like practice at all he hated practice so when he was done with the Royals if we're being honest I don't think that many guys were that UPS like they kind of felt like the circus was leaving anyway thank you not to extend this but would this be a time for the seitzer story oh cycle story is great true story do you guys remember Kevin seitzer oh yeah third baseman did he have a good rep here good rep right yeah oh was he yeah so we all um I'm not um all right Kevin seitzer Bo Jackson teammates of the Royals Saito is not the most light guy in the club he was like the uh he was like the gnat he was like the guy who would flick your ear and like kick your heel that kind of guy right nothing horrible but just a pain in the ass and um one day they were underneath the stadium taking BP and Beau had to leave for it was a hitting group it was Bill pakota Ed Hearn Bo Jackson Kevin seitzer and um Bo Jackson had to leave the group for a minute and he comes back and cites her has skipped him in line and uh Bo Jackson's like Bo's like yo sites it's my turn to hit and he's like yeah you left man you left blah blah but I was like are you joking he's like you left me and you left and both starts getting mad and seitzer is unrelenting right and um Bo Jackson grabs Kevin seitzer by the neck tins him against the wall and raises him off the ground are you if you ever freaking talk to me this review and he's like this and Bo Jackson's arm is a freaking pipe and he's like choking him and the guy's like Kevin sites his eyes are bulging and they're all like Bo and they're ripping him up so um he finally lets him go and they go back into the clubhouse and sites are in the trainer's room on a table and um with like ice on his neck and Bo Jackson walks back he's fiercely takes a bat and slams in his locker he's pissed and um seitzer later walks up to him and he's like uh hey Bo are we good and uh sites are like nah man we're not good you do not do not mess with me and like he had a he definitely has a presence about him that's like you don't want to mess with him he's a Bo Jackson's incredibly charitable um recently when the when the last I was going to say thus shooting there's always a new one now but when the body shooting happened in Texas Bo very quietly paid for most of the funerals for the families of the victims um he has a bow bike spam event every year it's a great charity he is a good guy he's just not a warm and cuddly guy and don't skip him in line when you're taking BP final question yeah I'm going to cheat a little bit I got two questions the second question is how's Bo doing today how's his hip first question is kind of a trivia question when he got hurt in that football game he went down as I recall O.J Simpson almost immediately said that's a serious injury and everybody else didn't really know is that true was that is all right so Bill Walsh is in the booth uh OJ is a sideline reporter and Bill Walsh said um it looks like a hip flexor or something he's like a hip flexor O.J Simpson was like I don't think it's a hip fat like it looks worse than a hip flexor he didn't get the exact thing interestingly the um was more serious he didn't know it was more serious definitely you're correct um Amy Trask was an executive with the Raiders Al Davis had a great record of hiring minorities of women way before anyone else was Amy Trask was an executive with the Raiders and she got a call from her sister who is a doctor during that game actually and she said How's Bo and Amy's like I don't know she goes that looks a lot like a vascular necrosis the way he was put out she's like she said Amy she said you should write that down and mention it to Davis and that was actually what it was was a vascular necrosis um what was your second part I'm sorry how's Bo doing today all right so Beau had two and now has two fake hips artificial hips he lives in Burr Ridge Illinois although I think he just recently moved to Alabama actually back to Alabama um he's great he's like this Suburban dad he has three adult kids he has a lot of businesses he's done really well he tried acting briefly he was in a really bad John Grisham movie called The Chamber but he was actually pretty good in it um and uh it's funny one of the actresses in that movie was Layla rochon and I I interviewed her and I was like what do you remember about Beau and she's like he had the biggest legs I've ever seen on a human race but uh yeah he's still he's in good health you know yeah yes yeah thank you thanks yeah thank you thank you all again for being here tonight thank you thank you Jeff and he'll sign books out in the lobby thanks again be safe