Bo Takes Outfield Over Backfield : Saying Baseball Was Always His First Love, Heisman Trophy Winner Picks the Royals

‘In life you’ve got to take chances, you’ve got to gamble. I’m glad that the Royals did gamble and drafted me. Nobody knew what I was going to do.’

--BO JACKSON

Bo Jackson found further need for his Heisman Trophy Saturday, using the stiff-arming statue to ward off the National Football League in favor of professional baseball and the Kansas City Royals.

Jackson, 23, disclosed his decision in a Saturday morning press conference at Birmingham, Ala., and then flew to Kansas City, where he met again with reporters at Royals Stadium before donning a uniform and taking batting and fielding practice with his new team.

“I went with what is in my heart,” Jackson said. “My first love is baseball, and it has always been a dream of mine to be a major league player.”

Jackson wore No. 16 Saturday, which isn’t quite what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had in mind when they chose Jackson, an Auburn University running back, as the first pick in the April NFL draft. They had hoped Jackson would join All-Pro James Wilder in the Tampa Bay backfield this season, not Willie Wilson in the Royal outfield.

The Buccaneers reportedly had offered Jackson a five-year, $7.6-million contract. A starting position was his for the taking. Instead, he chose the Royals, who declined to specify terms of their contract offer but did take time to criticize reports of a five-year, $5-million agreement. “It’s not even one-fifth right,” Royal General Manager John Schuerholz said.

Jackson’s agent, Mobile, Ala., attorney Richard Woods, would say only that the contract was not five years in length and that money was not a motivating factor in Jackson’s decision.

“On Bo’s behalf . . . he could have been an instant millionaire and made, many, many, many times more money by signing his name with Tampa Bay than with what he signed a contract for in Kansas City,” Woods said.

According to sources familiar with baseball negotiations, a first-round selection can usually expect to receive a signing bonus of anywhere between $75,000 to $175,000. The Royals selected Jackson in the fourth round of the June draft, while other teams, such as the Angels, who had five of the first 28 choices and had picked Jackson in 1985, decided he probably wasn’t worth the gamble, that he would choose the NFL over baseball.

“In life you’ve got to take chances, you’ve got to gamble,” Jackson said. “I’m glad that the Royals did gamble and drafted me. Nobody knew what I was going to do. I didn’t know at the time.”

The Royals said Jackson will remain with the team “until he is in competitive playing shape,” most likely a period of 10 to 21 days, before determining his status. According to Woods, Jackson will travel with the team and could conceivably earn a spot on the Royal roster during his workout time, an idea that Royal Manager Dick Howser found unlikely.

“That would take some adjustment,” Howser said. “I’d have to make a roster adjustment. If we go to 25 (player roster), I think I’d keep him.”

Asked if he expected the Royals to increase their roster by one player, Howser said no.

Jackson, who visited the Toronto Blue Jays, Angels and Royals before the June draft, hasn’t played competitive baseball since early spring. He was declared ineligible by the Southeastern Conference for accepting a paid plane ticket from the Buccaneers. At the time, he was batting .246. A season earlier, Jackson, a center fielder who is projected as the Royal right fielder, hit .401 with 17 home runs.

In batting practice Saturday, Jackson, using a borrowed Steve Balboni bat, missed the first pitch. But by the end of his brief session, he had sent six balls over the fence, including one that landed near the base of the Royals Stadium scoreboard.

“That’s damn near 500 feet,” the Royals’ Frank White said.

Jackson later received a handshake and bat from Angel designated hitter Reggie Jackson. The two had met at Anaheim Stadium in late April and spent about 45 minutes discussing the younger Jackson’s career choices.

“I followed baseball mainly because of Reggie Jackson,” Bo Jackson said. “If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have been interested in baseball. I always used to tell people that he was my cousin.”

He says he no longer idolizes Jackson--”I’m trying to make my own footsteps. I’m too big to walk in somebody’s elses”--but he does take advice.

Said Reggie: “He ain’t going to make a million dollars when he’s 40. I’ve been making it since I was 34.”

The Buccaneers released a statement from owner Hugh Culverhouse, who said: “We made the lucrative offer we promised.”

Culverhouse, who later sent Jackson a telegram wishing him well, added that “we had reason to believe that Bo preferred football over baseball. We felt he had strong feelings for both sports, but we knew our contract offer would be the best available. So on draft day we felt we had an excellent chance of signing him. We did our best in bringing that about.”