A BREED APART? : Bo Jackson Is the Shape of Things to Come in Baseball

The crescendo came early, and the 60th All-Star Game tapered off from there.

When it ended Tuesday night with the American League winning for the second straight year, 5-3, everybody knew that Bo Jackson of the Kansas City Royals could do it against the best.

Despite a fast National League start with two runs in the first inning, Jackson stole the night by showcasing his talents, beginning with a monstrous, 448-foot home run.

“The game’s changing,” said Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres. “I’ve seen it coming, guys like Kevin Mitchell and Will Clark -- and especially Bo.

“Bo’s like a different breed. I’ve seen him do things this week that are scary. I’ve got to believe the Nike people are right. Bo can do it. He can do anything in this world.”

In the first four innings, Jackson hit his homer over the center-field fence, beat out a relay throw on an attempted double play to allow the go-ahead run to score, stole a base and singled.

He also made a good running catch of Pedro Guerrero’s drive in the top of the first inning to defuse the National League’s uprising against the Oakland Athletics’ Dave Stewart.

The National Leaguers believed. “Watching him hit that home run makes me want to go lift weights,” said Bobby Bonilla of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who weighs 230 pounds.

Although the California Angels’ Chuck Finley and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Orel Hershiser did not pitch, the thunder was stolen by players with Golden State links.

Besides Jackson, heroics belonged to the Texas Rangers’ Nolan Ryan, who began the shutdown of the National League with two shutout innings in his second triumphant return to Anaheim Stadium -- where he formerly played for the California Angels -- in five days.

He had shut out the Angels, 3-0, last Thursday, receiving a rousing reception. Both he and Jackson, the Los Angeles Raiders “hobbyist,” were fan favorites.

Ryan wound up as the oldest pitcher (42) to win an All-Star Game, as the seven American League pitchers who followed Stewart limited the National squad to one run and six singles.

The National League did not have an extra-base hit, and has not homered since the 1984 game (Dale Murphy).

“It was my most meaningful All-Star Game,” Ryan said. “I threw well. Out of all the games (seven) I’ve been in, this means the most because of coming back to Anaheim and the fact that it could be my last one.”

Ryan tantalized opposing batters with curveballs and changeups in his two innings; power pitching wasn’t the thing.

“With what he’s been through, they’d better send his arm to the Smithsonian Institute,” said National League Manager Tom Lasorda of the Dodgers, who lost for the first time in four All-Star games.

The San Francisco Giants’ Kevin Mitchell, the majors’ home-run leader with 31, had a so-so game -- two singles and a run scored, two strikeouts.

“I guess I was trying too hard, trying to outdo Bo,” he said.

Jackson set the tempo. Wade Boggs of the Boston Red Sox followed with another home run, although not as mighty as Bo’s, and the American League capitalized on Rick Sutcliffe’s late arrival to put the victory away with two runs in the third.

The consecutive homers marked only the fourth time that has happened, and Jackson became the ninth player to homer in his first All-Star at-bat (the most recent was Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach last year).

Jackson was more moved, however, by the sight of F-4 fighters sweeping overhead at the start of the game than his moon shot.

“Some people have their weaknesses, and I happen to be a big military man,” Jackson said. “I got more kick out of watching those F-4s go over than hitting the ball out.”

The planes and the baseball seemed to go about equally fast.