The Unnatural : Bo Jackson Hopes an Artificial Hip Gives New Life to His Baseball Career

Bo Jackson says he is ready to go.

He has an artificial hip and he is preparing for a comeback with the Chicago White Sox.

Jackson had a good workout Thursday, fielding grounders and taking swings in a batting cage. He topped that with four 120-yard runs to the controlled time of 20 seconds a run.

“There’s no limp, no pain; the difference from last year is night and day,” said Jackson, who did not play an inning last season after having his hip replaced in April.

The Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn injured his left hip in a 1991 NFL playoff game for the Raiders.

The Kansas City Royals, for whom he hit 32 home runs and drove in 105 runs in 1989, released him in the spring of 1991 when doctors said he would never play again.

The White Sox gambled and signed him. He played in 23 games in September of 1991, hitting three home runs and driving in 14 runs.

Last spring, the pain became unbearable, and he had the hip replaced with a plastic-metal prosthesis. He went into rehabilitation with hip replacement trainer Mack Newton in Phoenix and White Sox trainer Herm Schneider in Chicago.

“Actually it feels like I’ve never had any problems in the past,” Jackson said. “There is no fear factor. That was over after surgery. Herm keeps telling me to slow down.”

Schneider has kept the time of the sprints down intentionally but expects to let Jackson go full speed next month.