Silver Minings: Bo Jackson biography coming soon

Famed sports author Jeff Pearlman has written nine books that have appeared on The New York Times’ best seller list, including Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, which HBO’s hit series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty is based on.

Pearlman’s most recent work is something that Las Vegas Raiders fans will surely be interested in, The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson.

Jackson racked up nearly 2,800 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns in four seasons for the Silver and Black before a hip injury cut his NFL career short. However, he strung together an eight-year MLB career, primarily with the Kansas City Royals, where he smacked 141 home runs and 415 RBI to go along with one All-Star appearance.

He’s the only athlete to be both an NFL Pro Bowler and MLB All-Star as so many have considered Jackson to be one of the greatest athletes of all time, and Pearlman’s biography attempts to peel back the curtain on the Raiders’ former rusher. Below is the description for the book.

From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America’s most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth.

Then, almost overnight, he was gone.

The book was compiled using 720 original interviews and will be released on October 25 but is available for pre-order using this link.

In other Raiders links:

• Big expectations: Just Blog Baby’s Brad Weiss lists his players with the most to prove heading into 2022.
• Latest on Raiders’ OL: “At present, Gutierrez projects a starting five of LT Kolton Miller, LG Parham, C Andre James, RG Good, and RT Leatherwood,” via Pro Football Rumors.
• Awards predictions: taking a stab at MVP, OPOY, DPOY, ROY, CPOY
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