July 11, 1989. Angel Stadium. Anaheim, California. Millions gathered to watch the best players that Major League Baseball had to offer. Before most even had the chance to gather their peanuts and cracker jacks, and make it to their seats, Kansas City Royals outfielder Bo Jackson did something that was worth the price of admission alone.

To put his prowess in perspective a little, Bo Jackson was widely regarded as one of the best two-sport athletes in history. A true freak of nature in every sense of the term. Only a select handful of individuals can say that they played professional baseball by summer and competed in the National Football League come the fall. Bo Jackson is one of those select, truly gifted few. Over his brief, yet eventful eight-year Major League career, Jackson cracked 141 home runs and stole 82 bases, while playing all three outfield positions with self-entitled "speed like a spooked deer", and "an arm like a high-powered rifle". The electricity that he brought to the diamond was unmatched during his tenure as a professional ballplayer.

Once the calendar flipped to October, however, Jackson was not done wowing his fans. There was no offseason in Bo Jackson's agenda. He then headed West to toe the turf for the then-Los Angeles Raiders and assumed the role of powerful running back for four seasons from 1987-90. Jackson was a force for the Raiders in the backfield, still managing to rush for close to 2,800 career yards on the ground despite finishing the six-month grind of a baseball season just a mere weeks before. To call that a true human "feat of strength" would be a magnificent understatement.

Jackson made one All-Star team (1989) as a baseball player as well as making one Pro Bowl appearance in football in 1990. His performance in the '89 Midsummer Classic stands tall as one of the greatest in All-Star Game history.

Jackson stepped into the batter's box to lead off the bottom of the first inning for the American League. Heading into the break, Jackson had a share atop the American League leaderboards for home runs at 21. He eyed up sinker-baller Rick Reuschel of the San Francisco Giants, who was given the honors of being named All-Star Game starting pitcher for the National League. Reuschel was in the midst of a renaissance campaign himself at age 40, and would go on to win 17 games for the Giants while pitching to the tune of a 2.94 earned run average.

But on this day, it was a sinker left just enough over the heart of the plate that led to a moment that will forever live in All-Star Game lore.

Jackson wasted no time jump-starting the American League offense. He knew they needed a spark after the National League Stars rallied for two first-inning runs of their own off AL starter Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics. On just the second offering of the afternoon from Reuschel, Jackson crushed a ball to deep, deep center field with a distance best measured by a broadcaster whose voice looms larger than life in baseball history, Vin Scully.

Upon laying eyes on the majestic shot by Jackson, Scully described the blast in typical Scully fashion, infusing utter simplicity with colorful majesty: "And look at that one, Bo Jackson says, 'Hello!'... He almost hit it out of state."

Jackson's titanic shot let loose shocks across the stadium, "oohs" and "ahhs" alike, and sent a handful of fans scrambling frantically onto the tarp beyond the center field fence where the baseball finally landed. The tone was sent immediately, and led to a trickle down effect, as Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs followed suit with a home run of his own right after Jackson.

Jackson drove in another run just an inning later, after he used his deer-like speed to beat out a potential double-play ground ball that allowed Texas Rangers outfielder Ruben Sierra to score, and stole second base as well. The steal made him the only player in All-Star Game history to homer and steal a base in the same Midsummer contest. That feat still stands even today.

The American League would go on to win, 5-3, and Bo Jackson was incontestably named the game's Most Valuable Player for his efforts. He was truly a one-man wrecking crew, who seized the moment and put all of his five tools into use on a nationally televised broadcast. Before July 11, 1989, there were some who did not truly know just what Jackson was capable of doing on a baseball diamond. Those who didn't know before surely know now.