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And the league said, "Let there be crowds."

From the Plains of Auburn, the first Messiah of the Southern League came and delivered new excitement. And it was good. For Memphis, which drew well over 11,000. For Jacksonville and Orlando, half whose  fans were of Bo Jackson's former SEC rivals, the Florida Gators, and the other half, fans of the Tampa Bay Bucs, whose magnaminous offer to sign was spurned by Bo.

"... and a lot of the fans came out just to rag him," said Memphis manager Tommy Jones.

And it was good for Columbus, on the edge of the Alabama state line. And Charlotte, where tiny plastic footballs were thrown out to the crowd. And Huntsville, which was the first Alabama city to see him play.

Football is the only sport people in the South really care about. Forget NASCAR. We're talking about sports. Its state athletes are deified to the point that taxpayers in Mobile once agreed to a property tax increase just to save high school football. And in Alabama, football means you're either an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan. No other school is taken so seriously.

It was simply a given in this state that Bo would sign an NFL contract with somebody, but Bo, strongly independent-minded, turned down Tampa Bay's fortune to sign with the Kansas City Royals on June 21. But fans in this state would have to wait until this day, August 19, 1986, to see its native son, hyped beyond reality, play professional baseball. As it turned out, Joe Davis Stadium would be the first venue.

Two hours before the first pitch, the bleachers that no longer exist down the right field line at Joe Davis Stadium were nearly full. Cars were stacked on the access road to the stadium, creating what soon would be a massive traffic jam. A sellout was in the making.

It actually turned into the 2nd largest crowd in the Stars young history.

Most of the over 11,000 in attendance came out to see the star attraction, rather than the Stars, of course. Loud cheers of "Come on, Bo!" punctuated every move he made. Huntsville pitcher Kirk McDonald, who would win his 10th game this night, was booed after walking Jackson on four pitches on his first trip to the plate coming in the 2nd inning.

McDonald may have felt he deserved the boos. He wasn't pleased with his own performance. He didn't have good control or a good fastball. His breaking ball was flat. But he got by. In his 2nd at-bat, Jackson doubled to right-center in the 4th and scored on a double by Mike MacFarlane, who would go on to have an 11-year career with the Royals. That put the Chicks on the scoreboard, but the Stars had a 2-1 lead, thanks to Terry Steinbach's RBI double in the 1st and Bo Jackson's error in the 3rd that allowed Damon Farmer, who tripled, to score when Bo bobbled the ball.

An error by shortstop Joe Jarrell allowed two runs to score in the 5th to make it 4-1. A home run by Angel Morris in the 7th pulled the Chicks within a run, 5-4. Then Huntsville iced it in the 8th. Forgotten in all the excitement over Bo Jackson was the fact that Terry Steinbach's RBI single in that inning broke the single-season Southern League RBI record with his 124th. He would pad it to 132 at the end of the season.

Relief pitcher Mark Leonette finished a rocky start for Kirk McDonald, who won his 10th game. In his last at-bat of the evening, Leonette struck Jackson out on a fastball. The 1-for-3 night raised his average to .256 --- not bad after you consider Bo was 2-for-31 back on July 7. Bo would finish the season with 7 HRs and a .277 average.

The next night, the night Mark McGwire was promoted to Oakland, the Stars would win again, 11-6, before 8,882 at Joe Davis Stadium. Bo went 2-for-4 with a double and a single, but refused to talk to the press. The man with the fierce competitive spirit wasn't pleased over his performance.

But after Tuesday night's game, Jackson submitted to a 15-minute packed press conference in the Memphis dugout, which I remember being part of. I remember asking him if he was looking forward to facing anyone in particular on the mound in his new sport. He said it didn't make any difference to him.

Long after the park was empty, both locker rooms closed, and the buses gone, Bo was outside in the parking lot still signing autographs. He was the last player to leave.

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