Zack Greinke First Royal on SI Cover in 20 Years

It's not often that we approach the end of April and the Kansas City Royals are hovering around first place, but that's the situation the team currently finds itself in as they trail the Detroit Tigers by a game in the AL Central. Still, it's not that rare, considering that on this date in 2003 the Royals were 17-5 and 4 1/2 games ahead of the White Sox.

No, what's truly rare is seeing a Kansas City Royal grace the cover of Sports Illustrated during the baseball season. The last time it happened was when Bo Jackson was taking the country by storm in 1989, and now, 20 years later Zack Greinke will be carrying on the tradition for the Royals.

Greinke is the first Royals player to appear on the cover since pitcher David Cone on April 5, 1993, for the magazine's preview to the baseball season. The last Royals player to appear on an in-season cover was outfielder Bo Jackson on June 12, 1989.

Impressed? Greinke isn't.

"There's a lot more interesting stuff going on right now," he said. "They should have something else on the cover. Playoff basketball or something else.

"So it's a mistake. They'll probably sell their least amount of magazines in a long time - except when NASCAR was on the cover."

That's true, everyone knows NASCAR fans can't read.

Of course, while being on the cover of Sports Illustrated is probably an honor for every athlete it does come with some side effect. Namely the SI cover jinx. Sure, the issue hasn't come out yet but I don't think it's a coincidence that Greinke's scoreless inning streak came to an end last Friday night against the Tigers.

Way to go, Poz. Way to go.