Maybe it was seeing Bo Jackson on a commercial, looking like a younger version of George Foreman that got me thinking about two sport athletes, maybe it is the big deal that is being made over Ohtani being a two way pitcher/hitter in the major leagues, or perhaps it was looking at the baseball cards from my old favorite Milwaukee Braves, but suddenly I was thinking about athletes, baseball players, who actually excelled in two sports at the major league level. Not the Michael Jordan type of athlete who day dreamed about being a superstar in another professional league, but those who actually made it to the professional ranks in two separate sports.

Bo Jackson achieved great legendary status as both a professional Football Player and a professional Baseball player. He not only played the two sports until injury ruined his career, but he made the all-star team in both Baseball and Football. His accumulated statistics for an eight year baseball career were: 598 H, 141 HR, 200 BB, 841K 415 RBI, .250AV, OPS 784 8.3 WAR

Another Football baseball player who really excelled and is in the hall of fame for one sport and made the all-star team in the other was Deion Sanders who made it as a two sport star two years after Bo Jackson and played major league baseball from 1989 to 2001 and football from 1989 – 2005..

Speed played well in both sports and in baseball he had an accumulated 5.5 WAR, 558 hits and a .263 batting average with 39 homeruns, and 186 stolen bases. His OPS was 711. One year he led the league in triples, twice he was second in stolen bases and he played in the 1992 world series for the braves.

Gene Conley had been a Boston Celtic and a Milwaukee Brave. He was tall, but especially for that time. This was before we got used to Randy Johnson and seeing a tall man make the mound seem to grow to a mountain. But Gene was not a HOF player in either basketball or baseball, just a good player and, somehow, I doubt if he had any coaching that new how to take advantage of his natural talent and his length. Today, we know that the angle of a tall pitcher is significant and so is the extra reach that gains them some inches if not feet to shrink the distance from mound to bat. http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b5fecb6f

He played in the major leagues for 11 years, with the Braves in both Boston and Milwaukee for six years and then with the Phillies and the Red Sox. His record was 91- 96 with a 3.82 era, 10 saves, 888K in 1588.2 innings, and a career whip of 1.33. He was on the World Series winning Milwaukee Braves team.

During that same period he played four years with the Celtics, during which they won 3 world championships and he averaged six points and six rebounds per game. He came back to the NBA after a period where he was only in one sport and played two more years.

He was born in 1930 in Oklahoma and in his high school years he was a three-sport star in Richland Washington, adding track to his repertoire. At 18, the six-foot eight-inch freshman chose Washington State where he was the star and leadING scorer for the Cougars. In 1949 he was a Northwest league all-star as a pitcher and played in New York in the Hearst all-star game beating Frank Torre (Joe’s brother who would be his teammate on the braves). In 1950 his college team was runner up for the national champion. He then turned pro.

In his first minor league year he won 20 games and had a 3 – 1 K/BB rate. He used a fastball and a curve and never added a third pitch to his arsenal, something that might have lifted him even higher in this career accomplishments. By 1952 he was the fourth starter in the braves rotation that was anchored by Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. That year he played for the Celtics (with permission) but was late for spring training and sent to the minors where he won 23 games and was the American Association player of the year.

In 1954 he was in a car accident which would give him back problems that would plague his career. Still he won 14 games and pitched in the All-star game and finished third for Rookie of the year behind Wally Moon and Ernie Banks.

In 1955 he blew out his rotator cuff and I mean blew it out. The popping sound that came at the moment of injury was heard by his catcher – Del Crandall. No Tommy John surgery then, he pitched with it and had over 100 cortisone shots during the remainder of his career.

Returning to the Celtics for another championship run he angered the Braves GM and was traded to the Phillies where he won 12 games for the last place team. Retiring to Foxboro, Massachusetts where he and his wife ran a paper company. His final victory was a personal one, when a fan told him he was too good to be seen drunk and he gave up liquor from that moment on. His sports from then on were golf and skiing.

The final question that I had was how many had this two-sport career? In the early years of baseball and the NFL there were many who crossed over with nearly 70 having a career in both football and baseball beginning with such career stars as Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, and George Halas. Seven football hall of famers played major league baseball. One of the later day stars that preceded Bo Jackson was Vic Janowicz, the 1954 Heisman trophy winner from Ohio State played baseball for the Pirates for two years and then football for the Redskins for two years.

Brian Jordan is not a household name (neither is Gene Conley) but he had a 15 year career with the St Louis Cardinals during which he accumulated a 32.8 WAR, had 1454 hits, batted 282 with 184 Homeruns and 821 Rbis. His OBP was 333 and slugging – 455. Nice career. He played three years with the Falcons had 5 interceptions and four sacks.

Drew Henson was the last of the two-way football/ baseball players, but he only makes this as a footnote and not because he excelled in either.

Basketball had a much lower number of two-way players, with 12. From that list the most impressive baseball talent was Dick Groat of the Pirates and Dave DeBusschere and Danny Ainge starred in basketball more than baseball. The National Hockey League has not had crossover stars, but this article gives you six prominent baseball players (including Justin Morneau and Tom Glavine) who were good at Hockey - http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/blog/article.jsp?content=article&content_id=44302058

Times have changed in many ways and one in particular – the length of seasons. Basketball playoffs are now finished in June – eliminating half the baseball season and baseball goes into November eliminating the beginning of basketball and football camp is in July and the Superbowl is half way through the basketball season. Too be honest, I preferred the more seasonal schedules. Basketball and Hockey cannot sustain my interest when it warms up and I am not ready for football until September.

There may not be duel sport heroes like these any more, but they deserve a special place in our sports history.