Does anybody know how Deion Sanders juggled the MLB and NFL?

Quake Griffin · Post #1 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:19 pm

I'm only 25, so I wasn't old enough to see play both.

if you can point me to any articles or if you have any perspective from just being around during the time, I'd love to hear it.

edit**
dammit...
title should read.
Deion Sanders/ Bo Jackson****

but Russell Wilson being a Rule 5 draft pick got me thinking about this again.

Post #2 » by **craig01** » Sun Dec 22, 2013 7:43 pm

Bo Jackson played baseball and then joined the Raiders after baseball was finished.

Jackson made the MLB all star game and the NFL pro bowl in the same season.

Sanders was not that good of a baseball player.

Post #3 » by **studcrackers** » Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:21 pm

i think deion had a weekend where he had an int or a td and scored a run (maybe hit a homer) in the same weekend

Higga · Post #4 » by **Higga** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 3:42 pm

I remember in 2001 when Deion was a Redskin, but basically refused to show up(didn't want to play for Marty Schottenheimer)and the Washington Post had a Deion Watch where they would track his day to day statistics in I believe the minor leagues. He was terrible and I think at one point he was hitting like .220.

Ado05 · Post #5 » by **Ado05** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 8:44 pm

craig01 wrote:Bo Jackson played baseball and then joined the Raiders after baseball was finished.

Jackson made the MLB all star game and the NFL pro bowl in the same season.

Sanders was not that good of a baseball player.

Bo know's!

UN-Owen · Post #6 » by **UN-Owen** » Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:05 pm

Deion never played more than 100 games in a season, but his best statistical year was at an all-star level

.304 AVG, .342 OBP, .841 OPS, and he lead the league in triples with 14 in only 325 at-bats

Post #7 » by **Da Schwab** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:04 pm

craig01 wrote:Bo Jackson played baseball and then joined the Raiders after baseball was finished.

Jackson made the MLB all star game and the NFL pro bowl in the same season.

Sanders was not that good of a baseball player.

I think Deion could have been a pretty great player if he were to concentrate more on baseball. He had the speed to steal 70+ bases a season and could leg out triples like nobody's business.

Bo was the total package, though. Speed, strength, agility.

They were also both drafted by the Royals, so it would have been pretty cool to see them play together.

Dirty Water · Post #8 » by **Dirty Water** » Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:50 pm

he juggled it by using a roflcopter

Post #9 » by **HMFFL** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:54 pm

UN-Owen wrote:Deion never played more than 100 games in a season, but his best statistical year was at an all-star level

.304 AVG, .342 OBP, .841 OPS, and he lead the league in triples with 14 in only 325 at-bats

With Cincy Deion played over 100 games and stole 58 bases.

I remember watching him since his baseball career started. More so during his time with Atlanta and Cincy.

UN-Owen · Post #10 » by **UN-Owen** » Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:44 pm

HMFFL wrote:
UN-Owen wrote:Deion never played more than 100 games in a season, but his best statistical year was at an all-star level

.304 AVG, .342 OBP, .841 OPS, and he lead the league in triples with 14 in only 325 at-bats

With Cincy Deion played over 100 games and stole 58 bases.

I remember watching him since his baseball career started. More so during his time with Atlanta and Cincy.

Not sure how I missed that, I looked at his stats for a couple of minutes

Thanks

Post #11 » by **Luv those Knicks** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:38 am

Bo has kind of an interesting story. He was drafted the #1 overall draft in NFL (Tampa Bay), and in the 4th round in MLB (Royals), but the Royals matched him money wise and offered to bring him to the majors quick, so he went with them. I'm guessing Tampa wasn't happy.

It took him 2-3 years for him to actually get good at baseball, but adjusting to the timing of MLB pitchers takes most guys at least that long, so that's not really a knock. He struck out a ton but he had 40 homer power (his last healthy season he hit 28 homers in 111 games), so 40 homer power isn't an exaggeration at all but he swing and missed a lot, so he might never have been a 300 hitter. Still, 40 homer power, above average base runner, 270 ish average (he hit 272 his best season), that's pretty darn good, even during the homer heavy 90s.

The raiders pulled a coup, signing Bo to a late round pick a year after Tampa and they suggested he just play after the baseball season. This pissed the royals off something awful after investing a couple million into drafting him (not sure the actual amount but in 1986, they paid top money for a draft pick). It was, however, a Nike dream come true and unlike baseball, Bo took to football like a duck to water. After a few years of baseball, it's safe to say he was equally good at both, but initially he was better at football. He still played a full baseball season and only part of a football season all 4 years, so it was just an off-season thing for him.

That said, Bo was going to call it quits in football after that season, and focus on baseball 100%. It's hard to say what his potential was but 40 homers a couple seasons isn't a stretch.

I didn't follow Dion as much. Loved the Bo Jackson commercials back in the day.

UN-Owen · Post #12 » by **UN-Owen** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:30 pm

Luv those Knicks wrote:Bo has kind of an interesting story. He was drafted the #1 overall draft in NFL (Tampa Bay), and in the 4th round in MLB (Royals), but the Royals matched him money wise and offered to bring him to the majors quick, so he went with them. I'm guessing Tampa wasn't happy.

It took him 2-3 years for him to actually get good at baseball, but adjusting to the timing of MLB pitchers takes most guys at least that long, so that's not really a knock. He struck out a ton but he had 40 homer power (his last healthy season he hit 28 homers in 111 games), so 40 homer power isn't an exaggeration at all but he swing and missed a lot, so he might never have been a 300 hitter. Still, 40 homer power, above average base runner, 270 ish average (he hit 272 his best season), that's pretty darn good, even during the homer heavy 90s.

The raiders pulled a coup, signing Bo to a late round pick a year after Tampa and they suggested he just play after the baseball season. This pissed the royals off something awful after investing a couple million into drafting him (not sure the actual amount but in 1986, they paid top money for a draft pick). It was, however, a Nike dream come true and unlike baseball, Bo took to football like a duck to water. After a few years of baseball, it's safe to say he was equally good at both, but initially he was better at football. He still played a full baseball season and only part of a football season all 4 years, so it was just an off-season thing for him.

That said, Bo was going to call it quits in football after that season, and focus on baseball 100%. It's hard to say what his potential was but 40 homers a couple seasons isn't a stretch.

I didn't follow Dion as much. Loved the Bo Jackson commercials back in the day.

I had heard the story a little differently

My understanding is that TB didn't want Jackson playing baseball at all, which he preferred over football

Bo is the ONLY running back from the modern era to average over 5 yards per carry for his career (5.40 yards)

Obviously, his shortened career would have helped with that career average, but I think it's fair to say that Bo was more dominant at football than baseball

Post #13 » by **Luv those Knicks** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 11:54 pm

UN-Owen wrote:
Luv those Knicks wrote:Bo has kind of an interesting story. He was drafted the #1 overall draft in NFL (Tampa Bay), and in the 4th round in MLB (Royals), but the Royals matched him money wise and offered to bring him to the majors quick, so he went with them. I'm guessing Tampa wasn't happy.

It took him 2-3 years for him to actually get good at baseball, but adjusting to the timing of MLB pitchers takes most guys at least that long, so that's not really a knock. He struck out a ton but he had 40 homer power (his last healthy season he hit 28 homers in 111 games), so 40 homer power isn't an exaggeration at all but he swing and missed a lot, so he might never have been a 300 hitter. Still, 40 homer power, above average base runner, 270 ish average (he hit 272 his best season), that's pretty darn good, even during the homer heavy 90s.

The raiders pulled a coup, signing Bo to a late round pick a year after Tampa and they suggested he just play after the baseball season. This pissed the royals off something awful after investing a couple million into drafting him (not sure the actual amount but in 1986, they paid top money for a draft pick). It was, however, a Nike dream come true and unlike baseball, Bo took to football like a duck to water. After a few years of baseball, it's safe to say he was equally good at both, but initially he was better at football. He still played a full baseball season and only part of a football season all 4 years, so it was just an off-season thing for him.

That said, Bo was going to call it quits in football after that season, and focus on baseball 100%. It's hard to say what his potential was but 40 homers a couple seasons isn't a stretch.

I didn't follow Dion as much. Loved the Bo Jackson commercials back in the day.

I had heard the story a little differently

My understanding is that TB didn't want Jackson playing baseball at all, which he preferred over football

Bo is the ONLY running back from the modern era to average over 5 yards per carry for his career (5.40 yards)

Obviously, his shortened career would have helped with that career average, but I think it's fair to say that Bo was more dominant at football than baseball

I'm sure that's true, though I didn't really follow the Tampa Bay part of the story. I'm sure they were pissed.

Tampa drafts Bo in May 1986 #1 overall pick, then the KC Royals draft him June 1986, 4th round but offer him 1st round/1st pick money.

2 ways to look at it. Tampa was stupid - they didn't do their homework, or, KC surprised everybody and talked Bo into playing baseball. I honestly don't know cause I don't remember, but I have no doubt that Tampa was Livid. Whether they have only themselves to blame or if Bo really led them to believe he'd play for them - I have no idea, but I'm sure they were furious.

The thing with KC/Oakland however, was that Bo already had a major league contract with the Royals when he signed with the Raiders. That pissed the Royals off too. So, I'm sure you're right, I just don't really remember that part of the story. I'm sure there's a tampa fan or two who could provide some color to it.

as loved as Bo was, he did piss off 2 sports team owners pretty bad - and, I Love the guy, don't get me wrong. I can't think of any other sports player in history got 2 teams as mad at him as Bo did. Lots of guys - leBron for example - got one team mad at him, but Bo did it to 2 teams, not quite as big a burn as LeBron, but he did it twice. and I don't mean that as a knock. Bo was under no obligation to play football when the Ray's signed him.

UN-Owen · Post #14 » by **UN-Owen** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:02 pm

Luv those Knicks wrote:
UN-Owen wrote:I had heard the story a little differently

My understanding is that TB didn't want Jackson playing baseball at all, which he preferred over football

Bo is the ONLY running back from the modern era to average over 5 yards per carry for his career (5.40 yards)

Obviously, his shortened career would have helped with that career average, but I think it's fair to say that Bo was more dominant at football than baseball

I'm sure that's true, though I didn't really follow the Tampa Bay part of the story. I'm sure they were pissed.

Tampa drafts Bo in May 1986 #1 overall pick, then the KC Royals draft him June 1986, 4th round but offer him 1st round/1st pick money.

2 ways to look at it. Tampa was stupid - they didn't do their homework, or, KC surprised everybody and talked Bo into playing baseball. I honestly don't know cause I don't remember, but I have no doubt that Tampa was Livid. Whether they have only themselves to blame or if Bo really led them to believe he'd play for them - I have no idea, but I'm sure they were furious.

The thing with KC/Oakland however, was that Bo already had a major league contract with the Royals when he signed with the Raiders. That pissed the Royals off too. So, I'm sure you're right, I just don't really remember that part of the story. I'm sure there's a tampa fan or two who could provide some color to it.

as loved as Bo was, he did piss off 2 sports team owners pretty bad - and, I Love the guy, don't get me wrong. I can't think of any other sports player in history got 2 teams as mad at him as Bo did. Lots of guys - leBron for example - got one team mad at him, but Bo did it to 2 teams, not quite as big a burn as LeBron, but he did it twice. and I don't mean that as a knock. Bo was under no obligation to play football when the Ray's signed him.

I don't think it had anything to do with money (relatively speaking, of course)

Jackson just preferred baseball

Post #15 » by **Luv those Knicks** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 4:41 pm

UN-Owen wrote:
I don't think it had anything to do with money (relatively speaking, of course)

Jackson just preferred baseball

Looked it up. Bo hated Tampa. He didn't like their O'line and he felt Tampa sabotaged him by offing to fly him out for a physical which violated NCAA rules and caused Bo to be suspended his final year of college baseball. Bo felt he was a first round baseball talent in baseball and Tampa took that from him.

Curiously, he told Tampa "don't draft me" - they did anyway. Not a smart use of a #1 overall pick.

I don't know if he'd have played for another football team had he been drafted by a team he liked, but not wanting to play for Tampa was one of the reasons he chose baseball. He played football the following year, so I think it's safe to say he liked football too.

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