Ten figures who chose MLB over NFL

With the NFL Super Bowl between the Bengals and Chiefs just around the corner, it seems like a good time to remember what might have happened to some retired Major League stars.

Most fans are familiar with figures from both sports like Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders, who spent time in both the NFL and MLB, but what about those who decided to put aside a potential NFL career to focus on professional baseball?

What follows is a look at 10 former major leaguers who either played college football in some of the most prestigious programs in the United States or passed on major scholarships because they wanted to make it to the big leagues.

If not for a rare injury, it is possible that Mantle – a winner of seven World Series – would have spent his career seeking football glory. A star running back in high school, Mantle had already received a scholarship offer from the mighty Oklahoma Sooners. That all changed when the then 14-year-old was kicked in the leg by a teammate during practice. When his ankle swelled and he developed a high fever, Mantle’s parents took him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a potentially fatal bone disease that had been aggravated by the injury. Although doctors initially thought they would have to amputate his leg to save his life, a second opinion led them to treat him with a new medicine called penicillin. The swelling subsided in less than a week, but Mantle never played football again, instead focusing on a baseball career during which he won three MVP awards and eventually landed him in the Hall of Fame.

Before becoming a pioneer in the Major Leagues, Robinson was a four-sport star at UCLA, where he majored in baseball, football, basketball and track and field. Surprisingly, he struggled on the diamond, hitting .097 in 1940, but he was sensational on the football field. Robinson was the best in kickoff returns in 1939 and 1940, while leading UCLA in passing, advanced yards and scoring as a senior. His name continues to appear prominently in the UCLA record books, including most rushing yards gained by any player in a season (12.2).

This is the least clear case on this list. We included Winfield because he was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1973 NFL Draft, even though he hadn’t actually played football since the little leagues. While Winfield played two sports at the University of Minnesota, they were baseball and basketball. In addition to being MVP of the College World Series as a senior, Winfield also helped the Golden Gophers win the Big Ten Conference championship in basketball.

His profile as an athlete led him to be drafted by four teams in three sports: the San Diego Padres (MLB), Atlanta Falcons (NBA), Utah Stars (ABA) and Vikings (NFL). Winfield later acknowledged that he never seriously considered the offer to play football. In fact, his intention was always to play baseball and he confessed that he used the basketball option simply as a technique to negotiate with the Padres.

Long before he hit one of the most iconic home runs in MLB history, Gibson was turning heads at Michigan State as one of the best tight ends in college football. He led MSU in receiving for three straight seasons between 1976 and 1978 and left the university as the all-time leader in catches (112), receiving yards (2,347) and receiving touchdowns (24). Gibson was named to the All-America Team as a senior in 1978, the same year he was part of the All-America Team on the baseball diamond. Gibson was selected by the Tigers with the 12th pick in the 1978 Draft and went on to hit 255 home runs during a 17-year career with the Tigers, Dodgers, Royals and Pirates. He was the NL MVP in 1988 and won two World Series.

Before going to the All-Star game five times and leading the Rockies all-time in nearly every offensive category, Helton quarterbacked alongside – and briefly ahead of – Peyton Manning at the University of Tennessee. . Helton received a scholarship to play both football and baseball, and spent the first two seasons as a backup for Heath Shuler, who would go on to be the third overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft. Jerry Colquitt began the following season as the NFL’s first quarterback. team, but when he suffered an injury early in the season, it was Helton — not Manning, who was a freshman in college — who got the opportunity. In the end, Helton was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 1995 MLB Draft and would go on to be the Rockies’ lifetime leader in hits, homers, RBIs, doubles, total bases reached, runs scored and games played. Manning, meanwhile, took over the starting quarterback role the following year, a career destined for the NFL Hall of Fame.

Some think the slugger could easily punish defenders in the NFL instead of pitches in MLB. Thomas, one of the best tight ends in high school, attended Auburn University on a football scholarship, though he had agreed to play baseball as well. However, after suffering an ankle injury during his freshman year, Thomas decided to focus on playing ball full-time. Pat Dye, the football coach at the time, fully backed the decision — he was allowed to keep the scholarship anyway — and went so far as to say that he thought Thomas would have become immortalized in the Hall of Fame. American football fame if he had stayed in that sport.

He’s one of the few on this list who didn’t play college — but he definitely had the talent to do so. The Twins legend threw for 5,528 yards and 73 touchdowns in two seasons as the starting quarterback at Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Mauer, who was considered by some pundits to be the best quarterback in his group, was projected to follow in the footsteps of Chris Winke — who was also a baseball and football star at Cretin-Derham Hall — by commit to college at Florida State in May 2001. But less than a month later, Minnesota selected Mauer with the first overall pick in the MLB Draft — and the youngster never saw action in college.

When the Reds selected the slugger in the second round of the 1998 MLB Draft, both sides knew of his plans to play football at the University of Texas. As a star at New Caney High School in Texas, Dunn managed to get a deal with Cincinnati to play in the Minor Leagues in the summer before preparing for the football season. Ultimately Dunn, after being asked to change positions, decided to focus entirely on baseball before making his MLB debut in 2001 and making his first All-Star Game in 2002, en route to his 462 career home runs.

Prior to winning the World Series as a member of the Angels, Erstad was part of the University of Nebraska team that won an undefeated college title in 1994. Erstad was one of the best kickers in the United States. He completed his academic year hitting .410 with 19 home runs and 76 RBIs with college in the spring. He was picked by the Angels No. 1 overall after that impressive 1995 college season, when he finished the Nebraska record for most hits (six), runs scored (six) and RBIs (six) in a game; most hits (103) and total bases reached (194) in a season (1995); and the most career hits (261).

Samardzija was one of the few players on this list who had a better career on the field than on the diamond. Playing in one of college football’s top programs, Samardzija finished his career with two straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons at the University of Notre Dame. But he also shone on the mound, going 16-3 with a 4.13 ERA in his last two years.

He was selected by the Cubs in the fifth round of the 2006 Draft, although some think he would have been selected higher had it not been for the uncertainty surrounding his football career. Samardzija then had 78 receptions for 1,017 yards and 12 touchdowns for Notre Dame in the fall of the same year to establish himself as a possible first-round pick in the NFL Draft. Shortly after the football season concluded, however, he turned his attention to baseball, signing a five-year, $10 million contract with Chicago.