Russell Wilson hasn’t given up on baseball.
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According to Will Brinson of CBS Sports, a yet unaired interview between Bryant Gumbel and Wilson explores that and other topics. I guess the best question to ask Wilson is why?
Why is Wilson still toying with the idea of playing professional baseball?
Betsided
The history of two sports stars is not littered with success. There were teams, including the Atlanta Braves, who tried to make Deion Sanders into a center fielder. Sure he was fast, but he never really had the other tools to give him a lengthy MLB career.
Where Sanders really shined was as an all-world cornerback. Sanders even played kingmaker with the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys in consecutive seasons in 1994 and 1995. His adventure with baseball will not really add to his legacy, particularly not as an NFL broadcaster.
Deion Sanders’ career baseball stats = .263 BA over nine seasons. His high mark has to be leading the league in triples in 1994.
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The one player who is universally believed to be the best at playing two sports is Bo Jackson. Yet Jackson lost his football career through a freak injury that also hampered his baseball numbers.
There are other stories of players who at one time did one thing or the other. John Elway threatened to play minor league ball to avoid the Baltimore Colts franchise. Chris Weinke and Brandon Weedon were once minor leaguers before they became productive college quarterbacks.
Cubbies Crib
But let’s not focus on others, let’s focus on Wilson. Wilson’s love affair with baseball is real. He played college baseball at State, and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies. That was the summer that Wilson ended up transferring to Wisconsin after Coach Tom O’Brien told him that we was not going to wait for him or hold the starter spot for him (one of those).
The trick is that Wilson was not very good in the Rockies farm system. He hit .230 in parts of two seasons of minor league ball. If he had played well, there is a chance he would never have returned to college football. That did not happen.
BuffaLowDown
Wilson’s baseball dreams have been reawakened lately by consecutive invitations to Texas Rangers Spring Training. I don’t have any problems with Wilson attending spring training. He is a great locker room guy and it is good PR for the Rangers. I just doubt that it leads to anything.
Wilson really should continue his hone his real craft, football. He has played in two Super Bowls, winning one. If it was to be baseball, wouldn’t Wilson be wearing a Colorado Rockies jersey by now?