Football or Baseball? Deion Sanders Reveals Which Sport Harder
These days, Deion Sanders is making a name for himself as a college football coach, having taken over at Colorado program after a great three-year run at Jackson State.
But, in the 1990s he, like Bo Jackson, was playing two sports at the same time — baseball and football.
There is no question in Sanders’ mind which one was harder for him.
“That ball does some things to you,” Sanders said about pro baseball on the Club Shay Shay podcast with Shannon Sharpe. “Any sport that you can fail seven out of 10 times and become great and make $2-300 million in it, that's a hard sport.”
Sanders, who played both sports in addition to running track at Florida State, was a 30th-round pick of the New York Yankees in 1988 (the Royals drafted him in the sixth round in 1985, but Sanders went to college instead). In 1989 the Atlanta Falcons made him the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
Sanders became a Hall of Famer in the NFL, finishing with 53 interceptions in a 14-year career with Atlanta, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins and Baltimore Ravens. He won two Super Bowl rings in back-to-back seasons, first with San Francisco and then with Dallas. He also played wide receiver and returned kicks and punts. He was selected to the NFL’s 100th anniversary team.
In the Majors? Sanders played for four organizations — the Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. He batted .263 with 39 home runs, 168 RBI and 186 stolen bases. He famously played in both an NFL game and a National League Championship Series game on the same day on Oct. 11, 1992.
The 1992 season was his best in baseball, as he finished as a .304 hitter.
Trying to master the craft is part of the reason Sanders stuck with baseball for nine seasons.
“I love challenges and I could not master it,” Sanders said. “And it frustrated me because I hate to lose and I hate I'm not mastering something that I know, if I just had more time I could.”
Sanders went 27-6 in three seasons at Jackson State, leading the Tigers to two straight SWAC championships.
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