Do you think Bo Jackson/Deion Sanders would have made HOF had they just played baseball

Maybe Bo. He was a fearsome slugger. Did Deion ever make an All-Star team? He was solid, but I don't remember him being spectacular.

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No. Bo would have had a better shot than Deion though. Part of their allure or whatever you call it, is that they played 2 sports. Otherwise they'd be forgotten about.

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You realize how stupid this sounds?

They never once focused solely on baseball, and both focused on football far more than baseball. It is safe to say, if they made baseball their only sport since early on, they would be considerably better


I think they Bo would have been a first ballot HOF, and Deion a perennial all star, border line HOF

True fact, Deion had a career .263 batting avg and .711 OPS while making baseball an afterthought.....

Bo had a .250 avg and .784OPS while making baseball sport #2


That is freak shite from those guys

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True fact, Deion had a career .263 batting avg and .711 OPS while making baseball an afterthought.....

Bo had a .250 avg and .784OPS while making baseball sport #2


That is freak shite from those guys

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Brian Jordan was a Pro Bowl alternate as a football player and a far better baseball player than Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders but he never gets mentioned in these "greatest athlete" discussions. Why is that?

Deion > bo

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Bo Jackson

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Well it's a big what if - because of his injury.

But he was what he was in baseball at that point. Playing in the NFL had no bearing on how good of a baseball player he was...as a running back he could show up in a week before a game and just play.

If you think he was on the path to HOF before his injury then maybe...but splitting sports only hurt Bo for one big reason his practically career ending injury.

The real question, if Bo had just concentrated on football and didn't get injured where on the list is he?

Payton, Brown, Dickerson, Sanders, OJ, Faulk, Smith, Dorsett, Allen and we have Bo?

Where would he be in that Top 10?

i dont think you realize how special RIckey Henderson was

you talmbout a top 20 player all time

I saw Bo a few times when he was in Memphis with the Chicks.

I don't know for sure about the Hall but he would have done some things hardly anyone else could do.

I can't decide which was more impressive, the sound off his bat or the one hop warmups to third from right field

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Neither one was very good at baseball.

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Bo was a freak and that hid failings like the fact he couldn't hit Uncle Charlie.

There was an article in S.I. during his playing days that he was just flummoxed.

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''Potentially, I've never seen anybody with the batting strength this kid has,'' the Royals' manager said. ''For sheer power, he's like Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew and Frank Howard were. He's like Jose Canseco is now - when they hit a ball, it keeps going and going and it lands 30 to 50 feet further than anybody else hits the ball. Potentially, I've never seen anybody like him.''

In batting practice Saturday night, of course, Jackson was swinging at smooth, straight fastballs.

''He'll have problems with the breaking ball, with the sinker,'' Howser acknowledged.

For all his potential, Jackson still has to show he can hit the curveball, the slider and the sinker. Not every gifted athlete can do that. Kirk Gibson did, but Danny Ainge didn't.

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- 1986

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"As for the future, Raiders owner Al Davis has to hope that Jackson never learns to hit the curveball and/or gets fed up with all the traveling that comes with playing baseball from March until October. He might want to remind Bo about free-swinging Dave Kingman, the gypsy slugger who played for seven major league teams, including the Mets twice, before retiring this year.

Kansas City scout Ken Gonzales once called Bo ``the best pure athlete in America,'' citing his world-class speed, powerful arms, quick bat, and ability to learn things overnight. This latter trait presumably included learning to hit a major league curveball in 10 easy lessons.

Most baseball scouts will tell you, however, that this skill can't be taught - that it is a natural gift that can be improved with practice but not duplicated simply by spending countless hours in a batting cage."

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- 1987