What Could Have Been...NFL Players & MLB: Super Bowl Sunday Edition

This is the first edition of a new segment on the blog: "What Could Have Been...". We'll look at what could have been if history had been changed (LOST style). Today's edition--in honor of the Super Bowl--will look at some NFL players who may have been MLB players if things had gone a little different. Now we'll leave out some more obvious ones like Drew Henson, Bo Jackson, Brian Jordan and Deion Sanders. Let's look at some that time may have forgotten (with thanks to Baseball-Reference's Bullpen for help):

John Elway - Elway is one of the most interesting two-way sport stories. TIME Magazine described him in 1983 as "a golden Californiabred whose pedigree is by Johnny Unitas out of Mickey Mantle." Elway was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1979 MLB draft, but did not sign. He was then drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1981 MLB draft and went on to play in the minor leagues for the Yankees. In 42 games as a 22-year-old outfielder with the short season A-level Oneonta Yankees he hit .318/.432/.464. In the 1983 NFL draft, Elway was drafted by the Baltimore Colts who he had zero interest in playing for. He demanded that he either be traded or he would just play baseball (ESPN pointed out in 2007 that Elway's real leverage was that he showed he could actually succeed at baseball at both Stanford and with the Yankees) . Colts' owner Robert Irsay finally gave in and traded him to the Denver Broncos and the rest is history. But if Irsay hadn't given in, I wonder if Elway would have been serious about sticking with football and playing for the New York Yankees.

Archie Manning - The eldest Manning will be watching his son Peyton play in the Super Bowl tonight but it could have been very different. Manning was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the third round of the 1971 Amateur Draft but he didn't sign. Imagine if he would have gone in that direction...I wonder if his sons would have followed?

Ricky Williams - Maybe it was a good thing they really didn't test for drugs for baseball in the 90s. Williams was drafted out of high school in the 8th round of the MLB draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. Williams played for four years at the Class A level with the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League and the Piedmont Boll Weevils of the South Atlantic League. Williams was not much of a hitter. Baseball-reference has all the details:





That 1998 season was also the year Williams won the Heisman Trophy with the University of Texas. That was the last year he played baseball, though Williams was still selected in the 1998 Rule V draft by the Montreal Expos, who immediately traded him to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers could not convince him to pursue his baseball career, however and the rest, again, is history. But if he had continued to play with Jimmy Rollins, it'll be interesting what may have been.

Hines Ward - Before Ward was winning Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was a high school outfielder picked in the 73rd round of the 1994 draft by the Florida Marlins. He didn't sign and you're probably wondering why I'm listening a 73rd round pick with no chance at Major League Baseball here. But shortly after winning the 2006 Super Bowl MVP, Ward made it into the dugout as his birth country of South Korea played in the World Baseball Classic. From Baseball-Reference: "Ward came to batting practice for the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 10, 2007, and showed he could still hit, knocking one ball over the fence in left-center and taking a few others into the outfield."

Here are a few other recent football players who were drafted by MLB teams but didn't sign from Bullpen:

• Outfielder Michael Vick was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 30th round of the 2000 amateur draft 
• Shortstop Steve McNair was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 35th round of the 1991 amateur draft
• Pitcher Dan Marino was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 4th round of the 1979 amateur draft
• Daunte Culpepper was a 26th-round pick of the New York Yankees in the 1995 Amateur Draft as an outfielder out of high school
• Pitcher Mark Brunell was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 44th round of the 1992 amateur draft
• SS/3B Kerry Collins was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 26th round of the 1990, one of three straight future NFL players they picked, right before Greg McMurtry and Rodney Peete. He opted for college and Detroit took him in the 60th round of the 1991 amateur drafts but did not sign with the club. He was again selected in the 48th round of the 1994 amateur draft by the Toronto Blue Jays but again did not sign.

A lot of questions of "what could have been..."