Jackson was a player with enormous power and speed but little baseball sense. While he hit 32 homers that year (1989) he struck out more than four times as much as he walked, didn’t hit for much of an average, and consequently wasn’t really helping the Royals as much as the homer total would suggest. He was a good player that year, just not really great.
Years ago, Barça Basket’s coach struck a conversation with a teenager at a bus stop. “Where do you play?” yadda yadda… the coach was surprised because he wasn’t familiar with the club named - until he realized that the kid played handball.
While Pau Gasol would likely have been a good or superb handball player, there is no doubt that handball’s loss was basketball’s gain (double too, since his brother Marc got picked up as a double deal).
IMO, people tend to under-estimate the mental fortitude of an athlete. The same mentality that made Tiger so good at golf would have translated well if he had concentrated on basketball or baseball, or even football at a young age instead of golf. And that goes for people like Federer, Nadal, Phelps, Manning, Brady, Jeter, LeBron etc.
This, of course, assumes that they have the body type to succeed in another sport. LeBron James would never have been able to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.
Agreed, notfrommensa.
To answer the specific question in the OP, my gut reaction is “every single one.”
I’m not saying that Bo Jackson was a great player. I’m just pointing out that Jackson was an all-star in 1989 and deservedly so. Comparing his numbers that year to other AL outfielders and in particular looking at numbers people cared about in the late eighties makes that clear. His case is even stronger when you look at what he did before the break.
If you’d like to convince me otherwise you’ll have to show me six AL outfielders who had better first halves of the season than Bo.
Yes but no. One of your own examples, Nadal, is the nephew of a former professional football player (the kind that’s playedwithyourfeet); his coach is a different uncle. The family decided to turn the kid to tennis having seen that he was specially suited for it both physically and mentally: he could have been a decent footie player, perhaps could have been good at basket (another sport he played as a kid), but he’s top o’ the world at tennis.
The mentality is a huge factor, but any person will have sports to which he’s more suited, whether physically or mentally, than others.
For anyone interested in this topic can I heartily recommend Matthew Syed’s Bounce, a book in which he sets out to disprove the commonly held belief that it is “natural talent” that makes for great achievement.
Full of fascinating anecdotes and research and cause of quite a few arguments.
Unfortunately, Bo Jackson had all the classic signs of an early “juicer” (steroids) and then – to the surprise of no one ‘in the know’ – suffered a hip injury that is tied to steroid use.
John Elway was an excellent baseball player and had the chance to sign with the Yankees.
Clara Hughes has won multiple medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics: 2 bronze in cycling in 1996 and a total of four medals in speed skating in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She intends to cycle at the 2012 Olympics if possible. Only 4 other people have medals in both games, but she’s the only one to have multiples in both.
She is a truly inspiring athlete.
Can’t believe we forgot Babe Zaharias. Olympic gold medalist in track and field, an AAU championship in basketball, won 82 golf tournaments.
And she won a blue ribbon in sewing at the South Texas State Fair. Top that, Bo Jackson.
That reminded me of Eric Heiden, who won 5 gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Olympics, then became a professional cyclist. He wasn’t quite as successful in that sport, but still won a number of races, and the 1985 U.S. cycling championship.
Bear with me here, this is long and difficult for me explain, and there is a better then not chance that I have no idea what the hell I am talking about -
I believe that success in professional sports is all about the perfect combination of elements coming together at the perfect time. Here is my formula
A. Desire - I’m talking about the desire to play the sport as a child. Most people that I know that have played a sport at a high level (college, pro, ect) started very young in the sport. They were either interested due to a family member, local interest, and friends, whatever. In other words, they have to WANT to play the game.
B. Athletic Ability - This is vaguer. Some people are just not athletically inclined, period. My opinion is it is all about balance, intelligence, coordination, and muscle development. Most of these things can be taught, but to some people it just comes natural.
**C. Opportunity **- The athlete has to have the opportunity to play said sport. Whether it be baseball, football, polo, hockey, or anything else, the geographical and economic factors have to be right.
D. Luck (Physical) - This part more or less deals with physical development. As was stated earlier, LeBron James would never win a gold in gymnastics they same way that Bart Conner would not likely survive long in the NFL. I think that this is one of the most important aspects of everything coming together correctly. More so in some sports that tend to favor the younger athlete (gymnastics, tennis, etc) then sports that do not have AS much of a physical requirement (golf, bowling, extreme sports). Basically it breaks down like this - you have to start at an age that you have no idea how your body will end up developing, so you take a chance. Maybe you get into gymnastics as a toddler and take to it, only to hit a growth spurt in your early teens and end up 6’4". Maybe you are born with a basketball in your hand and love the game, only to never grow taller than 4’5" (I know that short people have played basketball, but on average, it is a game more suited to taller people).
E. Luck (Timing and Opportunity) - So if everything works out the right way, you still have to luck into being seen or having the opportunity to complete at a high enough level to prove yourself. Maybe you are a stud 3rd baseman but you live in a very small town and you don’t have a high school baseball team, or you make some bad choices and are not able to play the sport. I know that if you are just THAT good, people will take notice, but maybe they miss the chance to notice you.
I think that all these things need to be there to play a sport at a professional level, and it is sort of like winning the lottery. Everything has to work out perfectly for the stars to align and all that. For some people, all these things came together with multiple sports, and a lot more people could never get all these things to come together.
So, to answer the OP, yes, I think that if everything stays constant any professional athlete could excel at any sport if they dedicated their lives to it in the same manner that they did their primary sport.
I am sure that I missed some stuff with my formula…but you should get the idea.
And he used that fact to force the Colts to trade him.
I disagree pretty strongly. There have been a bunch of pros who didn’t start playing their professional sport until highschool, or college, or even the pros. For example, the premiere Tight End in the NFL, Antonio Gates – who is arguably one of the 5 best TEs to ever play the game – started his football career in the pros. He grew up and went to college as a basketball star, but (like your physical luck example) wasn’t going to be able to play in the NBA because he was too much of a tweener. So he tried out for the Chargers as an undrafted rookie free agent and became a major star.
Julius Peppers is a similar case (though he DID play college football)
Of course there are exceptions to the rules, as in any case. However, take the number of professional athletes in all the major sports, and put them up against the number of them that did not play that sport as a child and I bet you would have a VERY small number.
And by the way Gates DID play high school football (he was actually an first team All-State tight end and recruited by colleges to play linebacker and tight end , he simply chose not to play college football. I would also go out on a limb and say that Gates had played some form of football since childhood (be it Pop Warner, sandlot, something).
And high school football -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Peppers
The youngest of three siblings, Peppers was born in Wilson, North Carolina, and raised in nearby Bailey. By the time he was a freshman at Southern Nash Senior High School, Peppers had grown to 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), 225 lb (102 kg). Ray Davis, the football coach at Southern Nash, felt that Peppers would be an asset on the gridiron for the Firebirds, despite the fact that Peppers had never played football before. Davis’ gamble would pay off. During his high school career, Peppers played running back and defensive lineman, finished his career with 3,501 rushing yards and 46 touchdowns, and was one of the most dangerous defensive linemen in the state. He also lettered in basketball and was voted All-Conference as a power forward for four consecutive years. In 1998, Southern Nash won the state championship in track for the first time in the school’s history. Peppers contributed as a sprinter, winning the state championship in the 4×200 meter team relay and as a triple jumper. During his senior year (1997–98), he was named to the PARADE All-America team in football as an all-purpose talent and was also named Male Athlete of the Year by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. In 2005, Peppers was named by the Rocky Mount Telegram newspaper as one of the 50 Greatest Athletes from the Nash/Edgecombe (Twin County) area.