#21 An old study I did had the number of players with 300+ PAs in consecutive years from 1955 to 1995 (age is the first year. IE, there 723 players who had 300+ PAs at age 26 and 27). It's not a bad way to look at the aging curve in baseball.



Not many make it to 38 and there's a disproportionate number of formerly excellent players (James' studies on aging show that great players hold a higher percentage of their peak value at any given age)

Exactly how Jackson fits into the general aging trend is anybody's guess.

Very interesting, Ron. It would be great to see the study through 2012. One of my least favorite memes is the notion that "in the steroids era, everybody played past 40," which is demonstrably untrue. (In 2000-01, for instance, which would seem to be about the height of the "era," exactly six guys age 37-38 or older played 300+ PAs both years: Galarraga, Rickey, Edgar, O'Neill, Ripken, and Randy Velarde; only Henderson was over 40 both years.) But there could have been some change, which one would have to account for somehow (steroids hardly being all of it in any event, because medicine and salaries and expansion would all figure, too).

Bo was a better baseball player than Deion, but he never threw a bucket of cold water on Tim McCarver.

Deion had a bit of a rep for being a candy as$ against the run, no? But oh yes, he could cover. Wow.

#54 True about the rep, but you know you can live with a shutdown corner who isn't a great tackler. It's a tricky weakness to exploit.

#52 On my list of things to do.

Of course raw numbers wouldn't tell the full story. 16 teams (and no DH) in a 154 game schedule in 1955. I'm thinking of looking at % of PAs by age over time.

I miss the days of multi-sport athletes. Why can't I see RGIII (pre-yesterday) try out for hurdles at Nationals? Why can't Samardzija be a WR on weekends? It's not like the Cubs ever play in the fall.....


Specialization ruined everything.

I can see Jake Locker washing out of the NFL pretty soon - would he jump to pro baseball?

Any other multi-sport candidates out there?

Any other multi-sport candidates out there?

Every year there are guys drafted in MLB or NFL drafts where there is some talk of what sport they will choose. Even those who have said one way or another might end up getting drafted late as an insurance policy for a team in case they change their mind.

Oh, and Ichiro could play any sport. If he wanted to. /Obligatory

Re #51: It flabbers my gast that there were more regulars aged 23-24 than aged 29-30.

Jarrad Page hit .182 last year at high-A as a 27-year old.

Re #51: It flabbers my gast that there were more regulars aged 23-24 than aged 29-30.

Much as I enjoy a good flabbered gast, I think you've misread. If I've I understand Ron correctly, there were 514 24 year olds who also played at 25 and 503 30yo who played at 31. There were only a little more than half as many 23yo surviving to 24 (379) than 29yo to 30 (599).

Any other multi-sport candidates out there?

Rockies 4th rounder Russell Wilson, but he's got things going pretty well in Seattle right now.

Jarrad Page hit .182 last year at high-A as a 27-year old.

Brandon Weeden also sucks at both.

#62 Yeah. 514 who played regularly at 24/25 and 503 at 30/31

Still, the age curve starts earlier than I'd realized (I too was surprised by the number of 24/25 year olds) and starts to decline quicker than most people realize. (though the latter won't surprise anybody who has read James)

Yeah, as we know, it is generally the HOFers who are able to turn in productive seasons in their mid-to-late 30s.

Re #51: It flabbers my gast that there were more regulars aged 23-24 than aged 29-30.

I don't see that. Do you mean 24-25 rather than 23-24?

What a weird article, especially 20+ years later. Is there anyone who seriously doubts -- was there anyone who seriously doubted -- that Bo was a useful baseball player who was fun to watch, but a tremendous and almost unprecedented football player who was extremely fun to watch?

This. Not to drag this old chestnut howling from the vaults, but Silva's piece reads as though written by someone who either wasn't alive during Bo's playing days or had not yet reached the age of reason. If ever a player were more than his numbers ...

Re: Deion ... I never liked controlling Deion on Super Tecmo because he was so fast I'd routinely overrun plays.

Bo Jackson was lightning fast on Super Tecmo. It was really fun.

Yeah, but, imo, the Bo/Deion levels of speed were more useful in an offensive player. LT had just the right level of defensive speed for me.

The case of Chad Hutchinson was interesting as far as multi-sporters go, maybe even unique? I can't think of another pitcher who was also a quarterback at relatively high levels for both. I wonder if the difference in mechanics, if any, makes it impossible to be elite at both jobs; Tom House would surely say no. Anyway, I'd like to have seen what Rick Ankiel could have done with a football and what, say, Todd Marinovich could have done with a baseball (besides grind it up and snort it).

"QB Eagles" (a.k.a. Cunningham) was great to maneuver - fast with a rocket arm. I loved how the QB arms would range from laser throws to balloons for the good/bad QBs.

Super Tecmo (and RBI2 Baseball) were, IMO, the last great generation of video football/baseball games (and maybe even general video games). Because by the time the advanced games came along in the mid-to-late 90s, you were dealing with too many variables to control, and all kinds angles/views, and 3D graphics levels, and wind currents for football games, and the controllers had 13 different buttons and 142 different button combinations, etc. It got silly. Of course, this is probably just a get off my lawn moment. But those games were simple and fun, and I think sometimes 'simple' is a virtue.

(a) Hit a monster HR in the ASG.
(b) Ran over Brian Bosworth on Monday Nite Football.
(c) Funny commercials.
(d) Greatest. Tecmo. Player. Ever.

#62 Yeah. 514 who played regularly at 24/25 and 503 at 30/31

Thanks, I misread that the first time through.

Super Tecmo (and RBI2 Baseball) were, IMO, the last great generation of video football/baseball games (and maybe even general video games). Because by the time the advanced games came along in the mid-to-late 90s, you were dealing with too many variables to control, and all kinds angles/views, and 3D graphics levels, and wind currents for football games, and the controllers had 13 different buttons and 142 different button combinations, etc. It got silly.

Agree with this. I'm sure this age 40 talking, but video games have so utterly passed me by in this regard that I have zero interest in them anymore.

I can't think of another pitcher who was also a quarterback at relatively high levels for both. I wonder if the difference in mechanics, if any, makes it impossible to be elite at both jobs

Not high levels, but Brandon Weeden played A ball and for the Cleveland Browns.

Why wouldn't more QBs be pitchers? John Elway played outfield for the Oneonta Yankees. What a waste of an arm!

you were dealing with too many variables to control, and all kinds angles/views, and 3D graphics levels, and wind currents for football games, and the controllers had 13 different buttons and 142 different button combinations, etc.

You may like Dragon Age II

Super Tecmo (and RBI2 Baseball) were, IMO, the last great generation of video football/baseball games (and maybe even general video games). Because by the time the advanced games came along in the mid-to-late 90s, you were dealing with too many variables to control, and all kinds angles/views, and 3D graphics levels, and wind currents for football games, and the controllers had 13 different buttons and 142 different button combinations, etc. It got silly.

Also agreed, although there have been one or two recent games that try and correct this. MLB Power Pros is like a modern RBI Baseball, simple controls and adorable characters, but it also has the real teams and players and tons of modern stats.

And that's counting the -1.2 WAR Deion racked up playing very irregularly as a 21-23 year old

Wasn't it during this time with the Yankees that the legendary "Carlton Fisk kicked Deion's a**" incident happened?

Also - Deion was part of some controversy with the Braves that also helped lead to more spiraling salary madness - after NY released Deion, he signed as a free agent with the Braves (Jan 1991) - for more than twice as much $$ as David Justice had gotten from Atlanta after winning the ROY award in 1990. It's one thing to have free agency and know salaries are going to go up - it's another to sign a free agent with marginal baseball skills and pay him more than twice as much as a legitimate player who is vastly superior. Justice was justifiably furious after this and the "relative worth" component of salaries gets skewed upward dramatically when teams do stupid stuff like this.

(a) Hit a monster HR in the ASG.

Was at the '89 AS game in Anaheim and it was very cool for several reasons:

1)Bo's HR was breathtaking out to the tarp in CF - he just crushed that pitch - he also stole a base later in the game IIRC
2)Nolan Ryan back in the A.L., got a huge ovation back in Anaheim Stadium and I believe he also ended up as the winning pitcher in the game
3)Taking my dad to the game was awesome since he had taken me to the last AS game played in Anaheim back in '67 (longest AS game ever and we met Hank Aaron in parking lot after the game!)

I can't think of another pitcher who was also a quarterback at relatively high levels for both. I wonder if the difference in mechanics, if any, makes it impossible to be elite at both jobs

The Patriots' Brian Hoyer seems to have been a great high school pitcher. Of course he wasn't even drafted in the MLB draft.

So was the Bengals/Bears QB Jeff Blake.

Mitchell Boggs was a star high school QB and switched from college baseball to football one year, then switched back.

This guy Zach Lee may become a Hutchinson situation if he doesn't make it with the Dodgers.

Also - Deion was part of some controversy with the Braves that also helped lead to more spiraling salary madness - after NY released Deion, he signed as a free agent with the Braves (Jan 1991) - for more than twice as much $$ as David Justice had gotten from Atlanta after winning the ROY award in 1990. It's one thing to have free agency and know salaries are going to go up - it's another to sign a free agent with marginal baseball skills and pay him more than twice as much as a legitimate player who is vastly superior. Justice was justifiably furious after this and the "relative worth" component of salaries gets skewed upward dramatically when teams do stupid stuff like this.

Was understanding of how "free agents" and "players under team control" really that primitive in 1991? It was, wasn't it?

Among HoF football players, Ernie Nevers was a fullback in football but a pitcher in baseball, and Sammy Baugh was a quarterback in football, and a (very bad) third baseman in baseball.

(d) Greatest. Tecmo. Player. Ever.

That was in the documentary; they were very thorough.

Was it common knowledge that Bo thought the Buccaneers conned him into taking a plane ride and losing his remaining eligibility for baseball?

(d) Greatest. Tecmo. Player. Ever.

Thank you for the eye-watering laugh.

Best thing about that video to me was that the run takes up 5 minutes of time on the play clock. Talk about winning the time-of-possession matchup!

If we want to move beyond what did happen on the field to what could have happened, it becomes even less clear. Deion had much better control of the strike zone than Bo.

I may just be thinking of Sanders' 1991 Strat-O-Matic card, which went something like this:

Home Run
Strikeout
Strikeout
Single
Strikeout
Strikeout
Strikeout
Strikeout
Double
Strikeout
Triple

You Don't Know Bo was the highest rated 30 for 30 ever. 2.3 rating.

Any aging projection for Jackson would need to take into account the incredible punishment that NFL RB's take. Most RB's are washed up by 30. Even if you hand-wave away the actual injury and also assume he quit football at that time, the hits that he took up to that point would have to have taken their toll.

Bo was injury prone before his hip injury - 116, 124, 135, 111 game in his four full years. Doesn't seem like that would project to a long career.

I watched the 30 for 30 tonight. As with most of the ones I've seen, it was outstanding. It didn't gloss over Bo's imperfections as a baseball player--it was very clear he was raw, and he struck out a lot. The baseball pieces celebrated some of the outstanding moments--the flying catches, the titanic home runs, the throw to nail Harold Reynolds, the Spider Man climb up the wall. There is really no need (or way, for that matter) to downplay his football skills, of course.

I would encourage anyone who hasn't seen the movie to find it and check it out. The interviews with Bo's high school and college football and baseball coaches are terrific, and guys like George Brett and Howie Long--all-time greats in their sports--speak about Bo in awe of his athleticism.

I had previously explained to my 7 year-old (who has led his football and baseball teams in TDs and HRs each season he's played) that there was once this amazing two-sport player named Bo Jackson, but the doc really helped Bo come alive for my son. And I just took my Auburn #34 jersey and, with my boy's permission, hung it up in his room.