Photo credit: nypost.com
By: Amaury Pi-González
Kyler Murray just won the Heisman Trophy, the biggest award in college football. He has repeatedly said that he is going to play baseball with the Oakland Athletics, the team that selected him. And I believe him as there are many factors why he chose baseball over football.
But let’s start with the facts. His agent the great Scott Boras just said the same again: “He is under contract to play baseball. That is not a determination to make. It’s already done.”‘
So to us, non-attorneys, that means legally he will play baseball, and we will see him in Spring Training.
Baseball is a much tougher sport to dominate than football. Moreover, you can play longer and make much more money. Many professional baseball players have careers of 20 years and more in MLB, which seldom happens in the NFL aside from the rare exceptions. The human body receives punishment in both sports, but the punishment you get in football is really brutal, compared to baseball. Two totally different sports, one like baseball, where is more finesse and strategy, while football depends much more on physical strength. In football, you try to get to the quarterback and sack him, put him down. In baseball, you trying to hit the ball from a pitcher who throws it.
Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson was a terrific football player (running back) when he graduated from Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, Calif. in 1976. He also played baseball, basketball and additionally ran track. Rickey received over 12 scholarships to play football, but his mother knew better and steered him towards baseball.. He played for 25 years in the MLB, and in my opinion, he was the best ever A’s player. You can go on and on in baseball in the “over 20 years-of-play-club” in guys like Nolan Ryan,Brooks Robinson,Willie Mays, Hank Aaron–yes, they are all superstars, but in the NFL, very few superstars can play for that long. We shall not forget, Bartolo Colón, who is still throwing strikes and he will turn 46 next May.
There is only one George Blanda (Oakland Raiders quarterback and kicker) who played for 26 seasons in the NFL until he was 48 years old. He is a Hall of Famer. Another future Hall of Famer is quarterback Tom “All World” Brady, who is 41 years old and doesn’t want to talk about retirement. Those two are extraordinary athletes,seldom seen in the NFL with this durability and excellence.
Not to mention that a baseball career is much more profitable than a football career. Again, there are some exceptions, but overall if you can chose between the two, baseball is the best option. There have been athletes like Bo Jackson, Brian Jordan and Deion Sanders, that have played in both MLB and NFL. Danny Ainge played in MLB and NBA. At the end of the day, there are not many more athletes that have that on their resumes.
Murray is a talented two-sport athlete. Just hours after he won the Heisman Trophy, he had to apologize for his anti-gay comments he made in 2011-12. The same happened with comedian Kevin Hart this weekend. Hart was scheduled to host the Oscars in 2019, but in his case, refused to apologize for very similar anti-gay comments he made years ago, saying he already had apologized years ago. That is the way in our country today as you can lose your job for something you said 10 years ago. I wished they did that with a speeding ticket I got years ago. No chance.
I can’t wait to see Murray in Mesa, Ariz. next Spring Training. The younger A’s are getting even younger. Murray will be there with a bat and a glove.
