Office Hours | Sports Switchers

These Athletes did it in Multiple Leagues

Date: Apr 2, 2026

Author: Dr. Pratt

Topics: Bo Jackson, Cards and Culture, Deion Sanders, Office Hours, Trending

Length: 1040 Words

Reading Time: ~6 Minutes

The list of pro athletes who lettered in multiple sports in college is relatively long and features some remarkable talent. It includes Jackie Robinson, who played basketball, football, track, and baseball, as well as Tony Gwynn, who remains San Diego State University’s all-time assists leader. Bob Gibson was a standout basketball player with Creighton University, and John Elway played one season of minor league baseball.

Select and impressive company, to be sure. But this list is revealing for what it does not highlight: athletes who achieved significant top-level professional success in multiple sports. In this rarefied air where even Gwynn, Gibson, and Elway did not fly, we find only a few athletes who possessed the skills and drive to compete in multiple sports at a level that placed them among the best of the best.

For fans and hobbyists, this means there are only a handful of players who have been issued sports cards in multiple sports. The rarity of the achievement shows us that athleticism is not a free pass; to succeed in multiple sports requires a rare kind of physical genius. Let’s review some of the cards issued to these transcendent athletes.

Bo Jackson Defines the Category

Bo Jackson’s 1986 Topps Traded Tiffany baseball rookie card is one of the most sought-after cards in The Hobby. With fewer than 50 PSA 10-rated cards in existence, its rarity and value are a worthy reflection of his almost incomparable athletic achievement.

His MLB career spanned eight seasons and featured an All-Star MVP award, as well as 141 lifetime HRs.

In 1985, Jackson’s football career looked even more promising. He won the Heisman Trophy that year with Auburn, averaging 6.4 yards per carry on 1,786 rushing yards for the season. Although he was drafted #1 in 1986 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it was not until the 1987 season that Jackson’s NFL career with the Raiders began. His 1988 Topps Football card, although not particularly rare, is an important card for collectors.

In four years and 38 games in the NFL, Jackson posted 2,782 total rushing yards and 16 TDs. Until a serious hip injury forced him out of professional sports, Bo Jackson was a year-round highlight machine and one of America’s best-known athletes.

Honorable Mentions

Following in Bo Jackson’s path, “Neon” Deion Sanders once quipped, “Football is my wife and baseball is my mistress.” At Florida State University, Sanders excelled in both sports and also lettered in track. Topps issued baseball and football rookie cards for Sanders in 1989 — a Topps Traded #110T card with the Yankees, and a Topps Trader #30T card in an Atlanta Falcons jersey. Incredibly, Sanders earned his nickname “Prime Time” after dominating a high school basketball game. Some guys have it all.

Sanders wasn’t the only Atlanta Falcon to play professional baseball in the years around 1990. University of Richmond grad Brian Jordan played defensive back for the Falcons from 1989 to 1991, even as he honed his baseball skills with the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league club during those years. Jordan’s baseball career began when he signed a contract in 1992 to give up football – and it seems to have been the right move. Over fifteen seasons with the Cardinals, Jordan batted .282 with 184 HRs and a .455 slugging percentage.

Standing on the shoulders of giants like Dick Groat and Dave DeBusschere, Danny Ainge is probably the best-known athlete to play both major league baseball and in the NBA. Ainge’s storied NBA career earned him two championship rings with the Celtics and one All-Star appearance. But before he was Larry Bird’s right hand man, Ainge, was a 6’5” second baseman, playing three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays, making his 1981 Topps rookie card strongly deserving of mention in this category.

Early Multi-Sport Standouts

In 1950, the Associated Press voted on who was the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century. Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey finished in second and third place, but by a wide margin, Jim Thorpe earned the honor.

Thorpe was already a famous athlete when his 1912 Olympic successes propelled him to superstardom. According to legend, at the close of the ceremonies, as medals were awarded, King Gustav V of Sweden told Thorpe he was the greatest athlete in the world, to which Thorpe replied, “Thanks, King.” The 1955 Topps All American Jim Thorpe card (#37) commemorates his mythic career. Following his Olympic wins, Thorpe went on to play professional baseball and football, and even dabbled in basketball and hockey.

In women’s sports, Babe Didrikson Zaharias followed a similar track. Dominating women’s golf in the 1940s, she also excelled in basketball, baseball, and track and field. Didrikson Zaharias set four world records and won two gold medals and a silver at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. A 1933 Goudey Sports Kings card features her mid-leap over a hurdle and stands as an emblem of her unparalleled career.

Dreaming the Impossible Dream

Other great athletes have crossed the line between sports. Seven-time MLB all-star Mookie Betts is also a serious professional ten-pin bowler with the Professional Bowlers Association, having posted a perfect game in 2017 to bolster his credibility. His 2023 Garbage Pail Kids card honors him as “Bowling Betts.” And of course, Michael Jordan was undoubtedly one of the best athletes of all time, but his brief tryst with baseball showed how difficult it can be for a fish out of water.

Undoubtedly, some people seem to be born with athletic gifts. They are taller, stronger, quicker, and have better hands than most of us. But athleticism alone is not enough to succeed at the professional level. These gifts must be honed and molded to fit the distinct challenges of whatever sport the athlete plays, and for this reason, almost all “gifted athletes” eventually settle into one specialty sport.

The few who attain professional success in multiple sports impress us with their physical flexibility and their mental versatility. Testing and transcending the assumed limits of athletic excellence, these men and women, in a league of their own, make the back yard dream of so many wide-eyed children — to win both a Superbowl and a World Series — seem possible.