John Elway is an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and a two-time Super Bowl champion. Elway could have made his mark in baseball, too.
As his high school career ended, John Elway had a choice: play college football at Stanford or sign a contract with the Kansas City Royals, who selected him in the 18th round of the MLB Draft. That’s how good Elway was on the diamond, batting .551 and .491 during his junior and senior seasons and nabbing Los Angeles Player of The Year honors and a city championship.
Elway went on to play baseball in college, too, and his skills caught the attention of the Yankees’ George Steinbrenner. As a result, the organization selected Elway in the 1981 First-Year Player Draft, six spots ahead of Tony Gwynn, who played college ball at downstate San Diego State.
Elway with Oneonta (photo courtesy MiLB)
Steinbrenner eyed Elway as an outfielder, and Elway signed for $140,000 and played pro ball while still in college for the Class A Season Oneonta of the New York-Penn League. Elway did well in 1982 (hitting .318 in 42 games), and he also excelled in football. He led the nation his senior year at Stanford with 24 touchdown passes and finished second to Herschel Walker in ballotting for the Heisman Trophy.
The football-baseball tug-of-war began. Steinbrenner wanted to make the relationship exclusive with Elway and tried hard to lure him to the bright lights of Yankee Stadium. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Colts made Elway the #1 overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft.
Even though Elway ended up playing in the NFL, he didn’t want to play for the Colts but said he would play for the Yankees. The impasse ended about a week later when the Colts and Broncos worked a trade package. Elway’s MLB flirtation was over, and his NFL career was ready to begin.
How good could Elway have been in the Majors? Of course, we’ll never know, but we know that John Elway was a great pro football player.
