Gene Conley was an All-Star pitcher in the majors who also very successful in basketball. In 1957, the right-hander became champion in a World Series with the Milwaukee Braves. Then two years later, he became champion in his first of three consecutive NBA championships as a member of the Boston Celtics. This achievement set him up as the only athlete in history to win both a World Series title and an NBA Championship. Conley passed away on July 4, 2017, at 86 years old.
Our list of multi-sport professional athletes wouldn’t be enough without mentioning Bo Jackson, who competed in the NFL and MLB and is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
Jackson was chosen by the New York Yankees in the 1982 baseball draft but he chose to go to Auburn University and played collegiate football. He ended up getting the Heisman Trophy and in 1986, was recruited by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he refused to play for that franchise and instead joined the majors becoming an outfield player for the Kansas City Royals. The following year, he signed a contract with the Los Angeles Raiders and made his NFL debut. Jackson succeed in both sports and became the first athlete ever to make all-star teams in two major North American sports.
Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow, a Heisman winner and former quarterback player for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, recently hit his first home run in the major league for the Mets. Tebow had an extremely successful college football career, and was recruited in the first round to the Denver Broncos in 2010. Over the next few years, he bounced around, and was released by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015. In September 2016, he started playing for one of the New York Mets’ minor league teams, the Scottsdale Scorpions. In his baseball career, Tebow again has transferred around and moved up the ranks of the Mets’ minor league organization. He was invited to spring training where he hit his very first home run in a major league uniform