1992 TOPPS TOP PROSPECTS #591
Today we travel back to a time when two-sport stars still roamed the Earth.
Bo Jackson was of course the first of these majestic creatures, and his prodigious skills translated into a Pro Bowl appearance, an All-Star Game, and a whole raft of commercial endorsements.
Perhaps inevitably, injuries derailed Bo’s gridiron career, and by the time he was 31, Jackson had to hang up his baseball spikes as well.
A few years after Bo Jackson’s debuts, Deion Sanders arrived on the scene. Sanders was kind of a post-modern version of Bo, and seemed to exist at least partly as a running commentary on late 20th century player selfishness/greed.
While his baseball skills could not match those of Jackson, Sanders was an 8-time NFL Pro Bowler, and was ultimately elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
And then there’s D.J. Dozier.
Dozier had a fine college career as a running back for Penn State, and was selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 1987 NFL draft. Things never quite clicked for Dozier in the NFL, and he racked up a total of just under 1,000 combined rushing/receiving yards over the course of a five-year career.
Dozier signed with the Mets as a free agent in 1990, and split his time between minor-league baseball and pro football. He put up some nice initial numbers in A/AA, but his weaknesses were exposed in AAA.
He made it to the Show in 1992, after his football career had ended, and hit .191 in 54 plate appearances with the Mets.
His single best game came on May 24 at Candlestick Park. In a 6-0 win over the Giants, Dozier started in left and went 2-4, logging one of his two career RBI.
No love for Dave DeBusschere?
As a Mets/Vikings fan, I was psyched for Dozier to be a two-sport star. Got to be disappointed with his output for two of my teams. Oh well…
Saw the SportsCentury 30 for 30 on Bo Jackson the other night. It’s hard to explain to those who didn’t witness it first hand what a phenomenon he was. If only he didn’t take up his football hobby…
And how ’bout our old friend Brian Jordan?
Cause Burnitz was on that card too.
Celtic star, and like the Knick icon DeBusschere, future GM of the team, Danny Ainge also spent some time in the bigs.
BTW, oddest “two-sport card,” even odder than John Elway’s minor league sets appearances in the Yankee chain, is a…I want to say its in Score’s 1988 Rookies & Traded set, is then Flyer standout Eric Lindros in a Toronto Blue Jay uniform at a tryout or something.