I was perusing baseball draft picks of the past when I came across a note about John Elway. Elway was selected by the Royals in the 18th round of the 1979 draft and even played a season for Oneonta of the Yankees organization. So what other notable NFLers have been drafted by MLB teams? And more interestingly, which of them actually played minor league ball?- Tom Brady (18th round) was drafted ahead of Aaron Miles (19th round) in the 1995 amateur baseball draft. The Expos selected Brady out of high school, but he opted instead to play football at Michigan.
- But Ricky Williams beat them both by being selected by the Phillies in the 8th round. He even played four years of low-level pro-ball, but of course he turned out to be a little bit better at football.
- Bronco wide receiver Javon Walker was drafted by the Marlins in the 12th round of the 1997 draft (way ahead of David Eckstein in the 19th round) , but had difficulty putting the bat on the ball in the three years he spent in the Marlins' organization.
- Dan Marino was drafted out of high school by the Royals in the 4th round of the 1979 draft (the same draft as Elway) but played college football at Pittsburgh instead.
- Archie Manning was drafted four times between 1967 and 1971 but never signed.
- Here's some interesting trivia: Bronco defensive back John Lynch threw the very first pitch for the Marlins' organization in 1992. He would play two seasons in the minors before focusing on football full time.
Although several athletes have played in both the NFL and Major Leagues, very few have been successful at both. I can only think of Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.
And for whatever it's worth, Tom Glavine was drafted in the 4th round by the L.A. Kings in the 1984 NHL draft, and longtime Angels/White Sox pitcher Kirk McCaskill was drafted in the 4th round by the Winnipeg Jets in the 1981 NHL draft.
