Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
January 19, 2007
Making a Choice

Rich Braasch sends this story:

Jeff Samardzija, whom the Cubs selected in the fifth round of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, will forgo the National Football League Draft and commit to a baseball career.

"I am pleased to announce that today I have reached an agreement on a five-year Major League contract with the Chicago Cubs," Samardzija said in a statement. "Consequently, I will devote my full time and attention to professional baseball and forgo a potential career in the National Football League."

It's my bias that baseball is always the right choice in these situations. A star in baseball is likely to have a longer, higher paying career than one in football. However, I don't find his strikeout rate at Notre Dame very compelling.


Posted by David Pinto at 04:23 PM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Given an equal chance of success in the two sports, baseball is the intelligent choice. Or, to use a looser standard, "given an equal chance of getting a nice signing bonus..." Aside from better potential career length, baseball also offers a much lower chance of long-term disability and shortened life span.

On the other hand, there's Drew Henson, the former Michigan QB who tried the baseball route, washed out, and then couldn't get back in a football groove. In retrospect, he would have been better off going with football. (Although I do believe he got a hefty signing bonus from the Yankees, so he's not hurting.)

Posted by: jvwalt at January 19, 2007 10:00 PM

2 words:

guaranteed contract

Why anyone would play pro football if they could make equivalent money elsewhere is beyond me.

But then again, I dislike American football anyway.(Go Bears!)

Posted by: Yankee Fan in Chicago at January 20, 2007 03:13 PM
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