The incredible week Deion Sanders made history in both the NFL and MLB

Deion Sanders is back for a second season with the Colorado Buffaloes – and Prime Time’s ability to generate headlines goes beyond his influence on the sidelines.

The Buffs face North Dakota State on Thursday night, looking to improve on their first season under Sanders.

4

With a newly minted Shedeur Sanders Nike’s first ever NIL football athlete, two-way superstar Travis Hunter a generational talent and a whole host of new recruits, hopes are high in Bolder.

All eyes are again on the Colorado coach, who has made almost everything he has touched to success.

A successful spell with Jackson State paved the way for his move to Colorado and an electric start to the 2023 had the team dreaming big.

However three successive wins were followed by eight defeats from their last nine games – Sanders though has more than shown an appetite for the fight.

NCAA football, Major League Baseball, the NFL – it was a serious question during the peak of the Colorado Buffaloes coach’s playing days, when he split time between the NFL and MLB.

Sanders is a Pro Football Hall of Fame member.  He made eight Pro Bowls, earned six All-Pro selections and is a two-time Super Bowl champion. 

In baseball, he played 641 games during a nine-year career that bounced between the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds. 

But it’s an incredible one-week stint during the 1989 season that best captures Sanders’ rare athletic talents. 

It’s also something that would never happen almost 35 years later, since pro athletes now specialise in one sport and rarely cross over.

Sanders was a New York Yankees rookie when he went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI in a 12-2 road win against the Seattle Mariners on Sept. 5, 1989. 

4

Five days later, he joined the NFL’s Falcons and helped open Atlanta’s season by returning a punt for a touchdown in a home game against the Los Angeles Rams. 

Sanders even pulled out his classic high step while striding into the end zone. 

Within a five-day period, Sanders made NFL and MLB history. 

4

He’s also the only athlete to win a Super Bowl and World Series though had a better NFL career than MLB run. 

He won Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year in 1994 and was a key defender for Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and Baltimore. 

But a lingering question is how good Sanders could have been at baseball if he’d only committed to that sport. 

Despite bouncing between two pro leagues, the current Colorado college football coach batted .263 in the majors and stole 186 bases.  

Sanders also led MLB with 14 triples in 1992. 

The fact that multiple baseball organisations were willing to wait on Sanders highlights just how special he was on two playing fields. 

Today he’s arguably more talked about than LeBron James but a historic week in September 1989 is a lasting reminder that Sanders always existed in the spotlight.

After all, this was an athlete talented enough to excel in the NFL and MLB at the same time.