All Rounders: Jim Thorpe's heroics, Jordan's switch to baseball and sport's true all-rounders

Other / Alsy / 14 September 2008 / Leave a Comment

Morgan In The Driving Seat - Allsy looks at the sporting achivements of Jim Thorpe, the man once described by a King as the "most wonderful athlete in the world", Botham's choice of cricket over football, Jordan's spell at the Chicago White Sox and excelling at multiple sports.

Spare a thought for the cricketing all-rounder. In the professional ranks most players work for years attempting to perfect their game with the bat or ball but for all-rounders theres double-practice, double-pressure and double the physical stress. They dont receive double salaries but they do have more chances to influence proceedings. The lack of top-class all-rounders at Test level illustrates how demanding the position is so imagine the difficulties brought about by playing two different professional sports?

Ian Botham was possibly England's greatest all-rounder but he was also a centre forward playing seventeen times for Yeovil Town and eleven for Scunthorpe United in the football League. Botham had to choose between sporting codes quite early in his career and, considering that he only scored one professional goal, undoubtedly made the right choice. His son Liam Botham was even more versatile playing professional cricket and both codes of rugby.

Duel-sports athletes (at the top level) are rare in the UK but America has a rich tradition of multi-sports athletes. From Jackie Joyner-Kersee (basketball and Olympic gold medalist at Heptathlon/long jump) and Bullet Bob Hayes (NLF and 1964 Olympic gold medal sprinter) to Neon Deion Sanders (NFL & MLB), Shaun White (snowboarding and skateboarding) and Gridiron legend Jim Brown (NFL and Lacrosse).

These are just a few who have definitely excelled in more than one sport but plenty more try and fail. Michael Jordan was the NBA's best. He's handy at golf but his attempt at professional baseball, with minor league Chicago White Sox, was a disaster. Jordan was so good at hoops that Chicago Bulls continued to pay his NBA salary during his baseball adventure but he returned to the NBA a year later winning three more back-to-back titles. Clearly being a genius in one profession does not necessarily make you any good in another.

Bo Jackson's abilities in the NFL and MLB remain the stuff of legend. Many will remember him from Nike's global "Bo Knows" ad campaigns but his on-field record arguably makes him the greatest duel-sport athlete of the modern era. Professional sports teams pay their athletes huge salaries and are reluctant to allow the distraction of another professional sport but Jackson was gifted enough to buck the trend and he remains the only athlete to be named an all-star in two professional sports.

Pre-WWII athletes were paid a pittance in comparison to their modern counterparts but the exploits of a few remain legendary. Jackie Robinson's biggest battle was breaking the colour barrier in the MLB but he had little trouble breaking college (track, basketball, baseball and gridiron) records. He eventually settled on baseball re-writing both history and records books alike but the mantle of greatest multi-sport athlete has to go to Jim Thorpe. In 1912 he won Olympic gold in decathlon and Pentathlon before playing professional baseball, gridiron and basketball while redefining the meaning of versatile in sport.

Thorpe also had to battle racism (he was half Native American), officialdom (stripped of his Olympic medals for playing Minor League Baseball) and poverty once his career ended. He died penniless in 1953 but has since been recognised for his unique abilities and his medals were posthumously returned in 1983.

In 1983 Botham was at the height of his powers but another, older, cricket legend is England's greatest duel-sportsman. Denis Compton played his entire career for Middlesex earning 78 Test caps and a batting average of 50. Compton also played for Arsenal between 1936-1950 scoring 15 goals from 54 appearances at outside-left. Both careers were blighted by the war - Compton remains one of England's best loved-cricketers and also won the League and FA Cup with Arsenal.

Back to the present and Ive no idea if our current best all-rounder is any good at football but Andrew Flintoff will not be playing any sport for a while, let alone for Lancashire against Somerset on Sunday afternoon. Without Flintoff and Anderson Somerset are worth backing at [1.93] in this Pro 40 fixture but I advise checking the Completed Match market if the rain comes in.