Football Hall of Famers who played major league baseball: Red Badgro Greasy Neale Ernie Nevers Ace Parker None was that great a player. Cal Hubbard is in both Halls; he was the greatest umpire of the 30s and 40s and a great tackle for the Packers and Giants. Many of course played in the minors, John Elway among others. In fact the best baseball player among Hall of Famers may have been Joe Guyon, who never made the majors but had a terrific career in the high minors in the 20s and 30s, hitting .329 for his career. A more interesting question, is who is the best baseball player ever to play in the NFL. The thing about baseball, of course, is that the ordinary garden-variety athleticism that NFL players possess is often not that much good in baseball. Jim Thorpe, a truly great football player, was just OK at baseball. Bo Jackson the same. I think the best ballplayer ever to play in the NFL actually, like Joe Guyon, never played in the majors. It's Wally Yonamine, a Hawaiian who played his career in Japan and was a brilliant player there; he's in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Let's try that again, with formatting.

Football Hall of Famers who played major league baseball:

Red Badgro
Greasy Neale
Ernie Nevers
Ace Parker

None was that great a player.

Cal Hubbard is in both Halls; he was the greatest umpire of the 30s and 40s and a great tackle for the Packers and Giants.

Many of course played in the minors, John Elway among others. In fact the best baseball player among Hall of Famers may have been Joe Guyon, who never made the majors but had a terrific career in the high minors in the 20s and 30s, hitting .329 for his career.

A more interesting question, is who is the best baseball player ever to play in the NFL. The thing about baseball, of course, is that the ordinary garden-variety athleticism that NFL players possess is often not that much good in baseball. Jim Thorpe, a truly great football player, was just OK at baseball. Bo Jackson the same.

I think the best ballplayer ever to play in the NFL actually, like Joe Guyon, never played in the majors. It's Wally Yonamine, a Hawaiian who played for the Niners just after World War 2 and played most of his baseball career in Japan and was a brilliant player there; he's in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Brian Jordan was a pretty decent two sport player for awhile. Not HoF in either sport though.

"Jim Thorpe, a truly great football player, was just OK at baseball. Bo Jackson the same."

...if putting up a 142 OPS+ is OK, then I guess Bo Jackson was just OK. He was a better baseball player than football player, never starting more than 9 games and never rushing more than 1000 yards.

No, Bo was poorly served by not focusing on baseball -- he was way more than OK. Before destroying his hip in his last football season, he was well on his way to becoming a great player.

I don't think any of these names is the answer to the question, but let's include them in the discussion anyway.

Ron Luciano. Jay Schroeder. John Elway.

Drew Henson

Jackson and Thorpe were fabulous athletes, but controlling the strike zone is a full-time occupation and trying to master it part-time can lead to amazing acts of frustration. 

...if putting up a 142 OPS+ is OK, then I guess Bo Jackson was just OK. He was a better baseball player than football player, never starting more than 9 games and never rushing more than 1000 yards.

No, Bo was poorly served by not focusing on baseball -- he was way more than OK. Before destroying his hip in his last football season, he was well on his way to becoming a great player.

Let's be clear here - Bo Jackson was a much better football player than baseball player. He won a Heisman and was inducted into the college football HOF, and was one of the greatest college football players of all time. He started in the majors playing baseball because he couldn't play both sports, and when he ended up doing double duty he was the second string running back behind Marcus Allen, one of the best running backs of all time, and consistently missed the start of the football season for the end of the baseball season, thus the lesser stats. He got injured, which effectively derailed his football career and subsequently his baseball one, which was/is a shame.

Bo was a decent enough baseball player (the .309 career OBP doesn't hold up so well), but a phenomenal football player.

I think if Bo had concentrated on only one sport he could have been a HOF possibility in either, if he could have stayed reasonably healthy and baseball would have been a better option for good health.

Here is Bo's complete record.  If one imagines him devoting exclusively himself to baseball beginning in Auburn, it is (I think) not a stretch to imagine that he could have put up his age 27 line at age 25.  A Hall of Fame career would then have been possible, but he would have had to make further improvements and proven to be quite durable.  We'll never know.../unintentional reference.