Most promising SPORTS careers ended/halted by injury?

[DarkKnight69]

Pavel Bure, the Russian Rocket

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: raystorm
As for Bo Jackson, how good was he in baseball? I sorta stopped watching baseball from around 1989 until 1996 so I pretty much didn't pay attention to anything Jackson did. I looked at his baseball stats and he has a low career average (even in his good years his batting avg hovered around .250), he struck out alot..etc. Was he great in the field? Was he menacing at the plate? I honestly don't remember a thing but since some mentioned he could've had a hall of fame career I wonder how good was he during his good years in Kansas City. I assume his football career hurt his baseball career quite a bit. Anyone watched Bo play baseball alot to comment?

A lot of his lore is tied up in his ability to generate some freakish highlights (running up the wall, throwing the ball on a line from the LF wall to the plate and gunning a runner out, and opening an All-Star game with a bomb to the CF seats), but his overall baseball career was nothing HOF worthy. Yeah he struck out too much, and he was not a tremendous fielder. But to his credit, he improved every year he was in the league, and he had a strong year prior to the injury. At that time he was in his late 20's in what should have been the prime of his career, so he had the potential to put together some solid seasons.

He was a natural football player, not as much a natural in baseball, and concentrating on one sport would have given him better stats. But playing both is what made him a household name in the late 80's.

 

[Homerboy]

Bo Jackson (although he is the all-time Tecmo Bowl player) and Gayle Sayers... those 2 would have been all over the NFL records books if they didn't have career ending injuries.

 

[95SS]

Steve Emtman. Anyone who watched college football in the early 90's saw one of the greatest DT's to ever play the game. Drafted by the Colts #1 overall, and promptly got hurt.

 

[tfinch2]

Len Bias

 

[Al Neri]

Brien Taylor, Bo Jackson, Bill Pulsipher, Bobby Jones

edit: KG Jr. too

and lets not forget sidd finch, whatever happened to that guy??

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Bo Jackson (although he is the all-time Tecmo Bowl player) and Gayle Sayers... those 2 would have been all over the NFL records books if they didn't have career ending injuries.

Gale Sayers was never a stat kind of guy and was never going to break any records. In his 5 prime years he rushed for over 1000 yards just twice (1200 being his max) and never even lead the league in TDs.

Compare this to say OJ Simpson who also played 14 game seasons, rushed for 1000+ yards 5 years in a row and had seasons of 1500, 1800, and 2000 yards..all the while leading the league in TDs twice.

 

[middlehead]

I don't think anyone's said Bo Jackson yet, so I'll nominate him

 

[GoPackGo]

Bo Jackson
Sterling Sharpe
Eddie Lee Ivory

 

[imported_ALien]

bo jackson and alonzo mourning

 

[Al Neri]

cant believe no1s mentioned brien taylor

 

[NeoV]

Had to revisit this..

Steve Entman was a roid freak - doesn't belong on this list at all

Brien Taylor? The only reason anyone knows his name is because the Yankees drafted him - if you look at #1 picks in Baseball, the success rate isn't nearly as high as it is in other sports, there are plenty of first round picks that never make it to the majors, many of whom had more promising talents than Taylor.

Bernard King was a monster offensive player - I used to tape my fingers together like he did!

Cam Neeley? He is HOF player, not sure what he's doing here!

 

[jammur21]

Originally posted by: blackdogdeek
bo jackson

would have been cool to see what he was capable of.

 

[TRDGT]

Alex Zanardi, what a shame.
But maybe a comeback.

 

[KillyKillall]

aquaman..that loss of arm was DEVASTATING!

 

[jkersenbr]

Kirby Puckett and Albert Belle. I think Puckett would have been in the Hall of Fame someday and Belle just might have had a single-season home run record in him.

 

[kongs]

gale sares....thats a career that would have been amazing had he been able to play more than 5 years.

 

[Chaotic42]

Chaotic42.

Well, HS anyway.

I'd say Bo Jackson.

 

[KokomoGSTmp]

Originally posted by: UsandThem
Don Mattingly

Donny baseball had a really great if shortened career... yeah, would have been nice to have him win a Series ring.

I have to go with Grant Hill... Griffey Jr was playing very well late this season and he's still playing.

 

[Anubis]

Marco Van Basten

 

[yosuke188]

Originally posted by: axelfox
Did we mention Bo Jackson?

I think we forgot to mention Bo Jackson

 

[kaizersose]

alexander the great. he would have ruled the world but died of malaria.

greatest potential, worst injury.

/thread

 

[Zap Brannigan]

Originally posted by: oddyager
bo jackson without question. i would also have to add grant hill from the NBA, too. he pretty much began the "point forward" revolution (not counting Anthony Mason) scoring 20 points and being able to pull down 7+ boards and pass 7+ assists. then came an injury and he was never the same again.

Did for forget about a guy named Larry Bird? He was a forward too.

His career was cut short and hampered by injuries as well.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Bo Jackson (although he is the all-time Tecmo Bowl player) and Gayle Sayers... those 2 would have been all over the NFL records books if they didn't have career ending injuries.

LT was nasty in TecmoBowl too lol.

 

[Ketteringo]

Boobie Miles