Well, the debate is settled.
Baseball is harder than football.
Patrick Mahomes can vouch for that. While we know him as a two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, he was once a promising young baseball player.
He recently sat down with Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter and said the latter is more difficult.
“Hitting a baseball has got to be one of the toughest things to do in the world,” Mahomes told Jeter on Fox Sports.
Jeter 🤝 Mahomes
Catch @DerekJeter's exclusive conversation with @PatrickMahomes on the FOX NFL pregame shows.
Coverage begins Sunday at 11am ET. @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/9aXurEc4G0
— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2023
Deion Sanders, who played both sports himself — and was selected to the NFL Hall of Fame, also said hitting a baseball is extremely hard.
Shannon Sharpe asks Deion Sanders what’s the hardest thing to do: play football, play baseball, or coaching.
Deion Sanders, who played 9 seasons in MLB while also having a Hall of Fame NFL career: “Hitting that baseball.” pic.twitter.com/qnUtyhtCOY
— Sammy Levitt (@SammyLev) September 15, 2023
Mahomes’ dad, Pat, spent 11 seasons in the majors and said his love for baseball was passed down to his son. He said Patrick was always excited to get to the field when he was younger. He also turned down an offer from the Detroit Tigers in 2014 after they drafted him in the 37th round.
He didn’t forgo baseball completely after that, however.
Despite opting to go to Texas Tech University to play football, Mahomes did manage to throw several pitches in a game during a freshman outing.
Mahomes said he had always wanted to be a shortstop, so his interaction with Jeter was perfection. He would even imitate baseball-like throws on the gridiron while the two watched film.
“Oh, there we go right there,” Mahomes said. “Now these are the throws that I’m imitating when I’m on the football field, man.”
“See, there we have it, Jeter replied. “The reason for all your success as a quarterback is because you were watching old films of me.”
Jeter appreciated Mahomes’ comments on the difficulties that come with baseball.
“There you go,” Jeter said. “Baseball is the hardest sport to play. Everybody got that?”
We got it.
