Two Heisman Trophy winners have played in MLB: The most recent one was, of course, Bo Jackson. But before that, there was Vic Janowicz, the 1950 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State. After graduating, he pursued a baseball career, only returning to football when it was becoming clear he was doomed to be a benchwarmer on the mediocre Pirates teams of the era.
Sadly, his professional football career was also cut short when the halfback/kicker sustained injuries in a 1956 car crash that left him partially paralyzed. The year before, he had been second in the NFL in points and 10th in touchdowns, leaving his career a giant question of “What If?”
Here are Janowicz’s MLB stats:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | Pos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 23 | PIT | NL | 42 | 131 | 123 | 10 | 31 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 31 | .252 | .287 | .341 | .628 | 64 | 42 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 1954 | 24 | PIT | NL | 41 | 84 | 73 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 23 | .151 | .235 | .192 | .426 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5/7 |
| 2 Yrs | 83 | 215 | 196 | 20 | 42 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 54 | .214 | .267 | .286 | .552 | 45 | 56 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||||
| 162 Game Avg. | 162 | 420 | 383 | 39 | 82 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 105 | .214 | .267 | .286 | .552 | 45 | 109 | 6 | 4 | 10 | |||||
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