College Football and the Detroit Tigers

Speaking of legendary Michigan athletes. Kirk Gibson wasn’t quite as celebrated in high school as Rick Leach was, but he was nevertheless an outstanding athlete who played baseball, basketball, football, and ran track at Waterford Kettering before accepting a scholarship to play college football at Michigan State. Gibson played just one year of college baseball, but after hitting .390 with 16 home runs and 21 steals in 48 games, the Detroit Tigers saw fit to draft him 12th overall in 1978.

Though injuries prevented him from fully realizing his Hall-of-Fame level talent, Gibson still went on to have a spectacular baseball career. He was a unicorn, with scouting reports awarding him top-of-the-scale grades for both his power and speed. He went on to produce nearly 40 WAR in his career, and though he never made an All-Star team, he was named the 1988 National League MVP award. He’s one of 23 players all time with 250 or more home runs and 250 or more stolen bases, and of course he hit a few of the most iconic postseason home runs of all time.

But Gibby was also one hell of a college football player, though few people got to see it. He was a starting wide receiver as a freshman, and just as in baseball, he was a true home run threat, catching just nine balls, but taking four of them to the house for an average of 29.1 yards per catch. Unfortunately, Michigan State was placed on probation in 1976, so while Gibson caught 103 balls for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns over his final three seasons, none of his games were televised. Gibson led the conference in receiving yards in 1976 and 1978, was named an All-American in 1978, and he remains second all time in the Big Ten in receiving yards per catch.

Gibby was drafted by St. Louis Cardinals (football version) in the 7th round, but it’s clear he made the right choice by pursuing baseball.