Thursday, July 02, 2020

NFL greats play baseball

July 2, 1917.

Three future NFL Hall of Famers played at Cubs Park (now known as Wrigley Field) in a big league baseball game.

Paddy Driscoll (photo) played 2B for the Cubs. That was his only year in baseball, but he went on to a great football career with the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals.

Jim Thorpe & Greasy Neal both played in the outfield for the Reds.

Thorpe’s biggest baseball claim to fame was knocking in the winning run in the double no-hitter between Hippo Vaughn & Fred Toney, but he was one of the greatest players in the NFL during the 1920s, and was named to the all-decade team.

Neal was a member of the 1919 World Champion Reds (that beat the cheating White Sox), but he went on to become an NFL head coach, leading the Philadelphia Eagles to two championships (1948 & 1949).

On this day in 1917, Thorpe & Neal came out victorious as the Reds beat the Cubs 8-5.