Me and my buddies are trying to figure it out. We think yes because many players have played in the minor leagues and what not

are we correct?

Yes

thank you

But I think if they had an endorsement deal, that may change it. As with the Colorado skier

mmmmmm...interesting...thank you

do you remember kevin murray?
the car that he owned was from the fact that his MLB income was five times that of the idiot reporters who were concerned about what he was driving!

Yes

A7M QB Kevin Murray played in the Brewers Organization before A&M

Ricky Williams also played Baseball professionally

quote:

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As with the Colorado skier

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Jeremy Bloom

Decent returner. Helluva an athlete.

i meant not just minor league player...like for the actual major league team. like the astros, rangers, yankees and what not.

I wouldn't think so, wouldn't they lose their amateur status then?

There have been several minor league players who either did not go to college or left very early in the MLB draft who have quit to come to college to play football.

I don't believe they are eligible to play baseball after they've signed with a MLB club.

Don't know of anyone who's left a major league team who's given that up for a college football career.

Yes, I know of at least several players who have done it.

You are eligible to play college football, but can't accept a scholarship.

I think the problem with the CU skier was about endorsement deals and he may have been on a football scholarship.

the only way i could imagine someone that could possible be eligible, having played in the big leagues, would be if:

no agent
no signing bonus
still paid "minor league" wages
no endorsements

even then, once a player makes a "professional debut in the bigs", that player forfeits eligibility most likely

Not if he played well....

If they had any eligibility left.

If they didnt enroll in college, then they could play college football.

If they enrolled in college prior to going to the majors, then they could play college ball if their 5 year elgibility window (from when they first enrolled in college) didnt expire.

So what you're saying is there's still a chance we can get Chip Ambres on the field?

So to clear this up: yes they can, except when they can't. Glad we cleared that up.

um, minor league players still get paid to play, thus making them professional right? lots of fb players have taken minor league contracts and then come back to play fb in college. if you get paid at all you're no longer amateur right?

Even though we benefitted from this before with Mark Farris, i still think some sort of eligibility clock should start.

For the record, minor league baseball IS professional baseball. It's not beer league softball. It is NO different from the MLB as far as eligibility is concerned.

The reason that you've never seen a college QB with MLB experience is the fact that he has a brain in his skull. Who would leave a multi-million dollar salary to go play college football? Now, many would leave a 3K/mo job riding a bus to work to be a starting QB in college.

Didn't Brandon Weeden play pro baseball?

Russell Wilson, QB for the Wisconsin Badgers, has played minor league ball the last couple of years.

20+ replies and still no closer to answering the OP's question...

I am sitting next to Chip and he is very interested in this thread.

Alot of y'all are missing the question. Yes many players that never enrolled in college went to professional baseball and returned to college to play football. But I can't think of any players that made it to the MLB team then returned to college... All player mentioned above only played minor league baseball.

I disagree, Minor League baseball and Major league baseball are treated differently in terms of eligability. There are minor league contracts and major league contracts. If you ink a major league contract in BB you are ineligable to participate as a college student athlete.

The reason? Not all colleges have a baseball program so to be fair to the athletes across the board (even w athletes at schools with baseball) minor league baseball can take the place of college baseball and not interfere with eligability in any sport other than baseball. I beleive golf is the same w what was once the Nike Tour.



[This message has been edited by heddy Lamarr (edited 10/9/2011 9:32p).]

Danny Ainge played professional baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays - and also college basketball for BYU. Not a bad summer job for a college kid. Then he became a pro basketball player for the Celtics.

So to sort-of answer the OP's question. Yes it's been done, but in college basketball.

yes you can play in the pros and still go back to school. It is never done because why would you? It would take 3 -4 years to get to the pros and then you only have 1-2 years before you have to enroll in college.

Blooms problem was the skiers are paid athletes and he was getting endorsements. When i say paid, USOC rules are different from the NCAA. An olympic athlete can receive benefits for placings and winning events and still be a eligable. The NCAA figured that Bloom was getting his endorsements because he was a CU football player and not one of the best skiers in the country. Also most football fans have no idea who swix is anyway.

I can't answer to the endorsements or agents line, but there was an NFL player who ran spring track in the spring after his rookie season...So I'm pretty sure the level of professionalism has nothing to do with eligibility.

i think it has everything to do with the amount of compensation. i think the ncaa allows minor league baseball players to play because of the amount of money they receive only covers housing, food, etc. Kind of like prep schools and international teams in basketball.

however, if that player has a signing bonus or makes a substantial amount of money, they forfeit eligibility.

I know the rules are a little different when it comes to NCAA and NAIA. I played baseball at Texas Wesleyan for a couple of years and we had guys that had played in the Minors prior to college ball. They had to sit out for a certain period of time before they were eligible to play college baseball again (1 year think?) There was certainly some good talent around the NAIA schools that we played.

Brandon Weeden - Yankees
Cedric Benson - Dodgers
Russell Wilson - Rockies

"Today you find a way to win, and win we shall."

It has zero to do with the amount of money or the level at which the guy plays professional baseball.

PRO is PRO whether it is Rookie league or MLB. PRO is PRO whether you get a dollar or a million dollars.

You simply can't talk football with your agent and you can't accept endorsement deals. Aside from that, all eligibility rules are the same.

i guess you missed the whole ens kanter case last year?

chris weinke getting peanuts and scraps playing "professional" baseball doesnt hold the same "amateur status" as lets say...an 18 year old josh hamilton with a 4 million dollar signing bonus.

There are many examples of minor leaguers who didn't pan out that ended up going back to college and played football. However, my understanding is in all of those instances, those players never got out of the minor leagues.

Does anyone know of an example of a player who got to the majors, even if just for a September cup of coffee, who then didn't pan out and ended up going back to school to play FBS football?

[This message has been edited by Txagman1998 (edited 10/9/2011 10:50p).]