This column appears in the Spring 2019 issue of Heart Beat of the Texas Hill Country

Heisman winner Kyler Murray has decided  – he has chosen the National Football League over Major League Baseball.  I can’t help admire the kid – he’s very talented when it comes to throwing passes and crushing home runs.   In high school, as the starting quarterback, he led North Texas’s Allen HS to three straight state championships and won 43 games in a row.   He also played baseball – shortstop/second base – and was a top prospect for the 2015 MLB draft.  He was the first player to ever be selected for both the Under Armour All-America Baseball Game and Under Armour All-America Football Game!

Instead of entering the baseball draft, he chose to attend Texas A &M his freshman year.  Just a few months into the football season, he transferred to Oklahoma when it became apparent he would be battling against another high recruit, Kyle Allen, for a starting nod.  With NCAA transfer rules, he had to sit out in 2016.  In 2017, he hit the ground running as Baker Mayfield’s backup and even had playing time in a couple of games.  Come spring, he switched hats and had a sluggish start playing Sooners baseball, but did so well the following year; he again caught the attention of Major League Baseball.   The Oakland As took him as the 9^th pick overall in the 2018 MLB Draft last June and presented him with a high dollar contract including a lucrative signing bonus.  In return, he would play in the fall one more season of college football, then report to spring training in 2019.

Things got complicated when Murray led the Sooners to the semi-finals of the College Football National Championship collecting a slew of hardware along the way.   He won the Davey O’Brien Award, AP Player of the Year, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, First-team All-American, First-team All-Big 12 and the big daddy of them all, the Heisman Trophy.  He finished out last year with an estimated net-worth of three billion dollars!    Meanwhile, the Oakland As quietly waited in the wings for his report to spring training.  Now, it is possible to play in both the NFL and MLB at the same time – about seventy have accomplished it – only a small handful since 1987 including Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders.   Seahawks Russell Wilson played in minor league ball a few years and currently has a contract with the Yankees.

In January 2019, Murray teased the sports world with hints he would not be splitting time with the two sports.  The A’s and MLB met with Murray, deviating from the norm, and offered him a major league contract.  A decision had to be made soon since spring training was on the horizon.  The suspense was over Monday, February 11^th.  Kyler committed to professional football citing “football had been his love and passion his entire life.”   Murray would not get to keep his entire $4.66 million signing bonus with the As.   Brace yourselves — He already has in hand 1.5 million, but only has to repay $1.29 million of that!  He hasn’t even picked up a bat!    The A’s will retain his baseball rights going forward and he will be placed on the minor-league restricted list indefinitely.   Should Murray ever decide to return to baseball, he would have to return to the Oakland organization.

Did the Phenom do the right thing?   Will he be a part of the Heisman Curse?   Will he ever see a batting circle?  Will hard hits from his bat ever replace hard hits from a Defense?   Check back with me in five years.