Minnesota’s ‘Shohei Ohtani’ drafted by four pro sports leagues before Yankees owner tried to ‘destroy’ career

Dave Winfield is widely considered one of the greatest athletes of all time.

A case that was boosted when he became the first athlete in history to be drafted by four different leagues.

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Winfield was drafted by the San Diego Padres (MLB), Atlanta Hawks (NBA), Utah Stars (ABA) and Minnesota Vikings (NFL), all in 1973.

Though he had the other opportunities, Winfield preferred baseball, under one condition that was met by the Padres.

“I wanted to play the outfield and be in the lineup every day,” Winfield told Dan Holmes of Baseballegg.

“Had I been drafted by a team looking to me [as a pitcher], I might have considered basketball.

“Football was never really an option to me, but [the Vikings] looked at me as a tight end..”

Just like current baseball super star Shohei Ohtani, Winfield was a two-way pitcher in college, posting a 2.74 ERA with the Minnesota Gophers in their run to the College World Series semi finals in 73’. 

The Padres met his request, and he skipped the minor leagues entirely, beginning a legendary MLB career just days after being selected.

Winfield would go on to have an excellent MLB career, amassing 3,110 hits, 465 home runs, and was inducted into the Hall-of-Fame in 2001.

But, it didn’t all come as a member of the Padres. He had stints with the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Guardians.

His most famous tenure however, came with the New York Yankees.

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Winfield spent nine of his 22 years in the big leagues with the Yankees, but despite making the signing, he quickly became the target of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

George Steinbrenner tried to destroy Dave Winfield’s career

Steinbrenner made Winfield the highest-paid player in the game in 1980, when the latter was already a four-time All-Star.

But the Yankee owner never forgave him or his agent for sliding a ‘cost of living’ increase into the terms of his contract, raising costs from $15 million to $23 million.

Things got ugly by the end of the eighties, when Steinbrenner’s efforts to trade the ageing Winfield were vetoed by the player in part by his 10-and-5 status.

Reports emerged in early 1988 that the Yankees were preparing to sue the Winfield Foundation, a charitable group set up by the player, for misappropriation and misuse of funds.

Things got so bad even, that Steinbrenner gave $40,000 to Howard Spira, who worked as a publicist for the foundation, to dig up dirt on Winfield and the foundation

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This was the final straw for then MLB commissioner Fay Vincent, who swiftly suspended Steinbrenner from the game.

“It was a pretty sordid and unattractive story of George trying to destroy Dave Winfield. It was not Steinbrenner at his best,” Vincent told Neil Vigdor of CTPost.

Steinbrenner and Winfield eventually made up, with the latter choosing to enter the Hall-of-Fame as a Padre rather than a Yankee, despite spending more time in the Big Apple.

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