Major League Baseball

Deion Sanders compares Shohei Ohtani to Michael Jordan, Tom Brady

Published Sep. 24, 2024 5:57 p.m. ET

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Deion Sanders knows a thing or two about being a uniquely gifted athlete. He also knows how hard it is to hit home runs and steal bases at the MLB level.

So it turned heads when the Colorado head football coach spent part of his midweek press conference showering praise on Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar who last week became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. 

"Ohtani, he's incredible, man," Sanders said Tuesday. "You can compare him to the [Michael] Jordans and … Tom Bradys of the world. That's who he is. He's doing things that we haven't fathomed."

[Check out our hub for all things Tom Brady here!]

Sanders may be fully part of the college football world now as "Coach Prime." But perhaps no other college football coach is as qualified to speak on Ohtani as Sanders, who — in addition to his Hall of Fame NFL career — played in the MLB with the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants.

Sanders was primarily a speedy outfielder as a baseball player and stole five bases during the 1992 World Series with the Braves. Despite decent career numbers — a .263 batting average over 641 career games — Sanders has previously described hitting a baseball as his most difficult challenge in sports, which probably helps explain why he has such admiration for Ohtani.

When asked specifically about Ohtani's historic 50-50 mark, Sanders expressed sheer awe.

"It doesn't make sense," Sanders said. "I think the only person[s] [I played against] who probably could have done that was [Jose] Canseco or Barry Bonds."

Canseco and Bonds are considered two of the best hitters in MLB history, but both players' legacies are tainted through their use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their careers. Ohtani, meanwhile, has recorded 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases entering Tuesday night in an era when MLB has cracked down on PED use. 

Ohtani is also a pitcher, making him one of the rare MLB players to both pitch and hit on a regular basis (though Ohtani is not pitching this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery).

Regardless, comparing Ohtani to Jordan and Brady — the men widely regarded as the NBA and NFL GOATs, respectively — is a massive compliment. That's especially the case coming from someone like Sanders, who was a legendary (and legendarily versatile) athlete in his own right.

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