Toby Gerhart is not Bo Jackson or Deion Sanders, but the big Stanford running back is going to do something that neither of those famous two-sport stars ever did. Gerhart is part of a small group of athletes whose college career
will end after playing in both a football bowl game and the College World Series.
While Sanders took his two-sport act to another level by winning Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys and playing in the World Series with the Atlanta Braves, even he cannot make the claim that Gerhart will after Stanford plays in its bowl game at the end of this season. (Sanders was also neither a Biletnikoff Award finalist nor Heisman Trophy hopeful, although he and Biletnikoff did both go to Florida State.)
Based on how Gerhart has performed this year odds are he will be a part of an even more select group of athletes who can say they hit a home run at the CWS and scored a touchdown in a bowl.
Here’s a by the numbers look at Toby Gerhart’s statistics as both a college football and baseball player at Stanford:
1,736…net rushing yards by Gerhart this season
1,651…Gerhart’s career yardage prior to 2009
.867…Gerhart’s OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) in 2009 on the Cardinal baseball team
1…football start made by Gerhart in 2007 after he suffered a season-ending knee injury vs. San Jose State
140…yards he rushed for in that game prior to the injury
16…career home runs Gerhart has hit in three seasons playing for Mark Marquess
16…career touchdowns he scored in his first two-plus seasons playing for Walt Harris and Jim Harbaugh
26…touchdowns Gerhart has scored so far in 2009 – a new Pac-10 single-season record
42…career touchdowns scored by Toby Gerhart – a new Pac-10 career mark
25…times Gerhart has been hit by pitch
639…career rushing attempts by Gerhart
433…Gerhart’s career at-bats
12…career stolen bases in as many attempts
7…home runs hit and stolen bases in 2009
7…Gerhart’s football jersey number
24…Gerhart’s baseball jersey number
24…career doubles Gerhart has hit
1…career pass attempt by Gerhart – an 18 yard touchdown in Stanford’s win over Notre Dame
1…home run hit by Gerhart in Stanford’s 2008 CWS win over Florida State
3…RBIs in two Super Regional elimination game wins over Pepperdine in ’08
3…200-plus yard rushing games by Gerhart this season
0…200 yard rushing games by a Stanford player since 1988 prior to this season
21…credit hours – Gerhart’s course load at Stanford during the fall 2009 semester
Gerhart is among more than 35 student athletes who have been featured this fall in the exclusive Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports.