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Braves broadcaster confuses Tigers' JaCoby Jones with NFL player

Being a two sport athlete is an incredible accomplishment. The ability to play two different sports at the highest level is exceedingly rare. Baseball hasn’t seen someone accomplish the feat since Deion Sanders.

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Because of that, you would expect any player attempting to make that transition to receive a fair amount of coverage. If you need proof of that, just look at the media circus that has followed New York Mets outfielder Tim Tebow.

So when Atlanta Braves fans tuned in to Monday’s spring game against the Detroit Tigers, they were shocked to learn that another former NFL player was also attempting to make the conversion to Major League Baseball.

Braves announcer Chip Caray provided the details:

Pretty neat story, right? You’re probably wondering why you haven’t heard about it until now. You’re also wondering why we haven’t covered it until now.

That’s because it’s not true. Tigers outfielder JaCoby Jones never played in the NFL. He is not the same person as Jacoby Jones, who was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2007 and currently plays in the Arena League.

JaCoby Jones has always been a baseball player. (AP Photo)
JaCoby Jones has always been a baseball player. (AP Photo)

Nope. This was just a straight-up mistake by Caray. While we understand these types of things can happen, especially during a live broadcast, we have to wonder how the heck the conversation went on for that long without someone correcting him. Either a producer was late relaying the message to Caray, or a research intern is about to get fired for giving him bad information.

Jones, the outfielder, entered spring on the Tigers’ roster bubble, but has strengthened his case by hitting .333 over 42 at-bats. With starter J.D. Martinez set to open the year on the disabled list, Jones could start for Detroit on opening day.

That may not make for as exciting a tale, but it’s still a story worth telling.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik