The Native American Who Won Two Olympic Gold Medals – Then Had His Titles Taken Away Before History Finally Reversed The Decision
On the same day in February 1913 that he sent his medals back to Stockholm, he signed a contract with the New York Giants baseball team.
The contract, for the remarkable sum of $6,000 per season for three years — the most ever paid to a major league rookie at the time — was evidence of how much Thorpe’s celebrity had survived the Olympic controversy intact, at least in the world of professional sports.
He played six seasons in the major leagues — for the Giants, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Boston Braves — finishing his career in 1919 with a lifetime batting average of .252.
The baseball career was respectable but not spectacular.
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