Baseball's fastest runner wants to race NFL's fastest for charity

Jay Busbee
· Senior writer
Billy Hamilton can fly when he gets rolling. (AP)
Billy Hamilton can fly when he gets rolling. (AP)

John Ross, newly minted Cincinnati Bengal, holds the distinction of being the NFL’s fastest man thanks to his record 4.22 combine 40-yard time. He also happens to share a city with baseball’s fastest, Billy Hamilton. And Hamilton wants to see who’s the speed king of Cincinnati.

Hamilton plays centerfield for the Reds, and recently racked up his 200th career stolen base. “It’s something I look forward to. I’m a competitor, if something happens with him, it happens,” Hamilton said Thursday. “We’ll do it for a charity event. I’m willing to do it … I think we could do 40 and I think it’d be a good race for the city and for me and him to get our names out there.”

Last year, Hamilton won acclaim when he ran a 40-yard dash while tracking a fly ball against the Rays … and made the catch. Check out the distance here:

(Yahoo Sports/MLB.com)
(Yahoo Sports/MLB.com)

While he admits he hasn’t run a 40 since high school, he’s at least got the hands to challenge Ross.

For his part, Ross has already said he wants to take on Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, to a 40-yard dash. Earlier this week, a U.S. Olympian proved it’s pretty much impossible for that to happen, but this Hamilton idea might have more legs (sorry). To be honest, we can’t see either team signing off on an event where both guys could well shred hamstrings trying to beat the other, but hey, maybe this’ll be one of those “Fast and the Furious”-type underground races. We’d be all over that.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.