Editing Jim Thorpe (section)

==Professional career==

===Baseball===
In 1910, Thorpe had the unusual status of a sought-after [[free agent]] at the major league level during the era of the [[reserve clause]], because the minor league team that last held his contract had disbanded that year, so he was free to choose which baseball team to play for.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 1, 1913 |title=Thorpe is to Play Ball with Giants; Famous Indian Athlete Accepts McGraw's Terms Over the Telephone |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/02/01/archives/thorpe-is-to-play-ball-with-giants-famous-indian-athlete-accepts.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=1}}</ref> In January 1913, he turned down a starting position with the [[St. Louis Browns]], then at [[1912 St. Louis Browns season|the bottom of the American League]]. Thorpe signed with the [[New York Giants (baseball)|New York Giants]] baseball club in 1913, the defending [[1912 New York Giants season|1912&nbsp;National League champion]]. With Thorpe playing in 19 of their 151&nbsp;games, they repeated as the [[1913 New York Giants season|1913&nbsp;National League champions]]. Immediately following the Giants' October loss in the [[1913 World Series]], Thorpe and the Giants joined the [[Chicago White Sox]] for a world tour.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 7, 1913 |title=Sox and Giants on World's Tour; Comiskey-McGraw Party Leaves Chicago Oct 19 and Arrives in New York March 6 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/07/27/archives/sox-and-giants-on-worlds-tour-comiskeymcgraw-party-leaves-chicago.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=S2}}</ref> [[Barnstorming (sports)|Barnstorming]] across the United States and around the world, Thorpe was the celebrity of the tour.{{Sfn|Elfers|2003|p=210}}

Thorpe's presence increased the publicity, attendance and [[gate receipts]] for the tour.<ref name="tour">{{Cite web |last=Calvin |first=Tom |date=March 21, 2014 |title=The Inside Story of Baseball's Grand World Tour of 1914 |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/inside-story-baseballs-grand-world-tour-1914-180950228/ |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> He met with [[Pope Pius X]] and [[Abbas II of Egypt|Abbas II Hilmi Bey]] (the last [[Khedive of Egypt]]), and played before 20,000 people in London including [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]].<ref name="tour" />{{Sfn|Elfers|2003|pp=185–187, 233}} Thorpe was the last man to compete in both the Olympics (in a non-baseball sport) and [[Major League Baseball]] before [[Eddy Alvarez]] did the same in 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chandan |first=Sachin Dave |date=August 8, 2020 |title=From Olympic medalist to MLB infielder: How speedskater Eddy Alvarez made it to The Show |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29614458/from-olympic-medalist-mlb-infielder-how-speedskater-eddy-alvarez-made-show |access-date=August 8, 2020 |publisher=ESPN}}</ref>

Thorpe played sporadically with the Giants as an outfielder for three seasons. After playing in the minor leagues with the [[Milwaukee Brewers (minor league baseball team)|Milwaukee Brewers]] in 1916,<ref>[https://www.flickr.com/photos/10795049@N02/2216883254/ "Jim Thorpe's Speed Big Hit In A.A."] ''The Janesville Daily Gazette '', July 10, 1916. Retrieved January 19, 2017.</ref> he returned to the Giants in 1917. He was sold to the [[Cincinnati Reds]] early in the season. In the "double [[no-hitter]]" between [[Fred Toney]] of the Reds and [[Hippo Vaughn]] of the [[Chicago Cubs]], Thorpe drove in the winning run in the 10th inning.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Daley |first=Arthur |date=April 17, 1949 |title=Baseball's 'Ten Greatest Moments' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/04/17/archives/baseballs-ten-greatest-moments-baseballs-ten-greatest-moments.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 23, 2018 |work=The New York Times |page=SM14}}</ref> Late in the season, he was sold back to the Giants. Again, he played sporadically for them in 1918 before being traded to the [[Boston Braves (baseball)|Boston Braves]] on May 21, 1919, for [[Pat Ragan]]. In his career, he amassed 91&nbsp;[[runs scored]], 82&nbsp;[[runs batted in]] and a .252&nbsp;[[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] over 289&nbsp;games.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/thorpji01.shtml |access-date=September 8, 2024 |website=Baseball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref> He continued to play [[minor league baseball]] until 1922,{{Sfn|Buford|2012|p=232}} and once played for the minor league [[Toledo Mud Hens]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Meade |first=Dick |date=April 6, 1921 |title=Hens Win Another and Depart From Training Camp |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YvFXAAAAIBAJ&pg=711%2C1497387 |access-date=July 5, 2019 |work=The Toledo News-Bee |page=12}}</ref>

=== Football ===
Thorpe had not abandoned football either. He first played professional football in 1913 as a member of the Indiana-based [[Pine Village, Indiana#Professional football|Pine Village Pros]], a team that had a several-season winning streak against local teams during the 1910s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NFL History by Decade, 1911–1920 |url=http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1911-1920 |access-date=September 7, 2009 |publisher=[[National Football League]]}}</ref> He signed with the [[Canton Bulldogs]] in 1915. They paid him $250 (${{Inflation|US|250|1915|r=0|fmt=c}}) a game, a tremendous wage at the time.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}} Before signing him Canton was averaging 1,200&nbsp;fans a game, but 8,000 showed up for Thorpe's debut against the [[Massillon Tigers]].{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}} The team won titles in 1916, 1917, and 1919. Thorpe reportedly ended the 1919 championship game by kicking a wind-assisted 95-yard punt from his team's own 5-yard line, effectively putting the game out of reach.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=18}}

In 1920, the Bulldogs were one of 14&nbsp;teams to form the [[American Professional Football Association]], which became the [[National Football League]] (NFL) two years later. Thorpe was nominally [[History of the NFL Commissioner#Jim Thorpe (1920–1921)|their first president]], but spent most of the year playing for Canton; a year later, he was replaced as president by [[Joseph Carr]].{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=20}} He continued to play for Canton, coaching the team as well. Between 1921 and 1923, he helped organize and played for the [[Oorang Indians]] ([[La Rue, Ohio]]), an all-Native American team.<ref>{{Cite book |last=C. Richard King |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TIr7zpw7B8C&pg=PA11 |title=Native athletes in sport & society: a reader |publisher=Bison Books |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8032-7828-8 |pages=11–12}}</ref> Although the team's record was 3–6 in 1922,{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=34}} and 1–10 in 1923,{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=40}} Thorpe played well and was selected for the ''[[Green Bay Press-Gazette]]''{{'s}} first All-NFL team in 1923. This was later formally recognized in 1931 by the NFL as the league's official All-NFL team.{{Sfn|Neft|Cohen|Korch|1994|p=41}}

Thorpe never played for an NFL championship team. He retired from professional football at age&nbsp;41,<ref name="cgm" /> having played 52&nbsp;games for six teams from 1920 to 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jim Thorpe |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/ThorJi20.htm |access-date=July 23, 2013 |publisher=Pro Football Reference}}</ref>

=== Basketball ===
[[File:Jim Thorpe WFI PC front detail.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Thorpe holding a basketball wearing a World Famous Indians jersey|Thorpe with a basketball, 1927]]

Most of Thorpe's biographers were unaware of his basketball career until a ticket that documented his time in professional basketball was discovered in an old book in 2005.<ref name="ticket">{{Cite web |title=History Detectives – Episode 10, 2005: Jim Thorpe Ticket, Jamestown, New York |url=http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-27/310_jimthorpe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814205913/http://www-tc.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/static/media/transcripts/2011-04-27/310_jimthorpe.pdf |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |access-date=May 25, 2017 |publisher=pbs.org}}</ref> By 1926, he was the main feature of the [[World Famous Indians]] of [[La Rue, Ohio]], a traveling basketball team.{{Sfn|Buford|2012|pp=253–254}} The team barnstormed for at least two years (1927–28) in multiple states.<ref name="ticket" /> Although stories about Thorpe's team were published in some local newspapers at the time, his basketball career is not well-documented.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pennington |first=Bill |date=March 29, 2005 |title=Jim Thorpe and a Ticket to Serendipity |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/sports/othersports/jim-thorpe-and-a-ticket-to-serendipity.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 25, 2017 |work=The New York Times |page=D1}}</ref>

For a brief time in 1913, he was considering going into professional [[Ice hockey|hockey]] for the Tecumseh Hockey Club in [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 4, 1913 |title=Jim Thorpe may take up professional hockey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/79823061/ |access-date=November 23, 2020 |work=The Liberal Democrat |location=Liberal, Kansas |page=5}}</ref>