The Sports Xchange

Whenever a professional athlete even hints that he might play a second pro sport, it attracts attention.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson created that kind of intrigue by refusing to close the door on a professional baseball career when he interviewed for HBO’s “Real Sports.”

Wilson, 26, is negotiating a contract extension with the Seahawks but admitted he has considered playing baseball in the NFL offseason.

“I never want to kill the dream of playing two sports,” Wilson said on the “Real Sports” program that is scheduled to air April 21. “I would honestly play two sports.”

When host Bryant Gumbel asked Wilson what was preventing him from pursuing a second sport, Wilson said, “I don’t know. I may push the envelope a little bit one of these days.”

Wilson was a two-sport star at North Carolina State before transferring to Wisconsin for his final season of college football.

Each of the past two years, he spent a day participating in spring training with the Texas Rangers in Arizona. On March 28, he hit a home run during batting practice.

Wilson was a second baseman in college and in the minors.

Wilson was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of high school and was drafted again in 2010 when he was taken by the Colorado Rockies in the fourth round.

He was acquired by the Rangers in December 2013 during the Rule 5 draft.

While playing for Tri-City on Class A ball in 2010, Wilson hit .230 with two home runs in 32 games. The next season, with Class A Asheville, Wilson hit .228, with three home runs in 61 games.