By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
After five-plus seasons within the Philadelphia Phillies system, outfield prospect Cord Sandberg announced his retirement from professional baseball to allow him to "chase" another dream of his — playing collegiate football as a quarterback.
It appears such dream will soon come to reality for the 23-year-old. Sandberg reportedly has a scholarship offer from Auburn, and walk-on offers from Florida and Louisiana State University, according to the Reading Eagle's Jason Guarente. Sandberg has also "talked with" UCF, per reports, although the former No. 22-ranked Phillies prospect is still in the "early in process of deciding" which school he will attend.
Sandberg said he felt "it was time to go to college" and "get an education," while pursuing his dream. "… And if for some reason I never start a college football game ever, I can at 28 be like, 'OK, I gave it all I had to both, but now I have a four-year degree and I can move on with the next part of my life,'" Sandberg told Bradenton.com's Jason Dill.
"My main goal is going for the place with the best situation. With my Phillies contract that I had, I do have some money for schooling through the Phillies. So, if for some reason I decided to go a place that was a walk-on situation for maybe a year or two, the Phillies would be able to pay my tuition and books and all that stuff. I'd be able to make that work until I was on scholarship, if I felt that was the right situation."
Sandberg ended his professional baseball career with just two singles over his last 21 plate appearances at Double-A Reading. Overall in 496 minor league games, Sandberg produced 80 doubles, eight triples, 29 home runs and 173 RBI, while slashing .243/.298/.348.
“It takes one thing to click or to have something happen to be that major league player," Sandberg told Guarente. "I gave it a long time to develop. For me, it wasn’t worth rolling the dice to see if I could get over the hump.”
Sandberg was drafted in the third round of the 2013 amateur draft out of Manatee High School. A former high school quarterback, Sandberg forwent a scholarship to play at Mississippi State, despite logging 79 touchdowns and just eight interceptions spanning 627 passing attempts in high school.
(Photo: Cord Sandberg/Twitter)
