Saturday, March 04, 2000

Deion unveils latest persona: humbled hitter

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BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

“Every man has something he looks back on and says, I wish I would have, could have, should have,” Deion Sanders says. “Most people never go back. I am. (Michael E. Keating photos) | ZOOM |

        SARASOTA, Fla. — It was easy to be cynical about Deion Sanders. He set himself up for that.

        Anyone who called himself Prime Time wasn't living for spiritual fulfillment. Prime Time was a self-made creation, hatched some 25 years ago in the mind of a child who wanted to be star.

        “I've been running with my knees up high since I was 7 years old,” Sanders says. “They call it high-stepping. But it's just Prime Time. I created that image to command millions of dollars, and it worked.”

        So what's next, Deion?

        Something different. Something new. Something completely unheard of. Something that will make everyone watch. Again.

        Deion as underdog. Sanders trying to make the Reds after a two-year hiatus from baseball, five weeks after knee surgery. Deion a week ago, limping to his car after a workout “like he'd just been shot,” in the words of Reds physician Dr. Tim Kremchek.

        Prime Time doing part time, for probably the last time. Deion, a ... longshot. That would be different.

        “It's something I can do with patience and time,” he says.

        Say what you want. Given the subject, you probably will. Some people attract attention the way heart attacks attract paramedics.

If you never thought you'd see Prime Time humbled, you should watch him in the batting cage now, | ZOOM |

Old knees
        Sanders is no better than the sixth outfielder on a team that will keep five. He would have been 100-to-1 to make this team before the Griffey trade and with two teen-aged knees. Now Junior is here. And at 32, Deion's knees are showing their age.

        But he's here every day, one of the first to pull into the players' parking lot. The Prime image made him wealthy. But it cheated him out of the reality that his skills took him no further than his hard work. In baseball, Deion has always busted it.

        “All my life, people thought I was a guy who fell into something,” he says, “but I had to establish this.”

        If you never thought you'd see Prime Time humbled, you should watch him in the batting cage now, hitting weak grounders and harmless flys off the practice pitches of coach Harry Dunlop. If you never thought Sanders would be anything less than a star, you should see him here. If you can find him.

        Deion's ego is smaller than we believed. His work ethic is bigger. Subjecting your image to fouled-off B.P. pitches takes some courage.

        “Let's get away from the word "ego' for a second,” he says. “It takes a total submission to this game for me. I can roll out of bed and play football. Baseball is different. All my game right now needs care.”

        When you ask Sanders if baseball has humbled him, he says, “No, humbling is for the Lord to do.” Religion is a recent addition to the Prime persona, one he acquired, he says, after running his car off a cliff in Cincinnati two years ago, in a suicide attempt.

Giving his all
        Believe what you want. But when a man wants to make himself a better person, maybe we shouldn't ask why.

        “In baseball, I showed the world I'm normal,” Sanders says. “In baseball, I show weakness.”

        Dr. Kremchek figures Sanders won't be 100 percent until May 1. Even then, he may not be good enough. Baseball's subtleties aren't learned at age 32. Sanders was a leadoff hitter who never learned the strike zone. He still hasn't.

        You could wonder why he's here. But while you do, give him credit for opening his image to tarnishing.

        “Every man has something he looks back on and says, I wish I would have, could have, should have,” Sanders says. “Most people never go back. I am.

        “I can't lose. If I come here and it works out like it most likely will, fine. If it doesn't, I'm still a free agent in football. I can close the baseball book saying I gave it my all.”

        On another field across the way, Ken Griffey Jr. is covered in minicams. Prime Time is alone, unnoticed, wrapped in his latest incarnation, obscurity. He seems to enjoy it.

        Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at (513) 768-8454.

       

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