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Deion's name could flash in neon for the Reds, too

Sporting News, The, March 10, 1997 by Bob Nightengale

They are the game's gate attractions, the precious few who, by themselves, are worth the price of a ticket.

Bo Jackson was one of those players. No one dared to head for the concession stand when he was at the plate.

Jose Canseco has been one of those guys since he arrived in the majors. Just ask Athletics officials how ticket prices have fared since Canseco was traded back to Oakland.

Albert Belle is another. How can you take your eyes off him?

Yet the biggest marquee star of the game today might wind up being the Reds' Deion Sanders. His name could be as bright in baseball as it is in football.

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Sure, we know he has the same career on-base percentage, .322, as Mike Gallego. We know he is a superstar in football but has yet to be an All-Star in baseball. We know that he possesses no power.

Still, except for the attention Belle will receive, no one will be more fun to watch in 1997 than the Reds' center fielder.

Sanders doesn't need baseball, and it's not about money. "I have to be doing something," he says. "I don's get tired or stale playing. It's when I'm not playing that I get stale. And I love this."

More than football?

"I'm a football player " he says. "I honestly believe I was born to play football. It's natural for me. Baseball is tougher. This is a challenge. I know I've never played as well as I wish I could, and I'd like to have a breakthrough year. That means being more patient, getting on base more consistently so I can use my speed. I want to prove some things and help the Reds to the pennant."

Sure, as in football, he'll be booed wherever he goes. He is be perceived as an arrogant pompous athlete and part of the Cowboys' madness.

In truth, he is nothing like he appears to be in football. He is humble, sincere and genuine when it comes to baseball.

"I'm `Prime Time' in football," the Dallas defensive back says. "I'm Deion in baseball. Look, you've got to be that way in football. You've got to intimidate some people out there as a DB. But in baseball, that stuff doesn't work."

Sanders' baseball peers think the world of him.

"We reaDy like the guy," Reds captain Barry Larkin says, "because he is a legitimate good guy and because he brings an energy to a team every day that few players ever have."

Says infielder Lenny Harris, who helped persuade Deion to return: "We missed him last year. We missed him at the top of the order, and we missed him as a teammate.

"I tell him, `As long as you don't go pulling a Rodman it's "Prime Time" on the field and Deion offit.'

"He is a great friend, a great family man. He'll do anything for his teammates." It's a mutual admiration society.

"This is the only place I want to play," Sanders says. "From Bernie Stowe (the equipment manager) to the players to Ray Knight to Jim Bowden, this is a family. People are honest Bowden (the Reds' general manager) is the best Everyone here is playing for less than he could make elsewhere. Why? He talks to the players. He listens to their opinions and respects them. The players here recruit other players.

"Believe me, this isn't Dallas. That's crazy. The media there follow players. This is the real world. I walk down the street and all people say is, `Nice to see you, Prime Time.'"

The litmus test, of course, is whether Sanders can become one of the National League's finest leadoff hitters. That's why on the first day of camp he wore a black baseball cap with a huge question mark on it.

"I'm a question mark, and the Cincinnati Reds are a question mark," Sanders says. "Look, I've been scrutinized all of my life. I love lead off pressure.

"I can't please everybody I just love to please myself. I know in footfall they better not throw it in my zone or I'm going to get it. I want to get that confidence in baseball, too. I haven't done it, but I want to get there."

Welcome back, Deion. The game has missed you.

Piazza isn't listening

Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza hears the rumors and knows there's nothing he can do about them.

"I know what people are saying," says Piazza, who batted .336 last season with 36 home runs. "They're saying, `Piazza is on steroids. Piazza is doing this. Piazza is doing that....'

"People can say what they want, but I don't use steroids."

Piazza thinks the situation is getting out of hand. "It's crazy--if it's not one thing it's something else," he says. "There are always detractors. That's the price you pay when you're in the public eye.

"I'm not upset by the rumors, but I'll be upset at myself if I ever start listening.

"I think if people saw how much work I put into this game, I think those rumors would stop.... There's nothing you can take to teach you how to hit."

Verbal war games

There's nothing like a good ol' fashioned cross-town rivalry to stir up bad blood.

Deion's name could flash in neon for the Reds, too

Sporting News, The, March 10, 1997 by Bob Nightengale

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