Deion Sanders
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“I never wanted to be mediocre at anything. I wanted to be the absolute best,” says Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders is the only player to have appeared in a Super Bowl and World Series.
For his first five seasons in the NFL, Deion Sanders played for the Atlanta Falcons, who dressed in black and white.Starting with the Falcons, Sanders has been selected for the Pro Bowl eight times. Those colors fit him well. With Sanders, there are no shades of gray.
Strutting into the end zone on a long return, he inspired just as many cheers on Sunday as he did critics on Monday. “Some people will come out to see me do well,” he said. “Some people will come out to see me get run over. But love me or hate me, theyre going to come out.”
Sanders is the only man to have played in a Super Bowl and a World Series. While nowhere near as proficient in baseball as he was in football, Sanders was an outstanding base stealer who was a mediocre hitter. Back to the NFL: In 1996 with the Dallas Cowboys he became the first regular starter on offense and defense in 34 years.
But make no mistake, with eight Pro Bowl selections as a cornerback, defense is where Sanders earns his big bucks. After intercepting 30 passes in his first six seasons, quarterbacks stopped throwing his way.
Sanders, who earned back-to-back Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers and Cowboys, is a big-play guy. He holds the NFL record for career returns for touchdowns with 19 (nine on interceptions, six on punts, three on kickoffs and one on a fumble). He also has three touchdown receptions.
Off the field, his value comes in being “Prime Time.” A prominent pitchman for Nike and Visa, he cashes in on a flamboyant, jewelry-laden persona that is not limited to the playing field. As a Florida State senior, Sanders arrived for the climactic home game against Florida in a white limousine. He emerged wearing a tuxedo.
“How do you think defensive backs get attention?” Sanders said. “They dont pay nobody to be humble.”
He was born Aug. 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Fla. By the time he was eight, he was playing organized baseball and football.
At North Fort Myers High School, Sanders played cornerback and quarterback. He was all-state in football, baseball and basketball. After scoring 30 points in a basketball game, a friend nicknamed him “Prime Time.”
At Florida State in 1987, Sanders, a sophomore outfielder, helped the Seminoles reach the College World Series. But he became nationally known as a two-time football All-American, winning the 1988 Jim Thorpe Trophy as the nations top defensive back.
When the Falcons made him the fifth overall selection in the 1989 NFL draft, Sanders showed up wearing thousands of dollars worth of gold jewelry and an attention-getting black leather ensemble complete with an embroidered “Prime Time.”
He spent the summer of 89 in the outfield of the New York Yankees Triple-A Columbus team. After joining the Yankees, he homered against Seattle on September 5. Three days after signing a $4.4-million, four-year contract with the Falcons, Sanders ran back the first punt he received for a touchdown against the Los Angeles Rams on September 10. That makes him the only pro athlete to hit a homer and score a touchdown in one week.
Where Sanders was flashy playing football, he was low key in baseball. “You cant jump around and get excited and go crazy in baseball,” he said. “Nobody ever masters that game.”
Two seasons with the Yankees proved that. After batting only .177 in 71 games, he was released near the end of the 1990 season. Sanders, who played for the Yankees, Braves, Reds and Giants, hit .263 and stole 186 bases in 641 games over nine seasons.By then, he had become a full-time Falcon, and started all 16 games that year.
In 1991, Sanders batted .191 in 54 games as a centerfielder for the Atlanta Braves. Where baseball was a struggle, Sanders seemed to have football mastered. He earned his first Pro Bowl invitation in 1991, intercepting six passes to help the Falcons reach the playoffs as a wild card.
But the sport he once called his “girlfriend” sought more of a commitment. “The only way I have a chance to be successful in baseball is to give it a shot for a full season,” he said just before 1992.
That year, Sanders seemed torn. He hit a career-high .304 with a National League-leading 14 triples. He had the Falcons waiting for him until the fourth game of the year. They were paying him $750,000 a season, but they fined him $68,000 for going AWOL to the Braves, who were paying him $600,000.
On October 11, Sanders played for the Falcons at Miami, then took a charter flight to Pittsburgh for the Braves playoff game that night, hoping to become the first athlete to play in two pro sports the same day. But Braves manager Bobby Cox didnt play him. Broadcaster Tim McCarver criticized Sanders and, three days later after Atlanta won the NLCS, Neon Deions response was to dump ice water on McCarver.
After going hitless in five at-bats in the Pirates series,