Tim Sullivan
Cincinnati Reds Enquirer

COLUMBUS — Deion Sanders lifts a stool from his locker and places it on the floor in front of me. His manners are perfect, his mood is convivial, and his words arrive in a conspiratorial whisper.

But before the interview can begin in earnest, Sanders has a question of his own.

“I remember names,” he says. “You used to talk junk about me. What's changed?”

On the advice of Winston Churchill, who observed that it was sometimes nourishing to eat one's own words, I admit that I have repeatedly disparaged Deion Sanders' abilities as a baseball player.

Waiter, how do you cook your crow here?

What's changed? Must you ask? Sanders, heretofore an extraordinary cornerback and an ordinary outfielder, is suddenly and undeniably the hottest hitter in professional baseball. He had a triple and a homer in five at-bats against the Columbus Clippers Friday night, and his average dropped from .468 to .463. He is expected to join the Reds Tuesday on a hot streak that could burn asbestos.

“He's on fire,” Louisville shortstop Chris Sexton said. “So much of this game is mental, and he's got a lot of confidence now. Even if he's 0-for-2, he knows he's going to get a couple of hits. He knows.”

Four years since he last faced major-league pitching, 10 months since he abandoned his last comeback attempt with a .200 Triple-A batting average, Sanders has rededicated himself to baseball with astonishing results. He has 31 hits in 17 games, and leads the International League in triples, on-base percentage and HDWs (He Did What?)

At the relatively advanced age of 33, Prime Time may at last be a prime-time player.

“It's still a small sample,” said Brad Kullman, the Reds' director of baseball administration. “We don't know if it's a hot streak or if he's made an adjustment. I think it's a little of both.”

Sanders still takes unorthodox routes in the outfield. He still throws as if pitching to a team of Tee-ball players. He still walks too seldom for a legitimate leadoff hitter.

Yet to deny his transformation in the batter's box is folly worth of the Flat Earth Society. Sanders is hitting the ball to all fields now, making better use of his superlative speed, and a lot of the balls he doesn't hit hard are finding holes.

Kullman said he had never seen Sanders have a better batting practice than Thursday night in Louisville. Brook Jacoby, the RiverBats hitting coach, watches Sanders daily with undisguised wonder.

“I'm amazed that he can come up there and put the bat on the ball like he's been doing,” Jacoby said. “He's letting it happen, not trying to force things to happen. He gets a good pitch to hit and he's been putting a pretty good swing on it.”

In his previous baseball incarnations, Deion Sanders was not always so selective. He swung at so many pitches outside the strike zone that he sometimes seemed in collusion with the pitcher. Even now, in the midst of this mind-boggling barrage, Reds executives wonder if major-league pitchers may still be able to exploit Sanders' aggressiveness.

Sanders neither wonders nor worries. He is playing with much the same confidence that has defined his football career, healthier both physically and mentally than in his previous attempts at baseball.

“I've got the peace of God in my life,” he says. “I don't have any contract issues or any distractions in my life ...

“And I'm just hitting the ball where it's pitched.”

Sanders has Hall of Fame credentials as a football player, but baseball has sometimes baffled him. He returns to it, he said, as a man might a woman he loves but can't win.

“I love the challenge,” he said.

What has made this year less challenging than last is that Sanders is able to use his legs without limping. He can operate his toes and ankles and knees operate without saying ouch.

“I think he just feels good,” RiverBats manager Dave Miley said. “I think that goes a long way as to how Deion plays. He hits a one-hopper and the guys (in the field) know he can run.

“We're playing Richmond on the road and we're down by four runs in the eighth inning. He gets on first base and they throw over six or seven times. They pitched out. He's so disruptive.”

Describing the excitement he creates on the basepaths, Sanders delights in describing how spectators headed to the bathroom postpone their pit stops to watch him run.

“My age is on the page,” he said. “My body doesn't indicate my age. I think I'm in pretty good shape, especially for a balpllayer. I feel like I'm 25 in baseball years.”

Deion Sanders is certainly not as young as he feels, but it can be dangerous to doubt him.