| CINCINNATI -- Deion Sanders' nameplate was removed from his
dressing cubicle Tuesday and his Cincinnati Reds jersey was tucked
away.
| |  | |
| Sanders |
A day after the outfielder/cornerback announced he was going to
play only football this year, the Reds began writing him out of
their plans -- for now.
Manager Jim Bowden said that Sanders will soon be moved from the
team's disabled list to a restricted list, preserving the Reds'
rights to Sanders should he decide to try baseball again.
"There are some administrative complications that have to be
resolved prior to that," he said.
Until Tuesday, the Reds had kept Sanders' jersey hanging in his
cubicle and his nameplate above it. Those were gone, along with
Sanders' photo outside the clubhouse.
So ended Sanders' latest flirtation with baseball, a four-month
stay during which he neither hit nor got back to the big leagues.
Sanders, 32, left the Reds to play football full-time in 1997.
He signed a minor-league contract with the Reds last January and
talked about resuming his two-sport status.
Three big problems arose. Four days after he signed the
contract, he had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to fix a
football injury. That meant he wouldn't be able to run when spring
training began.
His chances were further diminished when the Reds got Ken
Griffey Jr. in a trade with Seattle on Feb. 10, giving them one of
the game's best center fielders.
Finally, Sanders got back his speed but not his batting stroke.
After working out with the Reds at the start of the season, he went
on a minor league rehabilitation assignment and batted only .200
against Triple-A pitching.
Stuck in the minors, Sanders got the club's permission to return
home to Dallas on May 11. Bowden held out a glimmer of hope that he
would play baseball this year and kept Sanders on the disabled
list, which meant he would keep getting a baseball salary.
Sanders had a $300,000 base salary that would have jumped to
$600,000 if he joined the major league team.
When he signed his contract with the Redskins on Monday, Sanders
said he would play only football this year. He didn't rule out
baseball in the future.
Sanders said he turned Bowden down last week when the general
manager called looking for a replacement for outfielder Alex Ochoa,
who went on the disabled list following an appendectomy.
"I don't have any comment on that," Bowden said Tuesday. | |
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