Deion Sanders was rather incredible during the 1992 World Series.
Atlanta’s fourth outfielder, the two-sport athlete better known as “Prime Time” hit .533 against the Blue Jays, with five stolen bases, four runs scored in 17 plate appearances. He’s the only player ever to hit at least .500 with at least five stolen bases in a World Series.
Despite those efforts, Toronto won in six games.
With the World Series underway and Coach Prime making headlines — and headway — as Colorado’s head football coach, we thought we’d take a look back at Sanders’ dynamic postseason series. We’re not the only ones, of course. But we probably are the only ones looking back through the eyes of The Sporting News archives, and those pages tell a story that’s not only about record World Series production.
Truth is, there was basically zero reason to expect Sanders to be a star in the World Series, which just makes his performance all that more amazing. We’re going to yada yada a lot of August drama here — would he choose the Falcons or Braves or find a compromise to do both? —but just know that once the NFL season started, Sanders was barely on the baseball field at all. In September, Sanders played exactly the same number of games for the Falcons and the Braves — four. And, folks, he was MUCH better with the Falcons, starting a season that would end with his first All-Pro first-team nod of his football career.
For the Braves, he pinch-ran three times and had two at-bats the entire month. But more than just about anything, Deion wanted to play in the postseason. He hadn’t been on Atlanta’s roster for the 1991 postseason.
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“It hurt my heart to sit over on the sidelines and watch us go on. Last year I wasn't a part of it, and this year I think I can be a key part of the Braves' success. I want to make the difference,” he said, as quoted in the Braves team notes section of the Sept. 7 issue.
Remember, in 1992 Sanders had what was — by far — his best baseball season to that point. He’d played in 97 games, but led the NL with 14 triples and batted .304 with 26 stolen bases, eight home runs and 28 RBIs. Advanced stats weren’t around then, of course, but he had a 130 OPS+ and a 3.2 bWAR. By any measure, he was absolutely an impact player.
So with assurances that he’d be available for every Atlanta postseason game, the Braves put him on the playoff roster. And then, the NLCS happened. Sanders didn’t play much — for the Braves. He did, however, play for the Falcons on Sunday, Oct. 11 in Miami, then flew to Pittsburgh where the Braves were playing Game 5 against the Pirates.
He arrived 17 minutes before first pitch, and he did not play. The gambit — two sports in one day — was reportedly bankrolled by Nike and CBS. It did not sit well with the Braves. They thought Sanders meant he would be baseball-only during the playoffs. Sanders said, as expressed in the Nov. 2 issue, that he would be at every game, which he technically was.
MORE: Inside Deion Sanders' historic attempt to play two sports in one day
Atlanta wound up winning the NLCS in seven games — on a rather famous final play — and this article appeared in the October 19 issue of The Sporting News, with the headline “Sanders refires the Braves’ ire.”
Here’s how it started …
Deion Sanders hasn’t completely burned the bridges in the baseball portion of his two-sport pro career. But to Atlanta Braves officials, Sanders has reignited the match.
The Braves probably won’t remove Sanders from their World Series roster. But they don’t plan to protect him in next month’s National League expansion draft — and they won’t give him a 1993 baseball contract without a clause prohibiting his football participation until his baseball duties have been completed.
From Atlanta’s GM, John Schuerholz, in the article: "Why should we volunteer to play with only 24 guys if one guy gets a (football) helmet in the knee (and can't be replaced for medical reasons)?"
The piece went on to say that the Braves didn’t have many other options, though. So, Sanders was on the roster, though after going 0-for-5 in the NLCS with three strikeouts, probably safe to say he wasn’t at the top of the Blue Jays scouting report.
Sanders didn’t play in Game 1, but he’d had success against Toronto’s David Cone — 6 for 10 in his career — so he started Game 2 in place of Ron Gant. Sanders, a lefty hitter against the right-handed Cone, reached base three times, via two walks and a single, stole two bases and scored a run. Still unhappy with the whole situation, Cox wasn’t exactly verbose about the performance.
“He played well,” Cox said, on Page 12 of the October 26 issue.
A few pages later, in Peter Pascarelli’s noted column, Sanders is the only player mentioned as a high-profile player who could be left unprotected in the expansion draft.
Oh, and Game 2 was the same day as the Falcons played the 49ers in San Francisco. Sanders didn’t try the double duty, much to the football team’s chagrin; Steve Young had 399 passing yards and Jerry Rice, the wideout Sanders would have been guarding, had 183 receiving yards and a pair touchdowns in San Francisco’s 56-17 romp. Check out this quote that appeared on Page 28 of that same issue, from 49ers tight end Brent Jones.
“What choice did he have? You can play in your first World Series or you can come and get abused by Jerry Rice.”
By the next issue of The Sporting News, dated Nov. 2, the Blue Jays had wrapped up the World Series, winning in six games. Sanders went 3-for-4 in Game 3, didn’t play Game 4 — lefty Jimmy Key started for the Jays — then had two more hits in Game 5 and two more in Game 6. He didn’t finish Game 6, though, lifted for Gant — dubbed “the forgotten man of the series” in the issue when lefty David Wells was brought into the game by Toronto. Asked about the move, Cox said, “Because I wanted Ron Gant in the game.”
The end of the World Series didn’t mean the end of the bickering. Sanders, as written in the Nov. 6 issue, said he didn't appreciate Schuerholz talking to the media about his view of the contract situation. “It hurts. I don't like (Schuerholz) trying to damage my credibility. One thing I pride myself on is being real. If a man ain't got his word, he ain't got nothing.”
Those comments first appeared in Newsday. Schuerholz’s response: "There are some people I've known in my life that I respect and I'd be hurt if they were critical of me. He's not one of them."
Still, he hit .533 in the World Series, so the Braves did not leave Sanders unprotected for the expansion draft — instead renewing him for the next year at $985,000, as reported next spring, in the March 15, 1993 issue.