When Deion Sanders was in the third grade, he says he would often skip school in order to make a quick buck by scavenging local baseball games for sellable scraps.
The Colorado head football coach and NFL Hall of Famer told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday about his childhood escapades with baseball collectibles when he noted a reporter wearing a Kansas City Royals hat.
“I was hustling balls in the third grade. I used to skip school, bring my little sock. I used to beat everybody running when they hit the home run balls, and I used to get the balls and I used to sell them during the game. That was my hustle. I used to always make sure to bring my teacher the best ball.” Sanders said.
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Colorado head coach Deion Sanders speaks during the Big 12 NCAA college football media days in Las Vegas, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Lucas Peltier)
Sanders was born and raised in Fort Meyers, Florida, by his mother Connie Sanders and her husband Willie Knight. Sanders also began playing baseball around that time when he was eight years old, but that didn’t stop his entrepreneurship. Sanders specifically chose to gather the collectibles from Royals spring training games in Fort Myers.
Sanders said Royals great George Brett and Amos Otis were his biggest role models back then.
“I would sit right there when they would come out of the club house and I would get their autographs, and I would beg for cracked bats. Cracked bats was like 10 bucks or $15,” Sanders said. “A good home run ball in [batting practice] was like $3.50.”
Sanders said he would even help clean out batting cages and got to keep some of the balls he cleaned up to take home and sell.
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Jul 10, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders speaks to the media during the Big 12 Media Days at Allegiant Stadium. (Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports)
“That was my hustle,” Sanders repeated.
Then, after an illustrious high school career as a baseball and football player for North Fort Meyers High School, Sanders was drafted by the Royals. However, advice from the late Royals manager Dick Howser helped him make the decision to decline that offer and play football at Florida State.
“He was the one that said, ‘I hear you’re a pretty good football player. I would go to college, and we’ll draft you again,'” Sanders recounted. “That’s why I went and played football, because they offered me a substantial amount of money.”
Sanders went on to become a two-time unanimous All-American at Florida State, the fifth overall pick in the 1989 NFL Draft, and made eight Pro Bowls while winning two Super Bowls en-route to induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
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Deion Sanders walks the field during warmups before Colorado’s game against Oregon. (Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK)
But Sanders also fulfilled his dream of playing Major League Baseball as well. Sanders had a nine-year, part-time baseball career, playing left and center field in 641 games with four teams. But he never ended up playing for the Royals, and ended up playing for the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants. Sanders finished his MLB career with a .263 batting average with 39 career home runs, 168 RBI and 186 stolen bases.
He doesn’t need to sell baseball scraps anymore, as his net worth is estimated to be $45 million as of 2024.
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