Twenty years ago, football’s loss was baseball’s gain.
Deion Sanders retired from the NFL in the summer of 2001 in pursuit of a full-time career in MLB.
But in an ironic twist, pro football ended up taking on the individualistic legacy of the man called “Prime Time,” while baseball players have gotten increasingly homogenous.
Could there be a lesson for MLB on the cusp of the 2021 season as the sport tries to improve its connections with younger fans in a society that no longer sees the slow pace of baseball as an ideal fit?