Sunday, January 16, 2000
REDS INSIDER
How 'Doggie' got his name
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Though some of you may already know how Tony Perez came to be nicknamed “Doggie,” the tale bears repeating, given his ascent to the Hall of Fame.
Perez and fellow slugger Lee May were toiling for the Reds' team in the Florida Instructional League in 1963. May quickly became fascinated with Perez's mannerisms in the batter's box. Perez moved his hands, which were pulled back almost as far as they could go, in a tiny circle as he awaited a pitch. Meanwhile, he'd chomp gum ferociously.
The combination of Perez's ominously waggling bat and grinding jaws looked menacing, at least to May.
“He said I looked like I was going to bite the pitcher,” Perez said.
Owing to the respect Perez commanded as well as his style, May dubbed Perez “Big Dog.” That was soon shortened to “Doggie.”
ONE-SPORT STAR?: People who claim to know Deion Sanders intimately say that his desire to return to baseball has cooled considerably.
According to the insiders' party line, Sanders is more concerned with restructuring his Dallas Cowboys contract than rejoining the Reds, for whom he last played in 1997. Reviving his baseball career would lead Cowboys management to question Sanders' priorities, the thinking goes.
Sanders also is said to be genuinely concerned about spending enough time with his children. As anybody involved in major league baseball will confirm, balancing the 162-game schedule and fatherhood is a difficult act.
But it's still too early to write off chances of a Sanders-Reds reunion. Former Reds utilityman Lenny Harris believed his close friend hasn't decided whether to return to Cincinnati.
“It seems like you never know what he's thinking about,” Harris said of Sanders, “One day he'll say one thing and the next day he says another. So you never know what he's going to do.”
The Reds removed Sanders from the 40-man roster, designated him for assignment and declined to tender him a major-league contract last month — all procedural moves that let them retain the right to sign him to a minor-league contract.
SINGULAR SULLIVAN: Determining salaries through the arbitration process is based largely on statistical comparisons with players of similar major-league service time at corresponding positions.
This in itself makes Cincinnati's Scott Sullivan an intriguing case. Many relievers have performed more spectacularly than Sullivan, but none can match his durability.
Sullivan's 313 relief innings pitched from 1997-99 is the most in the majors. Montreal's Anthony Telford is a distant second with 276 innings.
“It's hard to find a lot of guys who duplicate that workload year-in and year-out,” said Miles Shoda, Sullivan's agent.
If the Reds and Sullivan can't settle on a contract and are forced into an arbitration hearing, club management could face a challenge trying to compare the right-hander with any set-up reliever.
One, San Francisco's John Johnstone, recently agreed to a two-year, $3.3 million deal. Sullivan can easily argue that he deserves a similar package, at least.
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