Paul Hagen: McNair had a flair for baseball, too

Jennings, then an area scout for the Mariners, happened across the game against Mendenhall.

"I pulled in, looked around, no scouts there," Jennings told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "Running out to shortstop for Mount Olive was this Adonis. Cut up, athletic. Oh, my God. I saw him throw. He had a great arm. Not much in fielding. He kind of went down on one knee like he was genuflecting at Mass."

At Jennings' urging, Seattle drafted McNair in the 35th round. The team offered him about $15,000 to sign, but he had already decided to emulate his brother, Fred, and play quarterback at Alcorn State.

"I went to his home in Mount Olive, real small, like a three- or four-room house," Jennings related. "His grandmother and I, we sat on the couch after we talked and made the offer, and we were playing 'Wheel of Fortune,' trying to solve the puzzle, while the mother and brother were in the back bedroom and talked about our offer.

"Steve came out and said, 'You know what, Mr. Jennings? I'd love to give this a try, but I idolize my brother. I look up to him and I want to follow in his footsteps at Alcorn State. I don't know if it's a mistake, but my heart is in football.' I left the house. We tried the rest of the summer, but he was set on going to play."

Four years later, Jennings went to a Senior Bowl workout to see McNair.

"He comes up to me, gives me a big hug," Jennings said. "I told him, 'Son, I don't know that you would not have been a major league player because you certainly had great talent, but looking at where you are right now I think you made the right career decision.' He was a special athlete. It was a scout's dream. Little did I know this guy was going to be Air McNair."

The hot corner

 

* The Phillies have been looking for a righthanded bat off the bench for a while now. Well, Orioles shortstop Cesar Izturis is ready to come off the disabled list, possibly as soon as today. That means somebody has to go. And that somebody just might be 31-year-old Oscar Salazar, a professional bat from the right side with some pop and a track record of success as a pinch-hitter.

* Tigers manager Jim Leyland thinks Twins first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer are the best back-to-back hitting tandem in baseball. "I think Minnesota has two of the top 10 players in all of baseball," he added. "I think Mauer is probably in the top five and Morneau in the top 10."

Around the bases

 

* According to the Wall Street Journal, Major League Baseball and the Australian government are discussing creating a league that could begin play as soon as next year. The previous Aussie league folded in 1999.

* When the All-Star rosters were announced Sunday, the Mets had four representatives on the NL roster. That was more than the number of runs they scored (three) in the entire weekend series against the Phillies.

* The Cardinals' starting pitchers are growing mustaches in a show of unity.

On deck