Before he roamed the center fields of Coors Field and Pro Player Stadium, Juan Pierre had a smaller field to conquer. The distance of the outfield walls did not matter with Pierre's game, so he would swing down at the ball on the batting tee and begin racing.
''He never tried to be a home run hitter,'' James Pierre, Juan's father, said last night from the Pierres' home in Alexandria, La. ''Even in T-ball he liked to hit the ball on the ground because he could run. He'd hit the ball on the ground and none of the kids could get it so he'd round the bases.''
As 26, Pierre is still running for the Florida Marlins and will unveil that game tonight against the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.
Pierre took a cab to Yankee Stadium at noon yesterday, beating the bus from the team's midtown hotel by 90 minutes. There, in the quiet of the empty ballpark, he walked around the outfield.
A few hours later, Pierre carried a bat and glove down the left-field line and took swings as his teammates played catch. The night before, he had appreciated how the Yankees rallied to beat the Boston Red Sox -- not Aaron Boone's game-winning homer or the two home runs by Jason Giambi but the bloop hit to center field by Jorge Posada that scored two runs and tied the score, 5-5, in the eighth inning.
''That's what I always try to preach to the other guys on the team, the lousy hit'll work,' Pierre said. ''It doesn't take a home run all the time. They probably thought I was crazy in April but now we got the whole dugout saying it, 'Beat them with a lousy knock.' That's our coined phrase now. It might be weird, but I preach to the guys to go the other way and get hits.''
The Marlins have been relatively subdued on the bases this postseason (6 stolen bases in 11 games) after leading the major leagues with 150 steals this season. Pierre batted .305 and had 65 steals, tops in the majors, and teamed with Luis Castillo (.314 batting average, 21 steals) to form one of the more annoying threats at the top of the order.
Pierre played in all 162 games (a source of pride), collected 204 hits and was the hardest player in baseball to strike out (once every 21.3 plate appearances). Pierre, who is listed at 6 feet and 180 pounds, accomplished that mostly by slapping hits through infields. He walked only 55 times in 746 plate appearances.
''He knows his role and he just plays his role,'' James Pierre said. ''He honed those skills because he knew what he could do.''
James Pierre, who played baseball for Grambling State University, named his son after his father's favorite player, Juan Marichal, and the two older Pierres took turns pitching to Juan in the backyard. The father prided himself on teaching Juan the game and to be respectful, but he took little credit for his skills. Those, James Pierre said, his son developed on his own.
That allowed Pierre to bypass an offer to play basketball for Iowa State and pursue baseball, first at Galveston (Tex.) Junior College and then at South Alabama.
The Colorado Rockies drafted him in the 13th round in 1998, and after starting his first professional season as a fourth outfielder and occasional ninth-place hitter for short-season Portland, Ore., he led the Northwest League in hitting (.352) and stolen bases (38).
With the Rockies, he often waited for the coaches by the batting cages on spring-training mornings. Dave Collins, Colorado's first-base coach and a former big league outfielder, challenged him to bunt with 0-2 counts, and Pierre kept improving.
The power, though, never came. Pierre has 4 home runs in 2,077 career at-bats, and none at homer friendly Coors Field. He had less than three years of major league experience when the Rockies traded him to the Marlins last November, dumping Mike Hampton's salary (which was quickly moved to the Atlanta Braves) for a package that included center fielder Preston Wilson, who led the National League with 141 runs batted in this season.
Pierre is at peace with the deal, happy that the Rockies cleared space for him to establish himself and disappointed only that they gave up on him. He led the league with 45 infield hits and 29 bunt hits. He hit one home run. He never longed for power, modeling himself after Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs, hitters with opposite-field swings, and Kenny Lofton, a leadoff hitter who uses his speed in all parts of his offense.
Knowing he had no power helped him get to the big leagues, Pierre said. ''I had to learn how to bunt and run the bases and play good defense,'' he said.
The Yankees have been adept at shutting down opponents' key players in the postseason. Pierre expects the Yankees to guard against the bunt as other teams have.
''They've been doing that for four years,'' he said. ''I guess they can try.''
All that is left is to convince others that his game works.
''I'm glad we're having the success we're having as a team without the home runs,'' Pierre said. ''The way the balls are flying out these days it just shows the general manager and baseball people that this game can still work.''
Photo: The Marlins' Juan Pierre played all 162 games this season. He had 204 hits, batted .305, scored 100 runs and stole 65 bases. He hit just one home run. (Photo by Gary I. Rothstein)