“This is my life. I’d like to lead it the way I choose to. Everyone else is free to watch it-but I have to live it.”
— Michael Jordan, Chicago Tribune (January 13, 1994)
Michael Jordan is considered one of the greatest MBA players of all time, and while the majority of his achievements happed on the hardwood, there was one season in which Jordan ditched his basketball shoes for a pair of baseball cleats.
Michael Jordan's basketball career was legendary, in 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA History by the National Basketball Association.
Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963, and he is a former professional basketball player who is currently the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls.
Jordan played college basketball for three seasons under coach Dean Smith with the North Carolina Tar Heels. As a freshman, he was a member of the Tar Heels' national championship team in 1982. Jordan joined the Bulls in 1984 as the third overall draft pick, and quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring while gaining a reputation as one of the game's best defensive players. Jordan's leaping ability, demonstrated by performing slam dunks from the free-throw line in Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". Jordan won his first NBA championship with the Bulls in 1991, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat"
Jordan played a total of 15 seasons and 1,072 regular-season games for both Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards. Michael Jordan's basketball career averages were 30 points, six rebounds, and five assists. He won 5 MVP Awards and was selected to play in 14 MBA All-Star games, a six-time NBA world champion.
Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Jordan also played for two Olympic gold medal-winning American basketball teams. He played as a college athlete in the 1984 Summer Games and again played as a professional basketball player on the 1992 "Dream Team," which included Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
In 1993, Jordan retired from Basketball and jumped into playing baseball. Jordan signed a minor league baseball contract on February 7, 1994, for the Minor League baseball team, the Birmingham Barons, a double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.
Jordan wanted to play baseball because his father wanted to see him succeed at playing baseball while Jordan was growing up. Playing baseball would be a tribute to his father, he said in an interview that appeared in the Chicago Tribune in 1994, "...And this is something my father always wanted me to do. He started me in baseball when I was six years old. Two years ago, he told me that I should go for it. I'm serious. My father thought I could be a major-league baseball player, and I'm sure that right now he can see me trying. He's watching every move that I make.."
My father thought I could be a major-league baseball player, and I’m sure that right now he can see me trying. He’s watching every move that I make.
Michael Jordan, Chicago Tribune (1994)
I saw him struggle for a few months, but I also saw him become a ballplayer right before my eyes. He worked his butt off, but he enjoyed himself and bonded with the team. I swear, he was going to the majors...”
Curt Bloom, Birmingham Barons play-by-play announcer, July 30, 1994 via ESPN
Why did Jordan play for the Chicago White Sox's? It was simple as the owner of the Chicago Bulls Jerry Riensdorf also happened to own the Chicago White Sox. He saw an opportunity to bring some additional attention to his baseball club and get more fans in the seats. Recently Jerry Riensdorf revealed in the ESPN's documentary "The Last Dance" why he still paid Jordan his NBC contract during the time that he played for the Chicago White Sox's "Along with the Bulls, I owned the Chicago White Sox... When Michael was signed to play baseball, I continued paying him his basketball contract, which was something over $3 million per year," Riensdorf further said, "There was no reason to pay him other than he was underpaid his entire career. And he made a lot of money for a lot of people."
In a 1994 interview that appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Jordan got the question on why he was playing baseball, and he responded: "First of all, it's fun," he said. "I'm not doing this for a fantasy camp experience. I can have a fantasy on the golf course. This is a better challenge. This ball is moving..." Jordan described the differences between playing in the NBA and playing in the MLB in the Chicago Tribune article by saying that "Baseball teams stay in a city for four or five days at a time," he said. "It's not like the NBA, where you fly out after every game. I'd like to take my wife and children with me on the road. There are certain things I was thinking when I retired that I didn't want to express to anyone. I know this will put me back in front of people. But I hope they'll be looking at me in a different light.... That's no problem," Jordan said. "Sitting on the bench, I could learn every day. I'd be watching great baseball players closeup. I don't like sitting around, but that's not a bad way to spend the summer, is it? I think it sounds great."
Jordan's one year play on the baseball diamond resulted in his batting average of .202 with three home runs, 51 RBI's, 30 SB, 114 strikeouts, 51 walks, 11 errors, 436 at Bats, 496 plate appearances and 127 games played. At first glance, these stats aren't that impressive; actually, they aren't good; however, you need to put them into perspective. The league average in the Southern League back in 1993 for success at the plate was 16.4%, and Jordan's percentage was 22.9%, so he was way above the league average.
The 1994 player strike might have been the nail in the coffin on why we never saw Michael Jordan go any farther in the MLB. Even though the season ended in August with the strike in 1994, Jordan didn't quite, he played in the Arizona Fall League, and according to Sporting News.com, he batted .317 in his first 41 at-bats and finished with a .252 batting average with 123 at-bats.
Jordan did get a chance to make make it to Triple-A baseball with the Nashville Sounds, the Texas Rangers' affiliate. However, at the starting age of 31, Jordan was just far behind the other players that he wouldn't have made the team. At the time, the manager of the Barons possible hall of fame manager and now Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona was extremely confident that Jordan would make it to the MLB. In a quote provided to ESPN at the time, Francona said, "I do think with another 1,000 at-bats, he would've made it...But there's something else that people miss about that season. Baseball wasn't the only thing he picked up. I truly believe that he rediscovered himself, his joy for competition. We made him want to play basketball again."
“I want to go to spring training for one reason, and that’s to make the team, .. This is no fantasy. I plan to be in Sarasota by mid-February.”
Michael Jordan, Chicago Tribune (January 13, 1994)
Instead, Jordan returned to basketball and led the Chicago Bulls to three more NBA titles in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was integral in helping to popularize the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s, and became a global cultural icon in the process.
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