No one expected one of the best basketball players in the world, especially in his prime to quit playing to pursue another sport. Before the 1993 season, Michael Jordan announced his retirement from the game of basketball and attempted to make a MLB roster. It was always a dream of his father to see his son become a player in the MLB, but unfortunately in July 1993, his father was murdered. Not only was was Jordan so devastated about the death of his father, but he was so fed up with the celebrity basketball lifestyle. Both seemed to push him away from the game of basketball and towards what his father always envisioned for him. Jordan had gotten his three-peat championship, besting Magic Johnson (who stopped at two straight) and amounted a number of achievements to where he felt he could properly move on. Jerry Reinsdorf, who was and currently is the owner of both the Bulls and the White Sox was more than willing to give Jordan a shot at achieving his dreams. It was this series of events that led to Jordan taking a hiatus from the game of basketball.
After Spring Training Jordan was assigned straight to Double-A with the Birmingham Barons where he would have a rather underwhelming performance in the 1994 season before returning to the Bulls. We would never see Jordan play for another MLB team, but we have come to find out that he was given the opportunity to join the Oakland Athletics. Per former GM of the A’s, Sandy Alderson, when he heard that Jordan was looking to make a break into the MLB, he offered him a major league contract as soon as he heard he was being sent to the minor leagues. Alderson didn’t even know who the 25th man was on their roster was, they would find a way to get Jordan on that roster and play for an MLB team. It wasn’t that Jordan had a particular skill or asset that could help the team, they were only interested at the buzz he would have created for their team. Sending him straight to the majors would have made no sense from a management perspective, it would not only anger guys who have labored to earn a spot on that team but it would ultimately set Jordan up for instant failure. Even though Jordan had played in high school, he would have been not even in the same class as some of the other MLB talent he would have had to face, thus only making him resent the game he was so longing to connect with.
“It wasn’t about, ‘We’ve got a spot for him, he’s got a particular skill. That wasn’t the idea. The idea was, ‘We’ve got Michael Jordan on our team’ and the interest that would have generated.”
Sandy Alderson via ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” podcast
Despite the offer, thankfully Jordan declined the contract, stating that he wanted to “do the baseball thing from the ground up.” This is a 100% the right way he should have gone about it, despite being Michael Jordan, he would have had no right being thrown right into the fire just for entertainment. Not only that, some of his teammates would have hated him for taking another player’s spot that deserved it. On top of thais, Jordan was an extremely loyal guy and wanted to remain that way to owner of both the Bulls and White Sox, Jerry Reinsdorf. If not for that, we may have seen Jordan playing for another team.
Even the way Michael was handled with the White Sox was rather unorthodox. No player, no matter who they are when they sign an MLB contract, usually start out at the lowest division and work their way up. Jordan should have been sent straight to Single-A ball, but the stadium didn’t have the facilities to handle all of the media that was going to be at every game. The organization had no choice but to send a player who hasn’t played since high school straight to Double-A. Despite having one of the best work ethics possible and training relentlessly, Jordan came to learn that baseball is an extremely hard sport to play. He knew that he wouldn’t be accepted with his ego, he wanted to let his work do the talking and many were impressed at how Jordan handled himself while training. In his 1994 season, Jordan batted just .202, with three home runs, 30 stolen bases and a .556 OPS. Not bad for someone who hadn’t played in so long and with some time I truly believe that Jordan could have turned out to become an amazing ball player. Unfortunately the timing just wasn’t on Jordan’s side as there was an ongoing MLB strike during the 1994-95 season and he wasn’t developing at the rate he would have wanted. He would go on to return to the NBA announcing his comeback via fax with only two words, “Im back.”
The Washed Up Athlete 