Michael Jordan’s Baseball Career and Legacy

Michael Jordan’s Basketball Career

Spanning an impressive and illustrious fifteen seasons, Michael Jordan’s basketball career is one that speaks for itself. But here’s a refresher, just in case: he’s a six-time NBA champion with two three peats under his belt. He has been NBA MVP five times, with 14 NBA All-Star appearances, nine of those being straight runs between 1985–1993. He holds the record for most scoring titles in the league (10) with seven of those being back-to-back. He is a 10-time All-NBA First Team, and nine-time All-Defensive First Team; made NBA Rookie of Year and his number 23 was retired not only by the Chicago Bulls but also the Miami heat.

While many remember his legendary basketball career, less know that during the peak of his career, with no major injuries to date and only nine years in, he quit basketball for another dream.

Jordan’s transition to baseball

For those closest to Jordan, the decision to retire from basketball and follow a dream of making it into Major League Baseball was not one that came completely from left field. They knew Jordan’s father had always dreamt he would one day play baseball professionally, always maintaining a real passion for the sport himself. And so it was that after his father’s death in 1993, as a tribute to their combined passions, Jordan decided to pursue the dream. 

His agent at the time, David Falk, said Jordan “gave up everything he had earned as the king of basketball to play Minor League Baseball and subject himself to criticism. He put everything on the line to compete, with nothing to gain. That is the essence of sports.”

Although there are mixed reviews on Jordan’s time playing baseball and the level of success he really achieved, we think it is a keen display of Jordan’s determination as an athlete. It was not something he went into half-heartedly, but something he gave 100% of his effort to thrive in despite the odds, and despite his success in basketball looming over him. It’s also been speculated that had Jordan not pursued baseball which helped to reignite his love for basketball, whether he would have transitioned back to the NBA at all, let alone in time to give us the amazing 1996-1998 Chicago Bulls three-peat.

Jordan’s lifelong love for baseball

It now seems funny to think of an alternate world where Jordan chose to pursue baseball instead of basketball, but it almost happened! As a kid Jordan loved baseball, played it in his teenage years as No.45 and grew up alongside his father who had a deep passion for it and almost chose to pursue baseball professionally prior to his decision to join the NBA. When he was 12, he was even named North Carolina’s “Mr. Baseball” by the Dixie Youth Association.

Jordan’s relationship with his father, who influenced his love of baseball:

The relationship Jordan had with his father, James Jordan, was as close as one could get. You will no doubt recognise Jordan’s tongue-popping displays as he drove to the basket, but you might not know that he imitated that from James who he used to see do this when he was focused on his work. James Jordan offered solidarity and support to his son, with Jordan describing him as “my rock” during an episode of The Last Dance. His father was there to offer him advice when needed, steer him back on track when it looked like he was going down the wrong path, and could be seen supporting from the stands for all his major basketball achievements including his three-peat during 1991-1993. Jordan’s father was the one who encouraged Jordan to play baseball as a kid, and it was his dream for his son that one day he might pursue that despite his success in the NBA. But then, in 1993, James Jordan was tragically murdered. Jordan lost his father, his best friend and his main support network, and seemingly his love for basketball alongside it.

Jordan’s decision to retire from basketball and pursue a baseball career

As early as 1992, Jordan and his father had been discussing his fading love for basketball and the overwhelming pressure. Adding to his reservations was the media scrutiny, celebrity status, and the general fatigue from the Dream Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics and his NBA three-peat championship run.

Jordan said that one of the final conversations he’d had with his father before his death was about retiring and giving baseball a shot, which James had passionately encouraged.

On October 6th, 1993 Jordan announced he would be retiring from the NBA stating a waning love for the game and the recent death of his father as the reasons behind his decision. The decision sent a shockwave through the NBA and the media, but those closest to Jordan including his teammates and Chicago Bulls owner, Jerry Reinsdorf, understood and respected Jordans need for a change.

When did Michael Jordan go to baseball?

Jerry Reinsdorf was also owner of the MLB’s Chicago White Sox and signed Jordan in 1994. Jordan would report for training that spring, later being assigned to their minor league affiliate team, the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League. Jordan entered the league with a new jersey number, stating that ‘I didn’t want to go to 23 because I knew my father wasn’t there to watch me…and I felt it was a new beginning, and 45 was my first number when I played in highschool.”

Overview of Michael Jordan’s time playing in the minor leagues:

Michael Jordan played a total of 127 games for the Birmingham Barons, but it wasn’t a simple transition and Jordan had a lot to learn during his training season. White Sox athletic trainer, Herm Schneider, had to help teach him how to tighten his core, toughen up his hands and palms and build his body awareness for baseball. 

White Sox outfielder, Mike Huff, was Jordan’s training partner who helped him learn how to properly hold and throw a baseball, how to slide, and also efficient footwork. Walt Hriniak, player and White Sox hitting guru, tutored him with extra batting practice and noted that Jordan was never late and never missed a training day. Michael Jordan was a natural athlete with an incredible work ethic and determination to improve that many, including his Birmingham manager at the time, Terry Franco, said would have allowed him to eventually go pro as a reserve had he continued.

Jordan also successfully completed his father’s dream to play in Major League Baseball in the end, even if it was only for one game. In 1994, he played with the Chicago White Sox against the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition game at Wrigley Field where he began in the starting line-up for a crowd of almost 40,000 people. The game was one the fans and players will always remember—two Chicago teams pitted against each other, with a Chicago NBA legend playing their field and both sides cheering for Jordan. Opposing teammate, Chicago Cubs shortstop, Shawon Dunston, said “I wanted him to hit for the cycle…He might have been playing for the Sox, but he is Chicago. Let’s not fool ourselves”. Jordan finished the exhibition game going 2-5 with two runs scored and one put-out, including a game-tying two-run single and fans were heard chanting ‘Rookie” when he stepped up to the plate

The media attention surrounding Jordan’s decision to play baseball

One can ask: was Michael Jordan not ready for baseball or was baseball not ready for Michael Jordan? The media attention surrounding Jordan was either inspiring or scathing, there often wasn’t an in-between. It either spoke of his determination, grit and athletic ability despite having no prior professional experience in the league, or it spoke about him being out of his depth; a celebrity turned batter. At times, the media even compared his nine-season success in basketball to his success on the field in a sport he hadn’t played since he was a teenager.

A particularly memorable story from Sports Illustrated during Jordans breakout year of baseball, one that would forever turn the trajectory of MJ’s relationship with the magazine, had the headline “Bag It, Michael. Jordan and the White Sox are Embarrassing Baseball”. Steve Wulf, author of the piece, visited Michael during training camp in 1994 and later wrote a piece that would label Jordan as a player lacking any natural ability with “no more business patrolling right field in Comiskey Park than Minnie Minoso has bringing the ball upcourt for the Chicago Bulls”. Decades later, still Michael Jordan has not granted Sports Illustrated another interview since.

Jordan’s performance as a baseball player

Given the media scrutiny, let’s take a look at exactly how Jordan performed on the field during his 127 games with the Birmingham Barons:

• 497 plate appearance, 436 at-bats
• .202 average, .289 on-base, .266 slugging; .556 on-base plus slugging
• 88 hits: 17 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs
• 51 runs batted in, 46 runs scored
• 30 stolen bases/18 caught stealing
• 51 walks, 114 strikeouts

While his stats aren’t exceptional for a minor league, professional athlete, they are pretty great for someone who had not played organised baseball since high school. And, depending on who you speak to, Jordan’s .202 batting average will represent different things. To many baseball media coverages at the time, .202 showed that he was out of his depth and wasting his time; to Terry Francona, Birminghams’ manager, it reflected Jordan’s ever-growing skill and was a source of pride. For Walt Hriniak, Jordan’s batting tutor, it was a source of some disappointment as he had expected him to do better; to some fans today, this average might look quite weak. Despite this he went on to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona fall league. Batting a much improved .252, Jordan was going up against hitters who had seen hundreds of thousands of fastballs (as well as breaking balls) in their baseball careers—all this compared to Jordan who had tried to cram five years of development into 8 weeks of pre-season practice.

Three home runs also might not look spectacular, but no other member of the Barons hit more than three either, with only 40 in total for the team, placing last in the league. Jordan’s strike out percentage was 22.9%, significantly higher than the league’s average of 16.4% that season. But it’s interesting to note that in today’s MLB their average strikeout percentage sits at 24%. His 30 stolen bases also ranked 2nd highest on the team for that year and proved he knew how to move. By all accounts—according to the team, coach and manager—his skill was only getting better as the season progressed. Mike Barnett, batting coach for the Birmingham Barons, said “Two more seasons, he would’ve been a legitimate extra outfielder for the White Sox, maybe even a starter”.

The most impressive parts of Michael Jordan’s baseball career seem to be grounded in the interactions with those he played alongside or those who taught him. Michael Jordan never missed a game, a day of work or training, and was never late. He packed out the White Sox and Birmingham Barons stands throughout that season with crowd records that are unlikely to be broken again. He would even stay after the game was over to stand out in 30-degree heat signing autographs for fans until everyone had gotten one and gone home. He went above and beyond for his teammates where he could, never complained about the minor league life in motels and stops overs on the road. He organised a new bus for the Barons to travel in, carried all his own gear and was always the first one at the clubhouse. He trained up to five times a day, putting in the extra work to get up to standard. In this, the Baron’s saw him become a player right in front of their eyes. Jordan had a deep and healthy respect for the game. He was in it for the right reasons; was an eager and tireless learner who bonded deeply with other players, winning each of them over and proving why he deserved to be there with them.

How did Jordan’s baseball experience help him transition back to basketball?

Jerry Reinsdorf continued to honour Michael Jordan’s contract with the Chicago Bulls during his time playing in minor league baseball. And when the labour dispute between the owners and players sidelined the game in 1995, Jordan was replaced by other players for deciding not to enter the field until the dispute was resolved. In a press release from Jordan on March 18, 1995, he issued just two words: “I’m back”. The next day saw Jordan in the Chicago Bulls starting line-up, wearing his baseball #45 number against the Indiana Pacers which broke records for the highest Nielsen rating of any regular season NBA game.

We may never know what Jordan’s baseball career had in store for him and whether he would have made the major leagues had he continued. But Terry Francona seems to think that Jordan’s itch for basketball was returning and fate intervened to get him back onto that court. All this despite the thought that “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”.

The sheer grit, determination, effort and competitive edge that he had put into developing his skill as a baseball player during this time was something he had learnt on the basketball court. And although he didn’t get to Major League standards, he still played at a level most could never achieve, and especially not across two professional sports.

The impact of Jordan’s baseball career on his legacy as a basketball player

While the Birmingham Baron’s lost a right fielder that needed to improve on his ability to stop runners from advancing to third, the Chicago Bulls gained a shooting guard and three back-to-back championships in their next season.

Jordan hit the ground running during his return season. playing 17 games for the bulls, he had made a game-winning shot in his fourth game back, scored 55 points in his fifth and helped the Bulls get to the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Orlando Magic. At the end of the first game of the playoffs which the Bulls lost, Magic’s, Nick Anderson commented that Jordan “didn’t look like the old Michael Jordan” saying that “No. 45 doesn’t explode like No.23 used to”. Jordan’s response to Anderson was to hit the court for game 2 wearing his former No.23 jersey, all white sneakers and dropping 38 points that helped the Bulls win that game.

Although the 1994–95 season saw the Bulls lose the Eastern Conference finals in game 6, Jordan and the team came back better than ever the following season, going on to secure three more NBA titles between 1996 and 1998. The Bulls also broke a then-record, making 72 regular season wins in the 95–96 season. Phil Jackson, coach of the Bulls, has stated that the Jordan who returned from baseball wasn’t the same one who had left. He was more encouraging and patient with his team mates, shared more of his time willingly and was entirely revived for the game ready to once again prove to the league why he was their greatest of all time.

Michael said he felt “naked” without the support of his father there during his first game back and that in the 1996 NBA finals a piece of his heart was missing. His father, James, passed away just a few weeks after his 1993 NBA finals win, and reaching this monument again held a lot of significance for Jordan and he dedicated the game to his father.

Jordan’s ownership of the Charlotte Hornets

In 2006, Michael Jordan bought a majority stake in the then Charlotte Bobcats (Charlotte Hornets since 2013), becoming the second biggest stakeholder behind Robert L. Johnson. He chose to stay out of the marketing campaigns for the team, but became the Managing Member of Basketball operations. In 2010, Jordan and Johnson reached an agreement that saw Jordan and his group, MJ Basketball Holdings, being unanimously approved by the NBA Board of Governors to seek majority ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats. Michael Jordan became the first former NBA player to be the majority stakeholder of an NBA team and only African-American majority owner.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and success for Michael Jordan and his Charlotte Bobcats. There were the widely publicised disappointing decisions to draft players such as Kwame Brown and Adam Morrison. Reports published during the 2011 NBA lockout that labelled Jordan as a “hypocrite sellout” who wanted “current players to pay for his incompetence” when he, alongside other owners, were looking to cap player’s shares of basketball-related income to between 47-50%. The Charlottes 2011–12 NBA season saw the team hold the record for worst winning percentage in NBA history at 10.6% with a 23-game losing streak. Despite this, in 2014 Jordan increased his stake in the team from 80% to 89.5%, becoming the first NBA player to become a billionaire. But in 2023 Robert L. Johnson stated that he regretted his decision to sell the Charlotte Hornets to Michael Jordan.

Jordan’s continued involvement with baseball, including his part ownership of the Miami Marlins

Jordan’s role in the Miami Marlins is a smaller one, likely born from his passion for the sport rather than the potential profitability. In 2017 he was convinced to buy in by Derek Jeter, former captain of the New York Yankees, baseball legend and leader in hits and runs scored during his career. Jordan owns only 0.5% of the Miami Marlins and is one of 16 other investors, and it’s been a largely losing investment with the value of the team depreciating since 2017.

Final thoughts on Jordan's baseball career and its impact on his life and legacy:

Michael Jeffrey Jordan put the essence and inspiration back into sport when he decided to follow his passion for baseball at the peak of his basketball career. He showed many people that being successful isn’t only about natural athleticism, but about a strong work ethic, determination and relentless effort. Jordan put his heart and soul into a sport that he had given up in his senior year of high school for what seemed like very little gain other than love and enjoyment. He opened himself up to nefarious attacks from the media, other players and baseball fanatics who scrutinised his every movement in a way that most minor league baseball players would never have been subject to.

Despite not having a groundbreaking, or record-defining baseball career, he left a deep impression on the sport. He showed others that perseverance and a love for the game can overcome all doubts; that it is never too late to follow a dream. And underlying all of this, it showed his deep love, respect and bond that he had with his father, James Jordan. Plus, what other .202-hitter has fostered as much interest, attention and endorsement for baseball?

He showed that he’s not simply just a basketball player, but an athlete with many talents. Even today, he still holds the record for the most wins by an American athlete in sports history. Walt Hriniak said after his time with Jordan that “if everybody was like M.J, the game would be better”.  

Looking back on his time with the Birmingham Baron’s, Jordan remarks,

"I would describe it now the same way I described it then. Every moment was a warm one. I remember looking up in the sky from time to time and being amazed at how much my life had changed. I had no fear. Just a warm feeling. I can't describe the sense exactly, but now it seems like I was living a dream.”