Michael Jordan’s short-lived professional baseball career is often mocked, but the former NBA champion might have been better than the surface numbers indicate.
Jordan retired from the NBA after winning the championship in 1993 and decided to pursue a career in pro baseball. He signed with the Chicago White Sox’s organization and played for the Birmingham Barons Double-A team. He played 127 games and batted .202/.289/.266 for a .555 OPS. He had 17 doubles, three home runs, and stole 30 bases while walking 51 times and striking out 114 times.
Many laugh at those numbers, but for a 31-year-old who hadn’t played baseball since he was 17 to do that in Double-A is actually very difficult. In fact, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black thinks Jordan could have made the majors.
“To go right into Double-A like he did and knock in 50 runs, steal some bigs, and hit over .200 against guys who are on the 40-man roster, guys who are prospects, and to hang in there, is pretty impressive,” Black told “The Jim Rome Show.”
“I agree with the number of the guys that talked about it. If he would have gotten the reps, 1,500 at-bats, three years of full minor league play, all the reps he would have gotten in the cage, defensive work. I think he would have touched the big leagues. I don’t know how long he would have stayed, but he would have gotten there with his drive and his athleticism. That was sort of fun to watch.”
Black notes two keys to Jordan making the majors: his abilities and work ethic. Jordan worked so hard on a daily basis to improve that if he kept trying that hard, many believe he would have worked himself into a player. But once you reach the major league level, then it really becomes more about having the necessary physical tools, because hitting that level of pitcher is so incredibly difficult.
In addition to Black, Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, who managed Jordan in the minors, said in “The Last Dance” documentary that with 1,500 at-bats, he thinks Jordan could have made the majors. Francona recently shared a good story about playing pickup with MJ too.
