Alright, let’s talk about this Michael Jordan fella and his baseball thing. You know, the basketball guy? Yeah, him. Everybody was all surprised when he went off to play baseball with them White Sox. Big news it was, back then.
Now, I ain’t no expert on this fancy stats stuff, but I heard tell he signed with them White Sox in 1994. February, I think it was. See, the guy who owned the Bulls, Jerry Reinsdorf, he owned the Sox too, so I guess that’s how it all happened. Folks were sayin’ it was a shock, but you know, rich folks do what they wanna do, ain’t nobody gonna stop ’em.
He didn’t play for the White Sox directly, though. They sent him down to the minor leagues, to a team called the Barons. Played in a place called Hoover Met, I reckon. Folks went to see him play, though. Heard they had near 7,000 people on average at them games. That’s a lot of folks, even if it ain’t the big leagues. They was curious, I guess, wanted to see if this basketball star could hit a ball.
- Signed with the White Sox: 1994
- Played for: The Barons (minor league)
- Average Attendance: Around 7,000 per game
Now, don’t go askin’ me for his batting average or how many home runs he hit. I ain’t got them numbers in my head. But I do know it wasn’t like he was Babe Ruth or somethin’. He was learning, I guess. Basketball’s one thing, hittin’ a little ball with a stick is somethin’ else entirely. Takes a different kind of skill, you see.
This Michael Jordan fella, he was always talkin’ about challengin’ himself. Said he had to battle with himself to keep goin’. Guess that’s why he went and played baseball. Wanted to prove somethin’, maybe to himself, maybe to everybody else. Competitive spirit, they call it. He had a lot of that, that’s for sure.
They say he missed playin’ at some place called Rickwood Field by a few years. The Barons, they played there for a long time, up until ‘87 they say. Don’t know much about that place, but it sounds like it was important to them baseball folks.
Anyways, this whole baseball thing for Michael Jordan, it didn’t last forever. He went back to basketball eventually, and that’s what most folks remember him for. But he tried baseball, gave it a shot. Can’t fault a fella for tryin’ somethin’ new, even if he wasn’t the best at it. Life’s about tryin’, that’s what I always say. You ain’t gonna know what you can do unless you give it a go.
And that Bill Melton fella, he was a real baseball player, played for the White Sox too. An All-Star, they say. He passed away recently, poor soul. Folks were talkin’ about him on the radio. He knew baseball, that’s for sure. Michael Jordan, well, he was learnin’. Two different stories, you see, but both part of that baseball world.
So, Michael Jordan and baseball? It was a thing, a short thing, but a thing nonetheless. He played, he learned, and then he went back to what he knew best. That’s about all there is to it, as far as I can tell. Don’t need no fancy numbers to understand that, just plain common sense.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta go make some supper. All this talk about baseball makes a body hungry.
Tags: Michael Jordan, White Sox, Baseball, Sports, 1994, Barons, Minor League, Statistics