Michael Jordan Baseball Stats: NBA Star Could've Reached MLB, According To Birmingham Barons Manager

Episode No.7 of ESPN’s “The Last Dance” took a closer look at Michael Jordan’s first retirement. Fresh off winning his third straight NBA Finals MVP award in 1993, Jordan decided to call it a career.

The greatest basketball player of all time didn’t simply decide to retire in his prime. Jordan moved on to another sport, becoming a professional baseball player in 1994.

Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of both the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox, paid Jordan the $4 million he was set to earn as an NBA player to play baseball. Instead of starting his new career at the lowest level, Jordan joined the Birmingham Barons, Chicago’s Double-A affiliate, because the rookie ball and Single-A facilities weren't able to handle the media attention that the superstar would draw.

Jordan began his minor-league career at 31 years old. He hadn’t played baseball competitively since he quit his high school team two games into his senior year.

On April 8, 1994, Jordan went 0-3 in his minor-league debut with 10,359 fans in attendance. He failed to get a hit in his second game before finally reaching base with a single on April 10 in his eighth at-bat of the season. That kicked off a 13-game hit streak, which saw the Barons’ new outfielder elevate his batting average to .327.

That early success didn’t last long. Pitchers began to throw Jordan fewer fastballs, and his average plummeted because of his inability to hit breaking balls.

In 127 games, Jordan hit three home runs with 51 RBI. He posted a .202 batting average, a .289 on-base percentage and a .266 slugging percentage. Jordan had 51 walks and 114 strikeouts in 436 at-bats. He recorded 30 stolen bases and was caught trying to steal 18 times.

“I can’t believe he actually hit .202,” said Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, who was Jordan’s manager with the Barons. “He drove in 50 runs. We had a lot of good prospects that didn’t drive in 50 runs. In my opinion, with 1,500 at-bats, he’d have found a way to get to the major leagues.”

Jordan never came close to getting those 1,500 at-bats. The MLB strike lasted from August 1994 to April 1995, preventing Jordan from starting a second season of professional baseball. He announced his return to the Bulls on March 18, 1995 and played in his first NBA game of that season the next day.

Jordan played 17 regular-season games and Chicago was eliminated in the second round of the 1995 playoffs. Jordan and the Bulls pulled off their second three-peat from 1996-1998.