Flashback Videos: Jordan Plays (Base)Ball

Ok, so I’m just getting my blogging feet back under me after being worked to the bone for the last 2 months…not that I’m complaining, it is good to have a day job in this world. But all that time in the office got me thinking back to some interesting highlights of the sports world before there were sports blogs to beat current stories into the ground like there are today. So I’m going to kick off a new feature here on the Deuce, the Flashback post.

Flashbacks work so well on TV shows when they can’t think of new material, so why can’t it work here? Let me start it off.

Lets go back to 1994 when Michael Jordan signed a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox after retiring from basketball because he was tired of dominating the game…or as he called it “loss of desire”. This started a new phase for Michael…one which involved a great amount of sucking. Playing for the Birmingham Barons, a Sox farm team, he achieved the highly mediocre career average of .202 with 3 home runs, 51 RBIs, and 11 errors. The only thing he was good at was stealing bases, he grabbed 30 bags in his time in the minors.

In March of the next year, Jordan was back in the NBA but wearing his Barons number 45 instead of his traditional #23 apparently that caused him to lose some of his super powers because he wasn’t quite the same player he was when he left. That is until the next year when changed his number back and went and won a championship…then 2 others the next two years. All was right again in Chi-town and the people were happy to forgive his one year diversion away from the NBA…but they will never forget.

So lets flashback and watch some Youtubes of this weird story in the history of one of the NBA’s greatest players…and one of MLB’s worst.

Here’s a clip of Jordan being interviewed by Tom Brokaw about the entire baseball thing, its a good 7 minutes, but well worth your time as a flashback to the days when Jordan realized he was a mortal man.

And here is a baby faced Reese Davis breaking down the “Jordan Cruiser”, the bus which Jordan bought for the Birmingham Barons when he was with them in the minors. Pretty swank for those guys, but its no Madden Trailer. Check out the youthful coach Terry Francona there too wow.

Finally…here is the return of the king to his court.

Filed under: Chicago Bulls • Chicago White Sox • Flashback • MLB • Michael Jordan • Minor League Baseball • NBA • Reese Davis • Terry Francona

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