Michael Jordan may have been the greatest player in the history of the NBA, but he was just another minor-league player with big-league baseball dreams when he visited Orlando’s Tinker Field on May 9, 1994.
After deciding to retire from the NBA in October 1993, Jordan embarked on a quest to conquer Major League Baseball. He signed with the Chicago White Sox and was assigned to their Class AA team, the Birmingham Barons – the Southern League rivals of the Orlando Cubs.
As Sentinel reporter Mike Zizzo wrote, Jordan “was unable to provide any show-stopping moments that were nightly occurrences in the NBA. Jordan went 0-for-3 with a walk and stolen base before a season-high crowd of 6,422 as the Barons defeated the Orlando Cubs 3-2 in a Double-A Southern League game. Jordan faced the Cubs’ Jose Guzman, in Orlando for a rehabilitation assignment as he recovers from tendinitis in his right pitching shoulder.
“Jordan lined to right in his first at-bat, then swung at his first pitch in the third inning, hitting a soft chopper to third baseman Ed Smith, who threw him out easily.”