This Day In Sox History...March 10

[Lip Man 1]

March 10, 1995 - After two stints at White Sox spring training and a full season in Birmingham, Michael Jordan announced he was giving up baseball. Part of the reason was because of his struggles with the game, but the other, larger part, as he explained to author Bob Greene, in the book, “Rebound, The Odyssey of Michael Jordan” was because he was being pressured by Sox G.M. Ron Schueler to cross the MLBPA picket line.

With replacement games set to start, Jordan stated that he was told if he didn’t cross the line, he’d be banished from the main clubhouse. Jordan was furious saying that he was promised by owner Jerry Reinsdorf, he wouldn’t have to take that step. Jordan explained that under no circumstances would he ever cross a labor picket line regardless of sport, that the day would never come where he would be forced to be, not a minor league prospect, but a Major League strikebreaker. “I told them from the beginning that I didn’t want them to use me to make money in the spring training games. We had an understanding. It was never supposed to even come up. I was disgusted that the promise wasn’t going to be honored,” he told Greene. Jordan would return to the Bulls and win three more championships.