joejoesox Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I have always found this story fascinating. I never knew that he always preferred to be a baseball player growing up (through HS, and into college). His father even told people that he would land in the big leagues. Was he ever talented enough to eventually make the big leagues with enough seasoning? He seems to be one of those super athletes that are good enough to do whatever they want Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry McNertney Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 His main asset on the baseball field was speed/quickness on the basepaths…didn’t use his frame/leverage to hit for any power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snopek Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 21 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: His main asset on the baseball field was speed/quickness on the basepaths…didn’t use his frame/leverage to hit for any power. He was obviously not good that one year, but I think it was more of a hypothetical question on whether he could improve enough to stick had he fully committed to baseball long term. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeCredeYes Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 31 years old and playing in AA when you haven't played since HS, had 51 RBIs in 127 games, hit .252 in the Arizona fall league, he wasn't the embarrassment the media would have had you believe in my opinion. I think if he never quit baseball there's a better than zero chance he spends at least a couple seasons in the bigs, but at 31 even if he kept at it full time I doubt he ever spends any time in the bigs other than a publicity stunt. IIRC he really struggled with breaking balls, which one could understand even for probably the greatest team sport athlete to ever live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpton Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 2 hours ago, caulfield12 said: His main asset on the baseball field was speed/quickness on the basepaths…didn’t use his frame/leverage to hit for any power. Would that partly be the fact that his body and muscles were primed for basketball and that it would have taken proper muscle conditioning for baseball, and at his age and star status and media attention that was never going to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwritecode Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 54 minutes ago, JoeCredeYes said: 31 years old and playing in AA when you haven't played since HS, had 51 RBIs in 127 games, hit .252 in the Arizona fall league, he wasn't the embarrassment the media would have had you believe in my opinion. I think if he never quit baseball there's a better than zero chance he spends at least a couple seasons in the bigs, but at 31 even if he kept at it full time I doubt he ever spends any time in the bigs other than a publicity stunt. IIRC he really struggled with breaking balls, which one could understand even for probably the greatest team sport athlete to ever live. I agree with this. He probably could've been a decent player had he went directly into baseball out of HS. Continuing on at 31 probably wouldn't have worked out. I feel like baseball (as with most sports) is a lot of muscle memory and he just didn't have the time and reps built up for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 Yes. If he had selected baseball first, or basically any sport, he would have been successful. But only basketball could he achieve goat status. At 31 there wasn't enough time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I think he would have gotten his cup of tea at some point. I think Jerry totally would have had him called up to sell some tickets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
46DidIt Posted November 5 Share Posted November 5 I think so. Hitting .200 with a strong walk rate at AA after not playing baseball for thirteen plus years and never at a pro level is actually pretty good imo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewokpelts Posted Wednesday at 11:12 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 11:12 PM Jerry said back in 2003 he thought Jordan would be a fourth outfielder type if he stayed. But Jerry also wanted Jordan to cross a picket line during the strike in 1995. So that killed any chance of Jordan playing in the league. That said, other baseball types including his AA manager Terry Francona said he would have made it. But no prediction on high the ceiling on him was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewokpelts Posted Wednesday at 11:13 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 11:13 PM On 11/5/2024 at 12:27 PM, southsider2k5 said: I think he would have gotten his cup of tea at some point. I think Jerry totally would have had him called up to sell some tickets. if he had stayed in baseball, i suspect he would have been in AAA in 1995, with a chance to crack the big league club that fall or in 1996. jerry would have loved to sell season ticket packhages with MJ's face on the schedule and media guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted Thursday at 06:04 AM Share Posted Thursday at 06:04 AM On 11/5/2024 at 7:33 AM, JoeCredeYes said: 31 years old and playing in AA when you haven't played since HS, had 51 RBIs in 127 games, hit .252 in the Arizona fall league, he wasn't the embarrassment the media would have had you believe in my opinion. I think if he never quit baseball there's a better than zero chance he spends at least a couple seasons in the bigs, but at 31 even if he kept at it full time I doubt he ever spends any time in the bigs other than a publicity stunt. IIRC he really struggled with breaking balls, which one could understand even for probably the greatest team sport athlete to ever live. Agree - what he did was incredible. Hadn’t played in ten plus years and dropped into AA with some success. He would have figured it out…not saying he would have been great given the late start but he would have made the majors and stuck around had he stayed. And I imagine if he went full time MLB and never played basketball, he probably would have been pretty good. He was just one of those gifted people at sports and his work ethic and will to win was off the charts. Dude wasn’t going to let himself fail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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