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

 

No.

His main asset on the baseball field was speed/quickness on the basepaths…didn’t use his frame/leverage to hit for any power.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.