How Michael Jordan’s Father Wanted Him to Follow in Deion Sanders’ Footsteps

Michael Jordan’s dad wanted him to go beyond just playing basketball. He once opened up about this, revealing that his father wanted him to play two sports at the same time. MJ abided by his father’s wishes and pursued both baseball and basketball through high school. 

But once in college, Michael stopped playing baseball and focused solely on basketball. He eventually picked the sport back up later on in his career.

Michael’s father was a semi-pro baseball player when he was young, and it was the first sport he introduced to his son. MJ played the sport for a while, but once he got to North Carolina, he had to give it up. But that didn’t stop his father from trying to convince him to pick it back up. Michael’s dad thought he could be just like other popular dual-sport athletes from his time.

“He’d been trying ever since college. I started with baseball, and I got away from it when I went to North Carolina,” Michael wrote. “He always said, when he saw the Bo Jacksons and the Deion Sanders playing two sports, ‘Hey, you could have done the same thing. At least try it.’”

It would’ve been interesting to see if Michael could’ve emerged as a popular dual-sport athlete, like Sanders and Jackson. But a major issue would’ve come up with the scheduling. The NBA and MLB seasons overlap, which is why we don’t traditionally see an athlete go pro in both sports. 

However, Michael did get back into baseball later on in his career.

Michael Playing Baseball

Michael Jordan played baseball for the Birmingham Barons, a minor league affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, in 1994. He played in 127 games and hit three home runs, also registering 51 RBIs. To sign the contract, Michael had to retire from the NBA for the first time in his career. 

Of course, this came as a shock at the time. Michael was at the top of the basketball world, and coming off an NBA championship. But the unexpected death of his father spurred his decision. MJ wanted a break from the NBA while also fulfilling his father’s dream of making it to the MLB. 

Michael would eventually return to the Chicago Bulls near the end of the 1995 season. He would go on to win three more championships and become, who some believe is the greatest basketball player of all time. It was a weird chapter in Michael’s career, but one that made sense once it was fully unpacked. 

Additionally, Michael’s baseball career could’ve gone much worse. There’s a reason the Barons let him hang around for 100+ games. He was actually quite a decent player at times. Which goes to show how natural an athlete he was.