Michael Jordan played in the NBA in two separate terms. His first was before the horrifying murder hos his father James Jordan. Michael won three back-to-back championships until 1993. He then retired and began to play baseball for a Chicago White Sox minor league team. But only after a season, and seeing the problem with the major league farms, Jordan decided to return to NBA. That is when he wore the #45 jersey, which inadvertently may have cost the manufacturers an immense loss.
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In 1993, James Jordan was brutally murdered by two robbers. His body was found days later in a swamp. The event wreaked havoc on Michael’s emotional state. Devastated, he retired from the NBA presumably at the peak of his career.
But he returned to play in the NBA in 1995 after more than a season-long hiatus and donned the #45 jersey.
Michael Jordan may have cost Jersey manufacturers a lot of money by wearing #45
In 1995, Michael’s decision to return to the NBA shocked the entire world. His return was the most anticipated moment in league history. But unlike his first term, MJ chose to wear #45 this time around. Jordan chose to retire #23 because he wanted to honor his father.
Roland Lazenby in his book Michael Jordan: The Life, wrote how the official NBA jersey manufacturers produced over 200,000 #45 jerseys. However, Michael chose to wear it only for 23 games and switched back to his earlier number. His performance in the new number had been unsatisfactory and Michael wanted to end the bad juju.
Lazenby: ” Champion, the sportswear manufacturer that held the NBA license for jerseys, immediately
added an extra shift and began producing more than 200,000 number 45 jerseys for sale around the world.”
His decision to do so likely caused ‘Champion’ a lot of money. Considering Jordan switched back to #23 soon after, people would have wanted his current number rather than #45. After all, people rarely think about collecting during a star’s ongoing era.
Jordan’s affair with baseball
MJ went on to play in the minor leagues after James’ demise. As a child, James had wanted Jordan to play baseball. So, in a way, Jordan was honoring his father by going back to baseball. He was so heartbroken that he couldn’t help but look for methods to hold on to James’ memory.
As a child, his dream had once collapsed after Michael realized he wasn’t cut out to play baseball. His advantage in his early teens was lost as he grew older.
Similarly, when Michael Jordan retired from basketball and went to play baseball, he wasn’t satisfied. The state of the minor league probably scared MJ. He immediately rushed back to the Bulls and the rest is history.
