“Why Don’t We Call Him Rabbit?”: Michael Jordan’s Father James Jordan Lied About His Son’s Childhood Nickname

Michael Jordan’s father James Jordan once lied about his childhood nickname Rabbit but his son’s baseball coach cleared it up.

Michael Jordan is a cool dude. The way he carried himself along with the cloak of swagger around him oozed uniqueness. So, naturally, a man with such style demanded some sweet nicknames.

And Jordan has to have some of the greatest nicknames in the history of basketball. Take His Airness for example. The nickname is not just an ode to MJ’s air time and jump, but it points out how there was a certain semblance of royalty to him.

But Michael’s childhood nickname wasn’t built with such intricacies. When Jordan played baseball as a teenager, he was nicknamed ‘Rabbit.’ MJ’s father James Jordan claimed that his son was nicknamed that because of his speed. However, Coach Neher in the book Michael Jordan: The Life refuted James’ claim.

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Why was Michael Jordan nicknamed Rabbit?

Michael as a child was an enthusiastic baseball player. He was so good that a large chunk of people around him expected him to play in the major league.

So, naturally, such great young talent was trained properly and spent a lot of time around his teammates. There was one teammate in particular who Michael Jordan built a close bond with. Bridges was as passionate as MJ, both were highly competitive and formed a bond on that passion.

But the same passion and bond also cause a lot of tussle between the two kids. On one such event, Mike pointed out Bridges’ big ears. MJ taunted his teammate if he had tried hitting the ball with his ears. That didn’t sit too well with Bridges who attacked Jordan.

Coach Neher separated the boys rolling on the ground. He then asked why the two were fighting. The answer made him laugh. Neher then reminded Jordan to look into the mirror. After the fight, he was nicknamed Rabbit.

Neher revealed the exact origin of the nickname to Roland Lazenby:

“We were messing around with Mike. Mike’s ears lay real close to his head, just like a rabbit. So we all were standing around one day trying to decide, ‘Why don’t we call him Rabbit?’ Those ears lay real close. Everybody laughed. Mike was fine with it.”

Michael was one of very few African American players in baseball

In the 1970s, baseball was majorly dominated by white children. Baseball was seen as an exclusively white sport. But James Jordan wasn’t deterred by this fact. He wanted his younger son Mike to play baseball. And luckily Jordan was good at it.

But the discrepancy between African American and white players was monumental. Neher coached for 37 years but had only three African American players on his team. One of which was Michael Jordan.

Things changed once he reached. The ratio was more balanced and Jordan finally felt comfortable.

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