There have been some all-time famous players that have, at some point, played baseball in Birmingham.
The great Willie Mays began his professional baseball career with the Birmingham Black Barons. One of the greatest pitchers of all time, Satchel Paige, wore a Black Barons uniform as well. Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson, Frank Thomas, and several other future Hall of Famers came through the city as minor leaguers.
One such baseball player — arguably more famous than all of them combined — went on to play exactly zero games in the major leagues: Michael Jordan.
Considered by many the greatest basketball player of all time and perhaps the greatest athlete of all time, Jordan briefly left basketball to play baseball in 1994, signing with the Chicago White Sox and joining the organization's minor leagues.
Where was he assigned? That would be Birmingham, where he joined the franchise's Double-A affiliate.
As Major League Baseball prepares to head to Birmingham to play in Rickwood Field, the longtime home of the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons and at several points the home of the Barons, Sporting News is taking a look back at Jordan's baseball career in Birmingham.
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Did Michael Jordan play at Rickwood Field?
Jordan missed playing at Rickwood Field by a few years.
The Barons played at Rickwood Field from 1910-87, with the only breaks coming during periods in which the team did not exist. The field was the home of the Black Barons from the first edition of the team in 1920 to the final disbanding of the organization in 1960, just over two years before Jordan was born.
Instead, Jordan's lone season in the minors came in 1994, when the Double-A Barons played baseball at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The team moved to Regions Field in 2013.
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Michael Jordan baseball career, revisited
Jordan announced he would be retiring from basketball on Oct. 6, 1993. He later said the murder of his father during a carjacking was a contributing factor to the decision.
His father, James Jordan, was a baseball fan, and Michael played the sport when he was young. He wound up deciding he would give baseball a chance.
Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Bulls, also owned the White Sox, which made the franchise a natural fit for Jordan. He had already taken batting practice at Comiskey Park and had previously mentioned interest in trying baseball.
The White Sox signed Jordan to a minor-league deal on Feb. 7, 1994, just before he turned 31. Jordan did not get off to a hot start in spring training, but late in the spring, he went 2-for-5 with a double in the Windy City Classic exhibition game at Wrigley Field.
"I don’t think I've proven I can make the team," Jordan told writers that spring, as reported in TSN's Chicago White Sox team notes. "That’s just being honest. … But I'm not going to give up. I'm trying to squeeze five years into eight weeks. It just hasn't happened the way I wanted it to."
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Jordan did not make the big-league roster and was assigned to Double-A Birmingham. He debuted with Birmingham on April 8, 1994.
The NBA legend had a respectable campaign for the Barons, particularly for someone who hadn't played professional baseball before the season. He hit .202 with a .556 OPS and three home runs. He also swiped 30 bases, walked 41 times, and struck out 114 times in 127 games (497 plate appearances).
Jordan later went on to play in the Arizona Fall League after the season, hitting .252.
Jordan's manager, Terry Francona, who later went on to manage the Red Sox to a pair of World Series wins and Cleveland to a pennant, said he felt Jordan could have reached the majors had he had more playing time.
"I do think with another 1,000 at-bats, he would've made it," Francona said, per ESPN. "But there's something else that people miss about that season. Baseball wasn't the only thing he picked up. I truly believe that he rediscovered himself, his joy for competition. We made him want to play basketball again."
Jordan did not wind up playing again in baseball. He returned to basketball after the season in Birmingham, ending his lone year in professional baseball.
