“There were conspiracies about this idea of gambling that he was secretly suspended by David Stern” - Chuck Klosterman questions why Michael Jordan retired and became a baseball player
Following the 1992-93 season, Michael Jordan shocked the world and retired from the NBA. At the time, he was arguably the biggest star across all professional sports, and had just led the Chicago Bulls to a third straight championship.
Despite being at the peak of his powers, Michael Jordan decided it was time to take his talents elsewhere. In honor of his late father, he left basketball to test his luck on the baseball diamond.
During his short stint in baseball, Michael Jordan played with the Birmingham Barons, a minor league team in the Chicago White Sox's organization. He appeared in 127 games and batted .202 with three home runs and 51 RBIs. It did not take long for Jordan to end this dream and re-join the Bulls.
To this day, many wonder why Michael Jordan tried to test his luck with baseball. There had been two-sport athletes at the time, but the Bulls guard didn't exactly fit the bill. On 'The Colin Cowherd Podcast,' Chuck Klosterman brought up the conspiracy theory that Jordan was serving a secret suspension from the league.
"I mean, at the time it was very strange, you know, we were in this period where there were people like Bo Jackson and Deon Sanders, who were playing multiple sports. But those were very different situations... You know there were conspiracies about this idea of gambling that he was secretly suspended by David Stern, and this was some way for him to keep earning his money like it had been some kind of compromise."
“I didn’t retire because someone kicked me out or they suspended me for a year and a half. That is not true…I needed a break, my father just passed. And I retired with the notion that I wasn’t going to come back.”
Michael Jordan on a secret suspension https://t.co/g1rm5nwd0w
Could Michael Jordan have actually been serving a hidden suspension?
While it would make for a great story, it seems unlikely that Michael Jordan was serving some sort of hidden suspension during his first retirement. Given how big of a figure he was at the time, a story of that magnitude would have come out at some point.
One thing Jordan was was competitive. His endless desire to win at everything he did was one of the main reasons he went on to become arguably the greatest basketball player of all time.
Having completed a three-peat, he may have felt he had accomplished everything he could in the NBA. Pair that with the close bond he had with his father and the end result was Jordan testing his luck on the baseball diamond.
Michael Jordan didn’t really temporarily choose to play baseball, he was serving a secret gambling suspension from the NBA. twitter.com/nopoweradeinus…
The idea of Jordan secretly getting suspended is fun to think about, but in all likelihood, seems incredibly far-fetched.