Jordan could have played major league baseball - with Oakland A's
Before joining the White Sox in 1995 and beginning a solid six-year run in the starting rotation, Mike Sirotka pitched his way up the minor-league ladder.
He spent plenty of time with Michael Jordan, who stepped away from the Bulls in 1994 and joined the Sox.
"Highly improved spring of 1995," Sirotka said. "He absolutely had turned the corner and (was) MLB material. It's a shame we never got to see that play out."
A player's strike ended the '94 major-league season on Aug. 11, and the work stoppage extended all the way into the following spring.
Wanting no part of playing on the White Sox's potential replacement team in 1995, Jordan left training camp on March 10 and was back in the NBA with the Bulls a week later.
Deciding to give baseball a shot at the age of 31 after not having played the sport for 13 years, Jordan spent the 1994 season with the Birmingham Barons, the Sox's Class AA minor-league team.
In his one professional season, Jordan hit .202./.289/.266 with 3 home runs, 51 RBI and 30 stolen bases in 127 games.
"I'm not a scout, not an expert," said Curt Bloom, Birmingham's radio play-by-play voice since 1992. "But I have seen 3,000, 4,000 games and I know what I saw. I know absolutely the potential was there for (Jordan) to be a big leaguer."
Back in the headlines as ESPN began airing "The Last Dance," a 10-part documentary series looking back on Jordan and the powerhouse Bulls Sunday night, it appears the greatest player in NBA history could have played in the major leagues in 1994.
On Buster Olney's "Baseball Tonight" podcast, former Oakland general manager Sandy Alderson said he offered Jordan a spot on the Athletics' 25-man roster before the '94 season.
"When Jordan stopped playing basketball and decided to try baseball and ultimately went down to the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox affiliate, when I heard that was happening or about to happen, I called his agent (David Falk) right away and said, 'Hey, look, I understand he may be going to Double-A,'" Alderson said. "I said, 'Look, I don't even know who the 25th man is on our major-league team right now. I will sign him and put him on the major-league roster. He'd be part of our 25-man team tomorrow.'"
Jerry Reinsdorf, still the chairman of the Sox and Bulls, was obviously not happy with Alderson's ploy to use Jordan to draw needed fans in Oakland.
"I know this ended up creating some discussion because I ended up getting either a phone call or a message from the White Sox saying, 'Hey, what's going on here? This guy is going to be part of the White Sox organization,'" Alderson told Olney. "There's a relationship between the White Sox and the Bulls, but in any event, somebody accused me of tampering. The guy's a basketball player. But anyway, that's one that got away. It would've been fun."
Falk confirmed the A's offered Jordan a spot on their 25-man roster in 1994.
"I was excited," the agent told MLB.com. "And Michael was very appreciative. But he wanted to do the baseball thing from the ground up. He didn't feel he deserved a spot on the major-league roster and didn't feel he was ready. He didn't want to be a Herb Washington type (of player) who would just steal bases and be a part-time outfielder."
In retrospect, Jordan made the right decision going back to the Bulls.
After leading them to three NBA championships before taking a swing at baseball, Jordan won three more rings after returning to basketball.