In the annals of professional sporting history there aren’t many stranger occurrences than Michael Jordan’s mid-career transition from basketball to baseball.
There have been numerous instances of players switching between rugby league and rugby union. Some athletes have gone further and moved from rugby or Aussie rules to American football. There was also a period when Australia’s Ellyse Perry was representing both the national soccer and cricket teams.
But Jordan’s situation trumps the lot especially when you consider the player’s international profile. Jordan was at the peak of his powers when he stepped down from the Chicago Bulls in 1993. The team had just won three consecutive NBA championships. Jordan was named league MVP in two of those seasons and crowned finals MVP in all three.
But fewer than six months after winning the 1993 championship, Jordan announced his retirement. His next move came as a surprise to just about everyone – Jordan signed with MLB franchise Chicago White Sox and started playing for their Minor League team the Birmingham Barons in April 1994.
He wasn’t a bad baseball player. The US Minor Leagues still outrank most other baseball leagues around the world. But the switch to baseball afforded him none of the glory of his NBA days. So in March 1995 – barely a week after his final minor league game – Jordan was back on court for the Bulls.
The story only gets crazier, with the Bulls winning the championship in the following three seasons. Jordan collected three more finals MVPs and a couple of league MVPs. He also found time to star alongside Bugs, Daffy and Bill Murray in the 1996 Looney Tunes film Space Jam.
The film provides a fictionalised re-enactment of his unprecedented career moves, but mostly centres on the Looney Tunes’ face-off with the alien Nerdlucks. So how well do you remember the film?
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The ultimate Space Jam trivia quiz!
