Incredible inside stories about Michael Jordan’s baseball career

The White Sox Podcast w/ Chuck Garfien

Chicago Sports Network

Sports, Sports:baseball, Baseball

4.4 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With the 'Last Dance' documentary chronicling Michael Jordan's final season with the Bulls, host Chuck Garfien takes an inside look at Jordan's one season playing baseball with the White Sox in 1994. Chuck gets stories from those who were around Jordan during that time: former White Sox players Frank Thomas, Ozzie Guillen, Darrin Jackson and Bill Melton, plus Birmingham Barons broadcaster Curt Bloom who called all of Jordan's games in the minor leagues.(2:40) - White Sox secretly asked Bill Melton to help Michael Jordan learn how to hit(6:56) - Ozzie Guillen and Joey Cora played 2-on-1 basketball against Jordan. Seriously. Ozzie tells the story.(10:45) - Frank Thomas couldn't believe the wild scene at White Sox spring training and talks about if Jordan could have made it to the majors.(15:27) - Darrin Jackson saw women cry when they saw Jordan and played with Jordan in the White Sox-Cubs exhibition game at Wrigley(22:30) - Curt Bloom talks about announcing Jordan's games, his first home run, the bus rides, and crazy things that happened in the minors.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's another hit.
0:05.3	A drive down to third baseline.
0:08.1	The tying run may score.
0:10.1	He's around third.
0:11.6	Race is hard to play the throw.
0:15.0	He hasn't touched the plate yet and he does.
0:18.2	Michael Jordan has tied up the ball game with a ground double the left. And this crowd
0:24.9	has seen what it came here for. And everybody's on their feet yelling.
0:35.9	Michael Jordan was a legend on the basketball court.
0:40.4	But the behind-the-scenes stories about him trying out with the White Sox in 1994 are just as legendary.
0:48.1	Hey, everyone, it's Chuck Ardifying.
0:49.4	This is the White Sox Talk podcast, brought to you by WinTrust.
0:53.4	And over the summer, I dug into this surreal time in Jordan's career, speaking with people
1:00.7	who were around him or played with him as he was trying out with the White Sox.
1:06.7	Some of these stories are just hard to believe.
1:10.3	Ozzygian and Joey Cora playing two-on-one basketball against him.
1:14.8	Jordan taking control of the team bus in Birmingham and driving it down the highway.
1:20.8	And before going to White Sox Spring Training, he went undercover to the ballpark and learned how to hit.
1:27.3	His teacher was Bill Melton.
1:30.6	So we're going to hear from Bill, Frank Thomas, Ozzygeon, Darren Jackson,
1:33.9	and Birmingham Barron's broadcaster, Kurt Bloom, inside.
1:37.9	Incredible stories about Michael Jordan's baseball career on the White Sox Talk Podcast.
	...

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