Michael Jordan’s foray into baseball in 1994 was national news. Frank Thomas described media coverage of White Sox spring training that year as “a freak show.”
Jordan was intent on working his way up through the minors, earning his way to the big leagues, meaning the White Sox themselves couldn’t reap the financial benefits of having the world’s greatest basketball player suiting up in 81 home games. But their minor league affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, sure could.
Jordan played 127 games with the Birmingham Barons that season, bringing his traveling circus and all the attention that came with it across the Southern League.
“When we traveled, we were the Rolling Stones,” Barons broadcaster Curt Bloom told Our Chuck Garfien on the White Sox Talk Podcast.
The biggest impact was felt when fans flooded to stadiums to get a glimpse of His Airness.
“Our goal was to draw between 275,000 and 300,000 each year, and if I’m not mistaken, that put us a little bit over 4,000 (per game). And with him, we doubled everything,” Bloom said. “And when you double attendance, you pretty much double revenue, as well.
“We played in front of, home and road, just under a million people, which is just a fascinating, staggering number. The numbers with Michael were, of course, the all-time single-season, the all-time single game, the all-time weekend (records). And especially with the Thursday through Sunday (series), there’d be upwards of 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 people at the ballpark.”
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According to the Barons' website, they drew 467,867 fans to home games that season, shattering the team's single-season attendance record.
And it wasn’t limited to Birmingham, either. Including road games, they played in front of 985,185 fans that season. Jordan's final game on Aug. 27, 1994, drew 16,247 fans.
“Not only did he make the Barons money, but he made the Southern League a lot of money, too,” Bloom said. “There were amenities and people would come out that had never come out to these ballparks before. So he made a lot of people a lot of money.
“When you play in front of just under a million (people) — I don’t want to embarrass the Montreal Expos, but I think near the end of their time, we might have drawn more people than the big league club, or maybe the Marlins of a year or two ago.”
Minor league teams are always looking for wacky new promotions to get fans out to the ballpark. There’s perhaps never been a better draw in minor league history than Michael Jordan.
For more behind-the-scenes tales from Michael Jordan's baseball career, listen to this recent edition of the White Sox Talk Podcast.
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