As we found out earlier, Michael Jordan first retired from the NBA in 1994, but after leaving the MLB, he went back to the Bulls in 1995. He won another three titles with Chicago and retired again saying that he was done for good.
Ten years later he made a comeback and played for the Washington Wizards, but after suffering some injuries he retired for the last time.
Why He Gave Baseball a Swing?
The first time Michael Jordan retired from the NBA was because he said that he lacked the desire to keep playing. However, the real reason had to do with the passing of his father. It was his father’s dream to see Jordan play baseball, so he wanted to bring that dream to life.
The transition from the Chicago Bulls to the White Sox was fairly easy for Jordan because the two teams had the same owner. During his minor league career, Jordan hit -202 with three home runs and 51 runs batted in. After what we would call a second wind for basketball, Jordan rejoined the NBA in 1995 and was ready to win more titles.
His Very Own "Love Of The Game" Clause
Most athletes had clauses in their contracts. A clause would prohibit a player from playing sports outside of their profession. However, there was an exception for Michael Jordan. He had something called a “love of the game” clause which would allow him to play pick-up basketball games at any time, against whoever he wanted.
To compare, in 2019, Patrick Mahomes was told that he could no longer play basketball during the off-season because the risk of injury was too high.
He Loves To Gamble
Michael Jordan didn’t hide the fact that he liked to gamble. In 1993, he was seen at an Atlantic City Casino the night before a playoff game against the New York Knicks. Although he is worth millions of dollars, he lost roughly $60,000 that night.
It was in 2005 when Michael finally opened up about his gambling problem in an interview with 60 minutes. “I’ve gotten myself into situations where I would not walk away and I’ve pushed the envelope. Is that compulsive? Yeah, it depends on how you look at it. If you’re willing to jeopardize your livelihood and your family, then yeah.”
Aqua-Phobia!?
Michael Jordan is terribly afraid of water, even if he is own a boat. When he was young, he was in the ocean with a friend when an undertow came through. Unfortunately, he couldn’t free himself and he drowned.
Several years later another traumatic experience happened when Michael Jordan almost drowned while he was at baseball camp. As you can probably imagine, his reasons for being essentially petrified of water are pretty valid.