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But a funny thing happened. Jordan stayed with the game well beyond the novelty stage. He went down to play for the Birmingham (Alabama) Barons of the Class AA Southern League, and though his batting average hovered around .200 for most of the summer, his swing got better. He had big-league speed, and his outfielding wasn't shabby. He could rightfully claim to be a player, if not a particularly good or young one. His presence helped league attendance, of course, but it also helped baseball in general. Hey, if Michael Jordan likes the game enough to stick it out during a long hot summer, riding countless hours on a bus--all right, he bought the bus--then there must be something to the sport.
In the Arizona Fall League, Jordan continued to hone his skills with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Baseball may have quit on America, but Jordan wasn't quitting on baseball. On the Bulls' Michael Jordan Night at the new United Center on Nov. 1, he told the crowd, "Hopefully, that number [23] going up will put thoughts that I'm coming back to rest. There's a new team, a new building, and I'm playing baseball." He filmed a Nike commercial with Spike Lee, featuring Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Bill Buckner, all of whom watch Jordan play and comment, "But he's trying."
Two days after the ad began airing last Sunday, and five days after he told Poe he was going to stop trying, Jordan sneaked into the Berto Center to restart his basketball career. "It's a reality, but it's still not a reality," said the Bulls' sometimes mystifying coach Phil Jackson. Jordan may be rusty, but within a week or two, Air will be a reality once again.
Jordan's return comes at a nice time for the N.B.A., which has its own labor worries and image problems. But pro basketball doesn't need him as much as baseball does. Having turned off millions of fans and dissed the President of the United States, baseball has lost the most famous athlete in the world. His declaration that he was through was not merely the retirement of a 32-year-old Double-A outfielder. It was one more Edgar Allan Poe story for the game. Vincent Price would be a perfect choice for the commissioner. First of all, he has had experience with this kind of horror. Second of all, he too is dead.