Jordan said his father was like a friend.
In the history of the NBA, there has never been a player's career as spectacular as Jordan's, and no one can match the ups and downs of Jordan's three retirements. Compared to his second retirement in early 1999 and his final farewell in 2003, Jordan's first retirement in 1993 was the biggest news of the year. There have been so many behind-the-scenes stories and details that nobody knows.
In the latest episode of Jordan's documentary "The Last Dance", not only Jordan himself, Bulls boss Reinsdorf, Phil Jackson, Jordan's mother, brother, agent, personal assistant and other relatives and friends have also come out, recalling many important events before and after Jordan's retirement. For the first time, it revealed the reasons for the "earthquake magnitude" retirement, Jordan's retirement life and the psychological changes of returning to the game.
Decide to leave
His father was accidentally shot to death, accelerating Jordan's first retirement
On June 20, 1993, Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to a 4-2 win over the Phoenix SUNS for a stunning third straight championship. In the documentary, Jordan recalls sitting in the gym with his father and talking, "In the back of my mind, I knew that could be my last game, and no one but my father could really understand how I felt."
As Jordan said, the idea of "retirement" had been in his mind, and the unexpected death of his father more than a month later indirectly accelerated his retirement plan.
On July 23, 1993, James Jordan had planned to attend a charity event held by his son, but neither Jordan's assistant, mother nor himself were able to contact James Jordan, "Sometimes my father would drive to Wilmington to see old friends, stay for a few days and then drive back, and when my mother could not contact him, we began to worry."
Over the next three weeks, Jordan's car was found looted in a forest in North Carolina, until his body was found in a creek on August 13, 1993. According to the investigation, James Jordan pulled over during a late night drive and was awakened by two 18-year-old men while taking a nap and was shot once in the chest at the same time.
After attending his father's memorial service, with the encouragement of his mother, Jordan tried to walk out of the shadow of his father's death, "He always inspired and challenged me, this is my father, like a friend." My father always told me to take the negative and turn it into something positive."
But Jordan found that without his father, he no longer had the motivation to play basketball. So, he went to the Bulls owner and head coach Phil Jackson, "I fulfilled my responsibility to the Chicago Bulls, my teammates, I almost retired, I don't have the desire and motivation to challenge, I don't want to play anymore."
On October 5, 1993, Jordan threw off the opening pitch of an MLB game between the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays, and news of his impending retirement quickly spread. The next day, accompanied by team owners, general managers, head coaches and then-NBA Commissioner David Stern, Jordan personally announced his retirement at a press conference.
"I'm a very optimistic person, and the most optimistic point I can make is that my late father saw my last basketball game, which means a lot. The word retirement means that from today on, I can do whatever I want, so if I want to come back and play, I can come back. I'm not closing the door on basketball." Jordan said.
Retired life
Denying ridiculous conspiracy theories, making sense baseball
As the first person in the league who just led the team to win three consecutive championships, why did Jordan choose to leave? In addition to the impact of his father's death, the outside world has been trying to find a reasonable explanation, so there are conspiracy theories from various angles.
As early as Jordan's father was killed, there was media speculation that James Jordan's death was related to some of Jordan's own behavior, such as the gambling controversy, Jordan was angry about it, "How can they deliberately put salt in my wound." After Jordan announced his retirement, similar conspiracy theories emerged in endlessly, and even some media said that it was then-NBA President David Stern who secretly banned Jordan from the game.
"The rumor is that I sent Jordan away because he was a gambling addict. Ridiculous. There's no basis for it. I can pound the table and say, this is slander, this is a lie to slander me. Because it's all fake." In the documentary, the late Stern explicitly denied this, and Jordan himself stressed that "I retired because the league kicked me out, or suspended me for a year and a half." I needed a break. My father had just died, so I retired."
As for Jordan's switch to professional baseball, the main reason was that he wanted to do what he wanted to do, to fulfill his childhood baseball dream, and to follow his father's will. Jordan revealed that before his father died, the two had an intimate conversation, "I argued with him about whether or not to play baseball, I said I was thinking about retiring and wanted to play baseball." He said, do it."
Jordan's idea was strongly supported by Bulls owner Reinsdorf, who also owns the Chicago White Sox. On February 7, 1994, after more than two months of baseball training, Jordan joined the Chicago White Sox affiliate Birmingham Barons, once again becoming a rookie in the professional league.
"Just because you're the greatest player in the history of basketball doesn't mean you're going to make it in baseball." In the face of widespread skepticism, Jordan worked hard to shape baseball off the field, and did well in minor league games, playing for the Birmingham Barons in his first season, he had a hit in the opening 13 games, the season hit 50 home runs, batting more than 20%.
Back on the road
Make a statement I'M BACK, start a second triple crown
It has long been rumored that Jordan returned to the NBA because his baseball career was frustrated. As the numerous details in the documentary "The Last Dance" show, Jordan's return is also about more than just a failed baseball career.
The manager of the Birmingham Barons team said that Jordan's batting average was beyond the reach of many good hitters. Bulls owner Reinsdorf also said that if Jordan continues to play baseball, there is a good chance of making it to the major leagues. In early 1995, due to the MLB lockout, the Chicago Bulls struggled during the season, which eventually led to Jordan's return.
In early 1995, MLB's strike crisis persisted, and the league made the wrong decision to try to start the season with replacement players. During the National Spring training camp, the MLB wanted Jordan to play for the Major leagues, and Jordan said he would not play during the strike and left camp.
Since then, Jordan has not been seen at the ballpark, instead joining the Chicago Bulls' in-house training. With Jordan and the Bulls training more and more times, the outside world is widely speculated that Jordan's return date is getting closer. On March 10, 1995, Pippen publicly called for Jordan's return on the game broadcast camera, and a week later, everyone got what they wanted.
According to Jordan's agent Falk recalled that he wrote three or four press releases announcing his comeback to Jordan at that time, and Jordan was not satisfied with them and did not express Jordan's real thoughts. Eventually, Jordan himself wrote a brief statement, and on March 18, 1995, Jordan's "I'M BACK" dominated the headlines.
From October 6, 1993 to March 18, 1995, Jordan experienced a total of 528 days from the official retirement to the announcement of his return. And on June 20, 1993 to achieve three consecutive championships, to March 19, 1995 to return to the Bulls jersey to play, everyone waited for Jordan 637 days.
"I was nervous because I hadn't played professionally for a long time." No longer with his father by his side, Jordan had tears in his eyes before the game as he changed the number 23 that has represented numerous honors to 45, the number he used when he first played in high school. In the first game of the comeback, the Bulls eventually lost to the Pacers in Indiana, Jordan shot only 7 of 28 and scored 19 points.
Jordan returned to the NBA arena is strange to all things, but his pursuit of honor and championship has not changed, since the three years, Jordan again led the team to achieve three consecutive championships, cast the Bulls dynasty.
