The Fall League

In the Barons’ last Saturday home game, they drew 16,247 fans, setting a new attendance record. Jordan played in five more games, his last coming on Sept. 3 in Huntsville, Alabama. He finished with 12 hits in his last 40 at-bats, lifting his batting average from .192 to .202 at season’s end.

After taking a few weeks off, Jordan reported first to Sarasota to get back in game shape, then to the Arizona Fall League’s Scottsdale Scorpions, where his teammates included various White Sox, Red Sox, and Royals prospects, all of them far younger than him. And just as he’d been in the Southern League, Jordan would become a hard-working, crowd-drawing, sensation in Arizona, too.

Steve Cobb, executive vice president, Arizona Fall League: He had a dramatic impact on us. The non-Scottsdale games that season averaged roughly 225 people per game. For Scottsdale games, home and away, the average was 1,788 fans per game. So roughly 1,500 more fans per game, on average. All walk-ups, because in those days we didn’t sell tickets in advance.

The previous year, our largest single crowd was roughly 3,100. When Michael Jordan came, we topped that mark six times. I remember three of those in particular.

First, there was Opening Night. October 6, Tempe Diablo Stadium. There were more than 6,100 people at the game, and you would look out and see lines of cars trying to get into the parking lot. October 19, the game was nationally televised by Prime Sports Network. Scottsdale at Peoria.

And then there was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had in the history of the league. It was a Monday night in Tucson; we went down and played one game at old Hi Corbett Field. The Scorpions played the Rafters down there. It might have been 45 degrees that night, and we had 7,800 people in the stands.

Bob Herold, Scorpions hitting coach: Walt [Hriniak] came in for a week. Mike Barnett came in for a week. So yeah, I stayed away from [Jordan]. He was battling. But, you know, any port in a storm. So maybe a month in, he came over and said, “Hey, would you work with me?”

And I said, “Well, my family just showed up.”

He said, “That’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I went and told my wife and she said, “What are you doing? This is your chance to share the gospel with this guy.” So I went back and found him and we got to work, while my daughter’s running around in the outfield under the sprinklers.

The next morning, he shows up early. I was working with three other guys: Larry Sutton, Joe Randa, and Gregg Zaun. That first day, these guys all defer to him. And I said, “Nope, whoever got here first, goes first.” And from that day on, he was always the first guy there.

Barnett: I wasn’t on the coaching staff, but after a week or two, he calls me and says, “When are you gonna come out?” So I went out there for 10 days, two weeks, and worked with him. The Fall League then was the cream of the crop from Double-A; teams were still sending their best pitchers. He ended up hitting .255 out there. Most players take three or four years to get to that point.

Herold: I was the outfield coach, too. The first time I saw him fielding, he looked like a 5-year-old going for fly balls, catching everything on the run with two hands. I told him, “A big man like you has to catch those on the side, with one hand.” And he said, “That’s how my dad taught me, catching everything with two hands. That’s how you play the game right.” Sure, if you’re standing still. And I’m wondering, I’m really the first guy to tell this guy how to catch the ball right?

I was coaching in the Royals organization. I didn’t have a problem with him at all, but I can tell you there were definitely a lot of guys in baseball who were hoping for him to fail. Just because they didn’t like the idea of somebody who hadn’t played in 14 or 15 years jumping right in and doing better than them.

Steve Gilbert, Arizona Fall League media relations: Terry Francona and I were supposed to have dinner one night and instead he tells me, “Some of the guys are going to play basketball over at Club SAR. Why don’t you come with me? Michael will probably be there.”

So we’re playing, and I’m on the team with Francona and Jordan and the coaches, against these young Fall League players. I’m covering Curtis Goodwin, who I think stole 59 bases that season in the Eastern League. I played some basketball in high school, but these guys were real athletes. I must have spent the whole game just hanging on to Goodwin’s shirt.

Apparently I was so nervous about being in a game with Michael Jordan that I didn’t really take any deep breaths, and could not catch my breath after the game. The trainers and everybody were there—they all wanted to see Michael Jordan playing basketball. They checked me out and said, “We’d feel better if you went over to the hospital to get checked out.” I really didn’t want to go. I mean, how embarrassing. But they insisted. So one of the security guys drives me over, and the hospital’s packed with people. But a few minutes later I’m in my own little room, and I’m getting oxygen. And all these people are coming in and out, all asking, “So what was it like, playing basketball with Michael Jordan?” His security guard, I guess, told them who I’d been with, to get me bumped to the head of the line.

After being asked that a few times, I finally told someone, “What’s it like? What’s it like? I’m in the hospital—that’s what it’s like playing fucking basketball with Michael Jordan!”

The next day I walked into the clubhouse and Michael sees me and motions me over. “You can’t play basketball with us anymore,” he said. “Because I can’t have fun if I’ve got to worry about you keeling over.”

Cobb: It’s the last day of the season. Scottsdale did not win their division. You can imagine that guys wanted to get out of Dodge yesterday. Well, Michael taps me on the shoulder. I turn around, look up at him, and he says, “Steve, I just want to thank you for my time here.”

I’ve now been doing this for 24 years, and I’ve never, ever had another player thank me for being in the Arizona Fall League. Not anyone. Except Michael Jordan. Are you kidding me?