UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Going to drop a truth bomb on you mfers, so buckle up buttercups.
Michael Jordan Was Not Bad Playing Baseball, He Was Actually Decent
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Going to drop a truth bomb on you mfers, so buckle up buttercups.
Michael Jordan Was Not Bad Playing Baseball, He Was Actually Decent
cattywampas@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Paywall so I can’t read the author’s main points, but it’s all relative when you say “bad at baseball.” Compared to the average person or even the average pro athlete? Yeah it’s extremely impressive to play AA ball after not playing since high school, I think he was 14 years removed from the sport. Absolutely an athletic freak with crazy work ethic and natural talent. I’d argue that anyone who makes it to AA is far more than decent. And I think Space Jam kinda gives his baseball skills a bad rap.
But in the context of professional baseball, he wasn’t major league caliber. He slashed .202/.289/.266 in 497 plate appearances at 31 years old. If he had continued to play I bet he would have been promoted to the majors at least once for the spectacle, a la Bronny playing on the Lakers with his dad. But I doubt he ever would have been truly serviceable.
Hitting against major league pitching is really, really hard. Like one of the hardest things in sports imo. Like so hard that the best players in the world have to spend years in the minors or foreign leagues to even sniff an MLB roster.