Even though his baseball career didn’t produce a championship like his basketball career, it was still fruitful for Michael Jordan. “At 30, I was moving so fast. I never had time to think about all the things I was encountering, all the things I was touching.” In 1993, MJ retired from the NBA for the first time because of a deeply personal moment. He stepped away not only to heal, but to honor his father’s dream by playing pro baseball. During that stint, the 6x NBA champion felt at peace, unlike any other time, said the former MLB coach.

That summer, his father, James Jordan, was m——d, and the loss hit him hard. Plus, media scrutiny swirling around his gambling added pressure. Even though the Bulls legend has always denied retiring due to gambling, he pursued a path that his father wanted him to take. That’s why Michael Jordan agreed to a Double-A ball team affiliate with the White Sox. That’s when he met Terry Francona, the then-manager of the affiliate team, Birmingham Barons.

“You know, I found out it took me a while. Because you know, in the Southern League back in the day, there were some long bus rides, right, and they weren’t sleeper buses. It was sometimes two to a seat, and they were long. I’d look at him and he seemed so content, and it took me a while to figure out that that was probably the first time in years where nobody could get at him. And he could actually relax and either listen to music or read a book or play cards and nobody could get at him and and he really enjoyed it.”

On the Rich Eisen show, Francona detailed the experience of managing Michael Jordan. In several other interviews, too, the ex-MLB coach was vocal about how His Airness never complained about long bus rides. After all, he was used to quick plane rides in the NBA. But that lifestyle attracted a lot of eyeballs, which is why Michael Jordan, in the first place, chose baseball. Jordan also didn’t complain about the accommodations at the various La Quinta Inns where the Barons bunked.

Apart from the former manager, another person experienced the peaceful side of Michael Jordan

At 30 years old, with zero pro baseball experience, the Chicago Bulls legend entered uncharted territory. As stated earlier, it did not produce a championship, but it wasn’t a total loss either. According to Baseball Reference, Jordan posted a .202/.289/.266 slash line with 3 home runs, 51 RBI, 30 stolen bases, 51 walks, and 114 strikeouts across 497 plate appearances. Again, not elite numbers, but instead of being frustrated, Mike Greenberg noticed something he hadn’t seen before.

“He was sitting on this bench in this tiny little clubhouse smaller than the locker room at my high school and covered in cheap beer with a cigar and the baseball bat,” Greenberg recalled on the podcast. “And he had a smile on his face like a look of satisfaction that was the equal of what I had seen.” The media personality added that he had seen Michael Jordan win gold medals, three peat in the NBA, but that feeling in baseball was very different.

“But he was as satisfied and happy in that moment as I saw him at any other time. And I think there’s such a great lesson in that somewhere that I’ve tried to remember.” Even the former teammates of the Barons fondly remember their time with MJ. It was cut short due strike-shortened 1994–95 season, and Jordan chose to leave baseball to make his return.