ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 22, 1994                   TAG: 9403220043
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARASOTA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium


WHITE SOX SHIP JORDAN TO MINORS

THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX shipped Michael Jordan to their minor-league camp Monday in an effort to figure out where the retired NBA star will start his rookie baseball season.

Michael Jordan thought about that dented, old school bus parked in front of the Chicago White Sox complex, the one with tattered seat covers, chipped white paint and two cracked windows, and looked concerned.

"I don't have to ride in that bus, do I?" he asked, seriously.

Welcome to the minors, Michael.

The Chicago White Sox made it official Monday, reassigning him to their minor-league camp. After a week, general manager Ron Schueler hopes to have an idea where the 31-year-old rookie will start the season.

"More or less, it's something I need to improve my skills," Jordan said. "It doesn't bother me personally. I don't think like I failed at anything."

Jordan, the three-time NBA most valuable player, was 3-for-20 in 13 spring games for the White Sox with four walks. He drove in two runs, scored four and struck out four times. He hit the ball out of the infield just twice; two of his hits were knocked down by infielders.

Jordan went right to work after being sent down, beginning his minor-league career with an RBI single for Prince William in a Class A game against Baltimore's Frederick team. He went 1-for-4, dropped an easy fly to right and got turned around on another catchable ball.

Where Jordan will be each day is uncertain. He was given the day off Tuesday, may play for Triple-A Nashville on Wednesday and might work out with Double-A Birmingham later this week.

"It's wherever we can get him in games, where we can get him the most at-bats," Schueler said.

Jordan has said he will play in the minors for a year as long as he and the White Sox believe he can make the majors someday.

This spring, however, Jordan probably will not have to ride that 20-year-old school bus painted white, which the White Sox use to shuttle their minor leaguers to nearby camps in Bradenton, Port Charlotte and other spots. The team is concerned for his safety - a fan ran on the field to him Sunday in Miami - and wants to keep him close to home.

"I've always been a team guy. But when it comes to 16- or 18-hour bus rides, I hope they can come with me" perhaps on a plane, Jordan said.

Nor will Jordan have to take the bus to the team hotel for minor leaguers, the Days Inn up the road.

Jordan, though, had to move his locker. He was moved off a prime row near Cy Young winner Jack McDowell to a place farther back, although he will be allowed to stay in the big league clubhouse rather than switch to the small, cramped quarters the minor league players use, again because of security.

"It's a whole different experience but that's what life is about," he said. "I'm not really nervous as much as I used to be. Getting to know these guys, I'm like the old guy in the group. I think they'll be more nervous around me than I will be around them."

Jordan was the only player on his Prince William team without his name on the back of his uniform - not that anyone needed a scorecard to tell who No. 45 was. He batted third, instead of sixth or seventh as he had in the major-league exhibition games.

Jordan grounded a run-scoring single to right field off left-hander Scott Emerson, 22, a former all-state basketball player in Arizona who pitched at Class A Albany, Ga., last season. Later, Jordan grounded out three times and drew a walk.

He had some trouble in the field. The second batter of the game hit a long fly to right that tangled Jordan, and the ball landed past him. The next inning, No. 92, Matt Riemer, sliced a high fly that bounced out of Jordan's one-handed, basket catch attempt.



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