Michael Jordan is serious about playing baseball. Feel free to assume that the disclaimers being issued from Comiskey Park are camouflage. He’s working out there, often and seriously. If he thinks he can make it with the White Sox, he’ll show up in spring training, and you can book it.
When Jordan retired from the Bulls, he said he wanted to play golf. He also said he had run out of challenges. The latter urge prevails, at least temporarily. When he could be teeing it up where the sun shines, do you really believe he would be hanging around a batting cage in January just for exercise?
Jordan earned $3.9 million during his last season of being the best basketball player who ever lived, and he probably got tired of hearing he was underpaid. So he’s going to give a try for where the real money is. For $3.9 million in baseball, Jordan would have to hit about .220 as a utility man. Now playing right field in the Grapefruit League opener . . .
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New Year’s revolutions: Speaking of fantasies, Craig “Ironhead” Heyward wins the wish list award for 1994 by stating that he’ll report to the Bears’ camp this summer weighing in at 210 pounds. I don’t know what he plans to do with the other leg when he steps on the scale, but he has six months to think about it.
And what about Isiah Thomas? He throws one punch at Bill Laimbeer and they want to make him king. No wonder Thomas didn’t want to play with the Knicks. He symbolized the smirky, bratty but winning attitude of the Detroit Pistons who dominated the NBA before the Bulls brought them down. If Thomas becomes owner/president/czar/general manager of the Pistons, it will speak well of the league’s enlightened stance on minorities in the front office. And we don’t mean just race. Sports people are forever bemoaning all the bean counters and gray suits who have infiltrated the executive branch. Thomas has been called a lot of names, but not a stuffed shirt.
The Hose Bowl hangover: Yes, thousands of Wisconsin Badgers fans who thought they had tickets for Saturday’s victory over UCLA but didn’t have a right to be angry. But the Cheeseheads drank and ate well, anyway. The wheels of a charter plane preparing to transport 137 rooters from Southern California back to Wisconsin sank into the airport tarmac on Sunday. How heavy is bratwurst, anyway? . . . Only one thing possibly could take the edge off Wisconsin’s miraculous turnaround from 1-10 four years ago: if, somewhere down the line, we learn that somehow the Badgers and Barry Alvarez bent, folded or mutilated the rules. Let’s hope not. It’s too good a story.
Major leagues: The membership of Medinah Country Club has voted to proceed with discussions concerning the possibility of a PGA Championship for 1999 or 2000. The 1988 U.S. Senior Open and 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah were hugely successful, and the PGA of America is well aware. One other item: The PGA of America is the same governing body that chooses venues for the Ryder Cup matches. Would the U.S. versus Europe at Medinah be something or what?
Not to be forgotten: The sports industry recently lost two special people. Dick Dozer, retired Tribune baseball writer, was a wonderful craftsman and teammate. His was a popular and respected figure, wherever he went. . . . Marv Samuel, you might not have known, but you should have. He was the driving force behind Chicago Baseball Cancer Charities that raised more than $7 million, primarily through the annual celebrity golf tournament. Marv worked tirelessly to bring athletes and amateurs together for a cause. He also had the distinction of personally selling a ticket to Jerry “the Gate Crasher” Berliant, a peripatetic fellow who has been known to open a lot of doors. Marv leaned on the right people for the right reason. Somewhere up there, he’s selling foursomes.
Cheers: While you’re shoveling snow, remember: The PGA Tour season begins Thursday.