Rookie: When Michael Jordan Came to the Minor Leagues Book

When Michael Jordan joined the Birmingham Barons, he was no ordinary rookie. As a basketball player, he had just led his team to three straight NBA championships. As a baseball player, he had never hit a professional curve ball. And as a star, he made more money from endorsements than the Barons' entire Southern League earned in a year. Rookie traces the growth of baseball's richest prospect. Facing professional pitchers who were in Little League when he became a star, Jordan struggles to bat above .200. His long legs make him the Barons' fastest runner, but he has a lot to learn about base-stealing. Coaches, players, and reporters debate whether he'll ever make it to the big leagues. Meanwhile, Patton investigates the deal-making around Jordan, from negotiations over a fan's videotape of his first homer to the real story of the $350,000 bus he was said to have bought for his team. Entertaining and provocative, Rookie reveals what Michael Jordan's first year in baseball tells us about our long infatuation with sports heroes.

Award-winning sports columnist Jim Patton went in search of the world's most famous minor-leaguer, and along the way discovered the joys of minor league ball, the beauty of the deep South, and what Michael Jordan's first year in baseball teaches us all about our long infatuation with sports heroes.