Now batting … No. 45 … Michael Jordan

(Sarasota Herald-Tribune photo)

Michael Jordan takes his first professional at-bat 30 years ago today for the Chicago White Sox in the sixth inning of an otherwise forgettable spring training game against the Texas Rangers in Sarasota, Fla.

This particular at-bat, though, gains national attention in 1994 as Michael Jordan, the world’s greatest basketball player, is trying to become Michael Jordan, the 31-year-old baseball rookie outfielder.

With the curious watching and cameras rolling, Jordan weakly bounces a pitch down the first base line, where Texas Rangers relief pitcher Darren Oliver easily picks up the ball and tags out Jordan.

Jordan ends up spending the summer of ’94 playing for the White Sox’s Class AA affiliate in Birmingham, Ala., where he bats .202 in 127 games before returning to basketball and leading the Chicago Bulls to three more NBA titles.

As for Oliver, back in 1994 he is a 23-year-old lefty with all of 3 1/3 innings of major league experience.

“There obviously was so much buzz, and I’m not going to lie, I was nervous a little bit,” Oliver later tells the New York Post.

“I wasn’t nervous about him getting a base hit, I was more nervous thinking, ‘Just don’t hit this guy.’ I didn’t want to be the guy who hit and hurt him, hurt his arm or his knee. Stuff like that definitely came across my mind.”

As it is, the 1-2 fastball Oliver throws to Jordan turns into nothing more than an easy grounder that Jordan hits back to him.

Just one of many such plays Oliver goes on to handle during his 20-year career in the majors.

“If it wasn’t Michael Jordan, it was just a normal, nothing play,” Oliver says.

“There were a lot of people watching and cheering for him to get a base hit,” Oliver says, “but that wasn’t going to happen on my watch. Even though it was spring training, I didn’t want to be that guy. Can you imagine if he’d have gotten a hit? They would have replayed that about 1,000 times on ESPN.”

Michael Jordan … doing what he does best