'I love the guy': Tales from MJ's White Sox days

CHICAGO -- I still remember many key moments from Michael Jordan’s storied Chicago Bulls basketball career, even though I sometimes have trouble remembering what I had for lunch on Thursday.

When Jordan scored 63 in a playoff loss to the Celtics, I was at school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. When the Bulls won their first title over the Lakers, I was with my two brothers and a number of friends at my place in Chicago, ready to celebrate. One of us still has the empty bottle of champagne from that night.

I’m clearly far from the only one with memorable connections to possibly the greatest player in NBA history and one of the most prominent figures in sports. With the ESPN docuseries, "The Last Dance," focusing on Jordan's foray into baseball this Sunday night, let’s reminisce with some White Sox personnel about their experiences with Jordan.

Ken ‘Hawk’ Harrelson
A picture has been making its way around social media since the start of "The Last Dance" featuring Bears coach Mike Ditka, quarterback Jim McMahon, Jordan and Harrelson in an iconic golf foursome. The one-time television voice of the White Sox and 2020 Ford C. Frick Award winner not only remembers that tournament, but a moment centered upon the competition’s long drive hole, and it was during a time when Harrelson could hit it a long way.

It was a cool day and the wind was a little bit in the golfers’ faces, but Harrelson still drove it 321 yards. Naturally, Harrelson assumed it was the winning drive.

“After everybody got finished, we were having dinner, a few cocktails,” Harrelson said. “Now, they are giving out the awards, and they said, ‘For the long drive contest ...’

“I pushed my chair back from the table, started to get up and they said 'Michael Jordan, 323.’ I looked at him and he looked at me and just started to smile. I love the guy.”

Harrelson also had fun playing in a threesome during a CGA Tournament with Jordan and hockey superstar Mario Lemieux, and he had the chance to watch Jordan as a Minor Leaguer and see that famous competitive fire up close. At one point during Spring Training in Sarasota, Fla., Jordan put a call out to Harrelson to come watch batting practice. Harrelson made the two-hour trip from Orlando, leading to a round of golf with Jordan and a couple of other White Sox players.

“I watched him hit for about 15, 20 minutes,” Harrelson said. “Taking 15, 20 minutes of BP when your hands aren’t used to it and your hands aren’t tough, that’s [hard] on your hands.

“Now I watched him hit, and I turned around and said, ‘I’ll see you later. I’m going back to Orlando.’ And he said, ‘Let’s go play some golf.’ I had the clubs in my trunk, and I said, ‘I’ll meet you out in Gator Creek.’

“He had his hands taped up. His right hand, blood was seeping through the tape. It was all red. And I said, ‘You're going to play like that?’ We played -- and he played pretty good. I played like a dog that day. We lost some money, so I left to go back to Orlando, and then I found out the next day he stayed there for a couple of hours playing gin with [the others] trying to get the money back.”

Brooks Boyer
The White Sox senior vice president and chief revenue and marketing officer shared with MLB.com last weekend a touching story about Jordan’s magical meeting with a terminally ill child before a preseason game in Memphis, Tenn. But Boyer also has a competitive basketball experience with Jordan.

Prior to his present 17-year run with the White Sox, Boyer worked 10 years for the Bulls and liked to shoot hoops on the United Center floor during lunch time. On one occasion, Jordan brought in his son, Jeffrey, and wanted him to play Boyer one-on-one to see where he stood skills-wise. Boyer was an accomplished collegiate player for Notre Dame, with Jordan often referring to Boyer by his school name.

“I beat his son in one-on-one, but the crazy thing is how competitive Michael was even just coaching him up,” Boyer said. “And Michael was talking trash to me to try to get in my head: ‘He can’t go left. He’s tired.’ He was on me the entire game. It was like I had a broadcaster.”

There was a humorous message delivered by Boyer to Jordan after defeating his talented son.

“It was a good game. His son was a good player,” Boyer said. “Then I looked at him and said, ‘You’re next.' He never took me up on it.

“He laughed. He was like, ‘We’ll be back to whip your [butt]. You go get some oxygen.’”

Nick Hostetler
Hostetler served as the White Sox director of amateur scouting from August 2015 to September 2019 and is now a special assistant to general manager Rick Hahn. He is also an Ohio native who grew up a big-time Cavaliers fan. In fact, Hostetler was in the stands at Richfield Coliseum on May 7, 1989, when Jordan hit The Shot over Craig Ehlo to give the Bulls a five-game series victory in the first round of the playoffs.

An 11-year-old Hostetler, decked out in his Ron Harper jersey, had his dreams of a Cavs championship crushed.

“That was the year that we thought they were going to move on and end up playing the Pistons, and hopefully beat the Pistons,” Hostetler said. “He ripped my heart out.

“I was stunned. I remember just staring. I remember thinking like he didn’t get it off. I saw him jumping around. Then it was probably about 30 minutes home, and the whole ride home I was mad at [Cavs coach] Lenny Wilkens for not double teaming, I was mad at Larry Nance for not switching, and I was mad at Ehlo for not contesting the shot. I was pretty much mad at the whole team by the time I got home.”

Hostetler shared his story of woe with White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf -- also the owner of the Bulls -- and Michael Reinsdorf, the Bulls' president and chief operating officer. Hostetler even sent pictures of the game’s ticket stub to both.

Hostetler wore jersey No. 23 during his last year playing high school basketball, letting go of the grudge.

“Eleven-year-old Nick would have never worn the No. 23,” Hostetler said. “So, I started to appreciate him more as I grew up.”

Bill Melton
The White Sox third baseman from 1968-75 was asked by then-general manager Ron Schueler to help a player out offensively during the 1993 offseason. That guy was Jordan.

“My job was just to show him setups, look at a lot of videos of some guys that I liked, that I thought had good swings, good setups, like John Olerud with Toronto,” Melton said. “So, my deal was just simply to get him ready for Spring Training and talk to him.”

The duo ended up spending more time talking than anything, “which was really good,” Melton said.

“Hitting off the machine, the fastballs, no problem,” Melton said. “I told him, ‘Your problem, the higher you go up, should you make it up to the Major League level, is going to be offspeed pitches.’

“I started throwing live batting practice, and sure enough, I was able to throw a changeup now and then off a fastball, and that was the thing he was going to have trouble with. He was there, full-throated, interested, never missed a day, punctual, on time, and had a real interest in wanting to play Major League Baseball.”

Melton is known as a gregarious presence, who added truly honest commentary as a pregame and postgame analyst on White Sox broadcasts. He also had occasion to hang out with and befriend Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and he saw similar qualities in Jordan’s stardom.

“Internationally, there was no question about it. You could put him right up there with those guys,” Melton said. “He's an international superstar, but you'd never know it if you knew him and he walked through the doors. He treated everybody with respect.”

Michael Huff
Huff, an accomplished defensive outfielder who played parts of three seasons for the White Sox, had a similar story to Melton's: Schueler and Reinsdorf asked him to teach the outfield to that same unnamed athlete. Huff worked Monday-Wednesday-Friday with Jordan at the ballpark and at the Illinois Institute of Technology, a college situated minutes away from the stadium.

“Michael was very humble. He was very genuine, very sincere,” Huff said. “He understood he was the low man on the totem pole. He understood he was the rookie and I was the veteran and he just was eager to say, ‘Teach me. Every time I do something wrong, don’t be afraid to get on me.’”

Huff shared stories of Richard Dent attending a workout with Jordan on a Friday. The Bears' defensive lineman attempted to swing a bat during the workouts, then they left and took a private plane to Phoenix for Charles Barkley’s return to NBA action and a few rounds of golf. Jordan was back in Chicago on Monday, ready to work.

Jordan hooked up Huff and White Sox head athletic trainer Herm Schneider with all sorts of Nike gear and personalized autographed basketballs after being humorously prodded by a security guard. Those sorts of things didn’t cross the mind of Jordan, who was there not as Air Jordan, but as a supremely talented athlete and raw baseball player trying to make it in a new sport.

“My hope is for him to look back on his time with me saying, 'There’s a guy who was genuine and sincere and was trying to help him to the best of his ability,'” Huff said. “I didn’t get googly-eyed or star struck. I was getting in his face about drop-stepping the wrong way, holding the ball the wrong way or not extending on a throw to a cutoff man.”

Herm Schneider
When Jordan started secret workouts at the ballpark just after Thanksgiving of 1993, Schneider, the White Sox head athletic trainer, created a special plan to get him into the building.

“He would give me a call five minutes before he got off the expressway, the Dan Ryan, and when he got on Wentworth and was making that right-hand turn, coming onto 35th Street,” Schneider said. “At that time, the TV trucks were right on 35th Street. I had a key and would open up the garage door, he would pull in and I would close the garage door right behind him. Nobody knew what was going on from that Friday until basically a week or so before we headed off to Spring Training.”

Schneider had great stories about Jordan’s intense work ethic and generosity, especially how he looked out for the younger players. But Schneider also shared an entertaining tale about going grocery shopping with Jordan after they all arrived on his plane to Sarasota, Fla., for Spring Training.

“So, we got in the car, we drove over to Publix, and this was at about 12:30 a.m.,” Schneider said. “There was basically not even a handful of people in the store at that time. But it's unbelievable. Within 30 minutes, the word got out he was there, and it was a zoo in that store at about 1:15 a.m.

“It was crazy. He said, 'Let's get these groceries paid for and let's get out of here.' We did that and it was pretty crazy. Two or three guys who were working there saw him and recognized him and they got on their phones or whatever they did, and it was incredible. And then we went back to his place and got him settled.”

Final baseball words
During Jordan’s one season with Double-A Birmingham in the prospect-rich Southern League, he hit .202 with three home runs, 51 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. Not exactly Hall of Fame numbers, but fairly amazing for someone who gave up baseball in high school.

“I bet if you go back into that league's overall stats, you're not going to find [more than] a handful of guys with 30-plus stolen bases,” Huff said. “Even that first year, getting 50-plus RBIs, you're probably going to find four guys on that team, three guys on that team, that got 50 or more RBIs. You can maybe knock the fact he only hit .200, but here was a guy that didn't pick up a bat for 10 to 15 years and still did some pretty amazing things in Double-A.”

“He had all the tools, he just basically wound up needing more experience,” Melton said. “It's tough hitting in the big leagues, it's a big adjustment. But I think a guy like this can make an adjustment as well or better than a lot of people now. How many guys could play basketball like he did? That's a question you have to ask. Not too many.

"His attempt was there. It was interesting listening to him and his stories. He was a pretty genuine guy.”