When Michael Jordan retired from the NBA in 1993 to pursue a career playing baseball, sports fans were stunned, afraid that they were never gonna see the legendary hoops star lace up a pair of sneakers and rip the soul from anyone who dared stand in the way between him and the Larry O’Brien trophy.
While he certainly needed some time to adjust after not having played baseball since high school, Jordan was on a trajectory to ultimately realize his big league dreams. However, then the MLB strike happened, and Jordan wanted no part of that — so he returned to hoops and immediately re-assumed his place on the NBA throne.
But what if Jordan had stuck with baseball and never returned to the NBA? Well, for starters, his gravitational pull with MLB’s other stars mean a dynasty would’ve been built in the late ‘90s … but not in the Bronx. And in the NBA, well, all hell would’ve broken loose.