While Michael Jordan might be one of the greatest basketball players of all time, the arguable GOAT wasn’t always at the top of the pecking order. For example, an inexperienced Jordan had a lot of work to do during his 1994-1995 stint with the White Sox’s minor league affiliate, the Birmingham Barons.
According to former White Sox player/manager/talking head Ozzie Guillen, Jordan also had to pay his dues — regardless of his status as an NBA icon.
Guillen, 58, is now a White Sox studio analyst for NBC Sports Chicago. And he’s definitely not afraid to be honest. As he detailed in the postgame of Chicago’s 5-3 win over the Tigers (+1.5) on Sunday, the former White Sox shortstop and core player once told a “rookie” Michael Jordan to go buy the team beer when they had run out on a road trip:
That time @OzzieGuillen made Michael Jordan buy him beer 😂
"He's a rookie. I was a captain!" pic.twitter.com/JHo9btIHdV
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) August 14, 2022
Everything about this story makes my heart sing.
Guillen’s trademark lovely color aside, there’s “rookie” Michael Jordan acting like he’s just one of the guys on a stop to buy more beer. There’s Jordan then throwing a case of beer onto Guillen’s lap out of frustration. Then there’s Guillen (correctly, I might add!) asserting that Jordan was a star in basketball, not baseball, and as such would not enjoy the same “leader” luxuries he probably did with the Bulls.
The moral of this remarkable story? Regardless of who you are — even if you’re one of the most famous people on the planet — you’ve got to earn Ozzie Guillen’s respect.
