As a strong safety in the NFL, Brian Jordan built his game around speed and impact, so it’s no surprise that he wasted little time in making his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals.
After just 406 minor league at-bats, Jordan got his first big-league opportunity on April 8, 1992, going 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a stolen base in a 15-7 win over the Mets.
A first-round pick (30th overall) in the 1988 MLB draft, Jordan found minor-league at-bats hard to come by, largely due to his professional football career. Jordan’s contract with the Atlanta Falcons called for him to report to football training camp in July, cutting each baseball season short.
Despite limited playing time, Jordan moved quickly through the Cardinals’ ranks. After being drafted, he appeared in 19 games with Low-A Hamilton. In 1989, he played 11 games with Class A St. Petersburg. The following year, he played nine games with St. Petersburg before being promoted to Double-A Arkansas, where he appeared in 16 games.
With 55 pro games under his belt, Jordan was assigned to Triple-A Louisville for the 1991 season. There, he hit .264 with four homers, 24 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases in a career-high 61 games.
Jordan entered the 1992 season as a candidate to make the major league roster. However, with Pedro Guerrero, Ray Lankford, and Felix Jose slated to start in the outfield, and Milt Thompson and Bernard Gilkey available as reserves, there wasn’t much playing time available with the Cardinals. Though Jordan hit .292 with a home run in spring training, he was assigned to Triple-A Louisville on April 1. Cardinals manager Joe Torre broke the news to him.
“He took it all right,” Torre said. “I told him, ‘You’re very close. You could make the team, but you wouldn’t play, and we want you to play, to get some at-bats.’ I think he understood. He shook my hand and thanked me for the opportunity. There’s no question in my mind that he can be a major-league player, but he just needs to get some playing time in.”[1]
Despite the Cardinals’ initial plans, that playing time came in St. Louis due to a slate of early-season injuries. Right fielder Felix Jose suffered an injury in spring training, then the Cardinals lost second baseman Jose Oquendo and first baseman Andres Galarraga in the first two games of the season.
It was the injury to Galarraga that created Jordan’s opportunity. When the Cardinals’ new first baseman suffered a fractured wrist that was expected to keep him in a cast for 5-6 weeks[2], Guerrero moved from left field back to his old position at first base. To fill their outfield vacancy, the Cardinals promoted Jordan to the majors.
“If Jordan is the exciting combination of speed and power he was in spring training, he gives the lineup a different dimension,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Dan O’Neill wrote. “But for one who has had only 406 professional at-bats at any level, that’s a large if.”[3]
On April 8, Jordan debuted in the Cardinals’ lineup, batting fifth behind Ray Lankford, Ozzie Smith, Todd Zeile, and Guerrero.
Mets starter Sid Fernandez struck out Jordan in the rookie’s debut at-bat in the first inning. Two frames later, Cardinals starting pitcher Bryn Smith was forced to exit the game due to elbow pain.
“I felt it in my last start (in spring training), but (trainers) Brad Henderson and Gene Gieselmann did a good job in getting me to the point where I could go out there and try it,” he said. “I went out and gave it a try. But it was still there. It hasn’t gone away.”[4]
The game proved to be Bryn Smith’s only start of the season. When he returned in September, he was assigned to the bullpen and finished the year with just 21 1/3 innings pitched. After the season, he signed a free-agent contract with the Rockies.
Cardinals reliever Mike Pérez took the mound and retired Bill Pecota for the final out of the third before the Mets lost their own starter in the bottom of the inning. After Ozzie Smith singled and Zeile drew a walk, Fernandez left the game with inflammation in his right knee.
Facing Mets reliever Paul Gibson, Jordan came through with the first hit of his career, a two-out single that drove home two runs.
“That really took a lot of pressure off,” Jordan said.[5]
Already ahead 4-2, the Cardinals took a four-run lead when Zeile and Guerrero hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning. Batting after Guerrero, Jordan struck out to end the inning.
“After seeing those guys, I was so pumped up, I went up there and tried to hit one out of the stadium,” he said.[6]
The Cardinals put the game away with a five-run rally in the sixth. Ozzie Smith hit a two-run single to chase Gibson from the game. After Lankford scored on a passed ball, Guerrero drove in a run with a single and Jordan added an RBI double.
“I’ll take it,” Jordan said. “I just hope it continues. I was very excited about being here. I got that first game under my belt and that should help me relax.”[7]
Pérez, who threw 3 1/3 innings, earned the win in relief. Guerrero finished the game with three hits and three RBIs, while Zeile and catcher Tom Pagnozzi each drove in a pair of runs. Gilkey, who was making his first start of the young season, finished with three hits – including two doubles – and scored three times.
“It’s just a good opportunity right now and players are stepping up and helping the team,” Gilkey said.[8]
Jordan not only collected his first major league hit, extra-base hit, stolen base, and RBI, but he also impressed a future Hall of Fame manager in Torre.
“The football player did a pretty good job playing baseball tonight,” Torre said. “We’d like to get it where we can say the baseball player does a pretty good job playing football.”[9]
Actually, the Cardinals wanted to say that the baseball player was no longer playing football. That June, they signed Jordan to a three-year contract worth $2.2 million. The contract called for him to play baseball exclusively, ending his NFL career.
“It was a tough decision, but I talked it over with my wife and this is a good business decision,” Jordan said. “Hopefully, I’ll play this game for 15 years; in football, you never know what’s going to happen with injuries.”[10]
Jordan played primarily as a reserve for the first three years of his career, playing in 175 games from 1992-94. In 1995, Jordan was named the starting right fielder. He played 131 games and led the Cardinals with 145 hits while batting .296. His 22 homers and 81 RBIs ranked second on the team to Lankford, and his 24 stolen bases tied Lankford for the Cardinals lead.
Jordan was even better in 1996, batting .310 with 17 homers, 104 RBIs, and 22 stolen bases to finish eighth in the NL MVP voting. In that fall’s NLDS against the Padres, he went 4-for-12 with a home run, three RBIs, and a stolen base. Facing the Braves in the NLCS, he hit .240 with a double, triple, homer, and two RBIs.
After injuries limited him to just 47 games in 1997, Jordan enjoyed the best season of his career in 1998. Batting behind Mark McGwire throughout the burly first baseman’s race to 70 home runs, Jordan was pretty impressive himself, batting .316 with 25 homers, 91 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases for a 7.0-WAR (wins above replacement) season.
That November, Jordan signed a five-year, $40 million contract with the Braves.
As he predicted in 1992, Jordan played 15 big-league seasons, retiring after the 2006 season at the age of 39. He finished with a career .282 batting average to go with 184 homers, 821 RBIs, and 119 stolen bases, good for a 32.9 career WAR.
[1] Dan O’Neill, “Status of Terry, Cormier Clouds Cards’ Pitching Picture,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 2, 1992.
[2] Rick Hummel, “Cards Settle A Royal Score,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 8, 1992.
[3] Dan O’Neill, “Cardinals’ Most Immediate Need: An Insurance Adjuster,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[4] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[5] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[6] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[7] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[8] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[9] Dan O’Neill, “Cards Reserve A Blowout Victory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 9, 1992.
[10] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards, Jordan agree to exclusive contract,” Belleville News-Democrat, June 17, 1992.