The St. Louis Cardinals never doubted that Brian Jordan had the talent to become a middle-of-the-order bat. The question was whether Jordan would stick with baseball long enough to get that opportunity.
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.
Ahead of the 1992 season, Jordan told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was wearing himself out playing pro sports year-round and might have to choose between baseball and football. If so, the Cardinals would need to make it worth it for Jordan to quit an NFL career that paid him $400,000 in 1991 and could reach as much as $1 million per year.
“I’ve had three good years and they rate me as one of the top safeties in the league,” he said. “I want to get paid like the top safeties in the league.”[1]
As a Cardinals minor leaguer, Jordan was making just $1,850 per month. Even if he made the majors, he was due to earn $109,000, the major league minimum.[2] Cardinals general manager Dal Maxvill believed he knew which sport Jordan would choose.
“He’s going to play football just because of the (salary) numbers,” Maxvill said.[3]
Jordan’s lack of pro baseball experience made it impossible for the Cardinals to offer him the kind of money it would take to pull him away from football, Maxvill said.
“He’s only got 400 at-bats in four years,” Maxvill said. “How does he know what he can do? We don’t know what he can do. We’re kind of between a rock and a hard place.”[4]
Maxvill added, “Hopefully, he’ll get another 250 at-bats, stay healthy, and have a good year. If he wants to come back next year after playing football and do it again, we’d do it again – but with not much of an investment. If he goes down there and gets 250 at-bats and hits 13 home runs and has 60 RBIs, it’s a different story.”[5]
Instead, injuries provided Jordan an opportunity in the early days of the 1992 season. Despite being assigned to Triple-A Louisville to open the season, Jordan was called up and made his big-league debut on April 8, going 2-for-5 with four RBIs and a stolen base.
By the time Jordan suffered a strained left hamstring on May 22, he was batting .233 with five homers, 21 RBIs, and six stolen bases in 37 games.
“Everyone talks about Deion Sanders,” Cubs scout Hugh Alexander said, referring to the Braves’ two-sport star. “This kid, Jordan, doesn’t sell himself, but he’s better than Deion already. This kid is gonna put up some kind of numbers.”[6]
The Cardinals agreed. On June 16, they signed Jordan to a three-year contract worth approximately $2.2 million. The deal called for Jordan to play baseball exclusively, ending his NFL career in favor of a guaranteed baseball payday. Per the agreement, which included the 1992 season, Jordan would receive a $1.5 million signing bonus to be paid over the three years. His base salary would be $109,000 for 1992, then increase to $160,000 in 1993 with the opportunity to earn $230,000 with incentives. In 1994, Jordan would make $300,000 with incentives based on games played.[7]
Jordan said the signing bonus was enough to convince him to give up football.[8]
“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.”[9]
The signing bonus also gave Jordan the guaranteed money he was seeking. He said the Falcons weren’t very aggressive in trying to sign him to a contract for 1992.
“I guess they didn’t think I was going to sign with St. Louis,” he said. “I got tired of messing around.”[10]
Jim Turner, Jordan’s baseball agent, said contract talks with the Cardinals moved quickly.
“I think both sides decided it was best to step across the line, stop posturing, and talk about the bottom line,” he said. “What I really think transpired was that Brian Jordan committed to the St. Louis Cardinals, and the St. Louis Cardinals definitely made a commitment to the fans.”[11]
Jordan’s football agent, Jim Steiner, said the Falcons were looking to offer Jordan somewhere between $400,000 to $500,000 annually on a series of non-guaranteed contracts.
“The (Falcons) sensed the urgency,” Steiner said. “They knew what the numbers (for the Cardinals) were, and there was no way they were ever going to offer Brian the type of money it would take to keep him in football. There are no hard feelings.”[12]
Jordan admitted that he might have some regrets about leaving football.
“You’re always going to have those in the back of your mind,” he said, “… but I can play baseball longer than football and it gives me a chance to rest my body and vacation during the offseason. Right now, my body is just tired.”[13]
While the news left Atlanta suddenly in need of a new starting strong safety, the outlook in St. Louis was suddenly much brighter.
“What the Cardinals have done is show they have a lot of confidence in me by investing the money in me, and now I want to go out and be the best I can be,” Jordan said.[14]
Catcher Tom Pagnozzi, playing in his sixth season with the Cardinals, said, “We haven’t developed a power hitter in a long time in this organization. I hate to put the pressure on the guy, but he has the capability of being that type of player. He runs well, he’s a pretty good outfielder, and one thing to remember is that he is going to get better because he hasn’t played (much) baseball.”[15]
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz wrote that Jordan’s contract marked a bold move for the franchise.
“The Cardinals could have stalled,” he wrote. “The Falcons hadn’t made a substantial offer to Jordan yet. The Cardinals could have been arrogant and let Jordan walk. Instead, the front office made the dramatic play, took that leap of faith, and did the right thing.”[16]
Jordan played primarily as a reserve throughout that three-year contract, playing in 175 MLB games from 1992-94 while also playing stints in the minors. In 1995, however, the Cardinals traded right fielder Mark Whiten to the Red Sox, opening up a starting job for Jordan.
That season, Jordan played in 131 games and led the Cardinals with 145 hits while batting .296. His 22 homers and 81 RBIs were second on the team to Lankford, and his 24 stolen bases tied Lankford for the team lead.
Playing on a new, $10 million contract, 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] Rick Hummel, “Cost Conscious: Cards Leery To Spend On 2-Sport Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1992.
[2] Rick Hummel, “Cost Conscious: Cards Leery To Spend On 2-Sport Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1992.
[3] Rick Hummel, “Cost Conscious: Cards Leery To Spend On 2-Sport Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1992.
[4] Rick Hummel, “Cost Conscious: Cards Leery To Spend On 2-Sport Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1992.
[5] Rick Hummel, “Cost Conscious: Cards Leery To Spend On 2-Sport Man,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 2, 1992.
[6] Bernie Miklasz, “Check It Out! Cardinals Spent To Keep Jordan,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[7] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[8] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[9] Joe Ostermeier, “Cards, Jordan agree to exclusive contract,” Belleville News-Democrat, June 17, 1992.
[10] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[11] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[12] Chris Mortensen, “Brian Jordan Leaves Falcons In a Bind,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1992.
[13] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[14] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[15] Rick Hummel, “Safety First: Jordan Takes Cards’ Offer,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.
[16] Bernie Miklasz, “Check It Out! Cardinals Spent To Keep Jordan,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 17, 1992.