A first-round pick (30^th 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 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 run 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.

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[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.

The post Brian Jordan: Why he gave up his NFL career first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

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 (30^th overall) in the 1988 MLB draft, Brian 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.

Brian 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 the majors 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 the outfield vacancy left by Guerrero, the Cardinals promoted Brian 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, Brian Jordan made his debut 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,” he 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, Brian 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,” Brian 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]

Brian 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. In 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]

Brian 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 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.

Brian 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 run 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, Brian 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.

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[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.

The post Brian Jordan makes his MLB debut: April 8, 1992 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Ron Gant and Gary Gaetti each hit two home runs and Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, and John Mabry each added blasts as four of the six pitchers the Cubs used were taken deep. The power surge equaled the team record set on May 7, 1940, when Eddie Lake and Johnny Mize each hit two runs apiece to pace an 18-2 rout of the Dodgers and marked the first time the Cubs had allowed seven home runs in a game since the Dodgers did it to them in 1976.

“Seemed like no matter what I threw, they were hitting,” said Cubs starting pitcher Steve Trachsel, who allowed four of the Cardinals’ seven home runs. “They hit them high, they hit them low, they hit breaking pitches, fastballs, everything.”[1]

The Cardinals didn’t need the long ball to get the scoring started in the second inning. After Trachsel retired the side in order in the first, Jordan reached on an error. Mabry followed with a single to right and an error by Sammy Sosa allowed Jordan to score. An RBI single by Mike Gallego, newly returned from the disabled list, gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

The home run barrage started in the third inning as Mabry hit a two-run homer and Gaetti followed with a solo shot over the left-field wall.

Cardinals starting pitcher Andy Benes allowed an unearned run in the third on an RBI double by Mark Grace, but St. Louis broke the game open in the fifth. Lankford and Gant hit back-to-back home runs to open the inning and chase Trachsel from the game.

“I know how good that young man is,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of Trachsel. “I wouldn’t have bet a dime we’d hit one, much less seven, but the boys took care of our No. 1 strategy – get so far ahead that I can’t mess it up.”[2]

With Rodney Myers taking over on the mound for the Cubs, Jordan doubled and Gaetti hit a two-run blast – his second homer of the day – to make it 9-1.

In the sixth, Cubs reliever Tanyon Sturtze walked Lankford and Gant before allowing a three-run blast to Jordan. An eighth-inning home run by Gant gave the Cardinals a 13-1 lead before a Dave Magadan home run and an RBI double by Doug Glanville made it 13-3.

Mabry led the Cardinals with four hits on the day while Jordan and Gaetti each had three.

“He’s just a hungry hitter,” La Russa said of Mabry. “He doesn’t throw any at-bats away, whether he’s 3-for-4 or 0-for-4.”[3]

Benes, who had won just one of his first eight decisions since signing a free-agent contract with the Cardinals during the offseason, improved to 7-8 with the win. Over eight innings, he allowed two earned runs on nine hits and a walk.

“He’s getting a lot of payback for pitching well early in the season,” La Russa said. “He was pitching better than his record.”[4]

Dennis Eckersley pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out the final two batters he faced.

It was a forgettable outing for Trachsel, who allowed four of the Cardinals’ seven homers. He allowed six earned runs over four innings and fell to 7-6 on the season.

“One guy hits a homer with a one-armed swing, another guy hits a split-fingered pitch I had down in the zone,” Trachsel said. “I didn’t have good location on a lot of my pitches, but they were hitting balls they shouldn’t have been hitting and when that happens I tip my cap to them.”[5]

“When the wind is blowing out, even pop-ups can go out,” Mabry said. “Trachsel had good stuff, but he was just on the wrong side of the wind.”[6]

Incredibly, the Cardinals’ home run outburst represented almost 5% of their home runs for the season. Their 142 homers for the season ranked 23^rd in the majors, 115 behind the Orioles and 35 below the league average. Gant led the Cardinals with 30 homers, followed by 23 from Gaetti and 21 from Lankford.

Despite their lack of home run production, the Cardinals went 88-74 to win the National League Central. They swept the Padres in a three-game National League Division Series before falling to the Braves in a seven-game National League Championship Series.

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[1] Associated Press, “Cards homer-happy against Cubs,” Decatur Herald and Review, July 13, 1996.

[2] Rick Hummel, “Cards Test Big-Bang Theory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 13, 1996.

[3] Rick Hummel, “Cards Test Big-Bang Theory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 13, 1996.

[4] Rick Hummel, “Cards Test Big-Bang Theory,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 13, 1996.

[5] Mike Kiley, “Cubs’ long day result of long ball,” Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1996.

[6] Associated Press, “Cards homer-happy against Cubs,” Decatur Herald and Review, July 13, 1996.

The post July 12, 1996: Gant, Gaetti pace Cardinals’ seven home runs in win over the Cubs first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.