Talk of Arizona Vol 1 Fall 2014 | Page 39

X

Talk of Arizona

Fall 2014

Continued on next page

In 1993, Jordan, the best-known athlete in the world at the time, retired from basketball to try his hand at pro baseball. Jordan played in the Fall League in 1994 and crowds followed him everywhere.

That helped put the Fall League on the map somewhat. Steve Gilbert, who served as the public relations man for the league in its early years, said at the time that before Jordan,

Fall League by the numbers

54 percent of major-league Opening Day rosters in 2014 were former Fall Leaguers.

212 Fall Leaguers have been named to MLB All-Star Game rosters.

34 former Fall League managers went on manage in the major leagues, including 12 current mangers.

46 former Fall League umpires are current MLB umpires.

Source: Arizona Fall League