Brian O'Neal Jordan (born March 29, 1967) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

. In the NFL, he played for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, while he played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals,

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, and Texas Rangers.

Baseball and football

Jordan was a sports star at

Milford Mill High School Milford Mill Academy (MMA) is a four-year public high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is located on the west side of the county close to the Baltimore City border just outside the Baltimore Beltway. About the School Milfor ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and he graduated from the University of Richmond. He was selected in the first round of the 1988 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. In the

1989 NFL Draft The 1989 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marq ...

, he was taken in the seventh round by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

but was cut in training camp. While he played in the Cardinals' minor league system, Jordan also played defensive back for the Falcons from

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

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. He had five

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

s and four sacks in his brief NFL career. He led Atlanta in tackles and was voted as an alternate to the National Football Conference Pro Bowl team during the 1991 season. In June 1992 Jordan signed a new contract with St Louis giving him a $1.7 million signing bonus to give up football and play baseball exclusively, ending his football career.

St. Louis Cardinals

Jordan made his MLB debut on April 8, 1992, with the Cardinals. He played mostly as a utility outfielder during his first three seasons, but in his first full year, in , his stats included 145 hits, 20 doubles, and a .296 batting average in 490 at-bats. He also hit 22 home runs and 81 RBIs. He built on his success in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, hitting .310 with 104 RBIs and a .349

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

, playing mostly as the

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

and

cleanup hitter In baseball, a cleanup hitter is the fourth hitter in the batting order. The cleanup hitter is traditionally the team's most powerful hitter. His job is to "clean up the bases", i.e., drive in base runners. Theory The thinking behind the us ...

for the Cardinals. Jordan posted a .422

batting average with runners in scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when they are on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter h ...

(RISP), which became the Cardinals' all-time highest mark (the RISP statistic has been officially and reliably kept since ), until outfielder

Allen Craig Allen Thomas Craig (born July 18, 1984) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals drafted Craig from the Uni ...

topped it in

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. He also led the Major Leagues in batting average with the bases loaded. In the postseason that year, Jordan hit .333 in the

NLDS In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series. The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring e ...

and had a game-winning home run in Game 4 of the

1996 NLCS The 1996 National League Championship Series (NLCS) matched the East Division champion Atlanta Braves and the Central Division champion St. Louis Cardinals. It was the second NLCS meeting of the two teams and first since 1982. The Braves won in s ...

. Shrugging off a season in which he suffered injuries and hit .234 with no home runs, Jordan scored 100 runs, hit 25 home runs, batted a career-high .316, and had a .534

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

in 1998.

Atlanta Braves

His stats in 1998 helped earn Jordan a $21.3 million contract with the

. Jordan had a strong April and May to help carry the Braves early in the season. This propelled him to his only All-Star appearance. He finished the season with 100 runs again and drove in 115 runs. In the

1999 NLDS The 1999 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 1999 National League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 5, and ended on Saturday, October 9, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a "wild card" team� ...

against the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

, Jordan batted .471, had the game-winning double in the 12th inning of Game 3, and drove in seven of Atlanta's 18 runs during the series. He contributed two home runs in the

1999 NLCS The 1999 National League Championship Series (NLCS), to determine the champion of Major League Baseball's National League, was played between two East Division rivals, the division champion Atlanta Braves and the wild card New York Mets. After ...

, but went 1 for 13 in his only

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

appearance. Jordan's batting average and RBI totals dipped in , but in Jordan hit 25 homers with a .295 average and was superb in the final games of the season, helping to push the Braves to their tenth-straight division title after a tight race with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

Later career

He was involved in a multiplayer trade on January 15, 2002. Atlanta sent him to the

with pitcher

Odalis Pérez Odalis Amadol Pérez (June 11, 1977 – March 10, 2022) was a Dominican professional baseball starting pitcher. He played with the Atlanta Braves (–), the Los Angeles Dodgers (–), the Kansas City Royals (2006–), and the Washington Nationa ...

for

Gary Sheffield Gary Antonian Sheffield (born November 18, 1968) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball for eight teams from 1988 to 2009. He is a sports agent. For most of his career, Sheffield played right ...

. After a solid season in in which he hit .285, injuries decreased Jordan's playing time in . Jordan signed a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers in ; he batted .222 and again missed chunks of time with injuries. In , he returned to the Braves, spending most of the season on the disabled list with left knee inflammation while rookie sensation

Jeff Francoeur Jeffrey Braden Francoeur (; born January 8, 1984), nicknamed "Frenchy", is an American former professional baseball right fielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals ...

took over in

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. Relying more on his veteran savvy than athletic ability at this point, he made the team again in , but was again limited to a platoon role at first base before going on the disabled list. Jordan retired as a player after the season.

Career statistics

In 1456 games over 15 seasons, Jordan posted a .282 batting average (1454-for-5160) with 755 runs, 267 doubles, 37

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 184

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 821 RBI, 119

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

, 353

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, .333

and .455

. He finished his career with a .988

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

playing at all three outfield positions and first base. In 38 postseason games, he hit .250 (35-for-140) with 16 runs, 6 doubles, 6 home runs, 27 RBI and 11 walks.

Post-baseball

Jordan serves as a TV pre-game analyst for the Atlanta Braves on ''Braves Live'', the official pregame show on

Bally Sports Southeast Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) (originally named SportSouth from its inception until October 4, 2015, and Fox Sports Southeast (FSSE) until March 31, 2021) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture betw ...

and

Bally Sports South Bally Sports South (BSSO) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports Networks. The network carries regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events from across ...

. He is active in the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

community with the Brian Jordan Foundation and authored the semi-autobiographical children's book ''I Told You I Can Play!'' In 2009, he was named as a television commentator for the

Gwinnett Braves The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

, the AAA farm team of the

. Jordan was paired with Josh Caray for a 25-game television schedule.

References

2. http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-25/sports/sp-1103_1_brian-jordan

External links

Brian Jordan FoundationI Told You I Can Play!
at

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

* : {{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Brian 1967 births Living people African-American baseball players African-American players of American football American football safeties Arkansas Travelers players Atlanta Braves announcers Atlanta Braves players Atlanta Falcons players Baseball players from Baltimore Frisco RoughRiders players Hamilton Redbirds players Los Angeles Dodgers players Louisville Redbirds players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball outfielders National League All-Stars Oklahoma RedHawks players Players of American football from Atlanta Baseball players from Atlanta Richmond Braves players Richmond Spiders football players Rome Braves players St. Louis Cardinals players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Texas Rangers players Richmond Spiders baseball players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople