Brian Jordan

Template:Infobox MLB retired Brian O'Neal Jordan (born March 29 1967 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder and first baseman. After a brief NFL career, he played the first seven years of his baseball career with the St. Louis Cardinals before spending time with the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Texas Rangers.

Baseball and football

Jordan was a sports star at Milford Mill Academy in Randallstown, Maryland. After graduating from the University of Richmond, Jordan embarked on a dual baseball and football career. He was drafted in the first round of the 1988 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and also signed a contract with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. He has older twin siblings named Deric and Felicia. Deric, his older brother was an outstanding football player, baseball player and wrestler at Milford Mill Academy and an even greater standout in football at Washington and Jefferson College where he started as a freshman and lettered all four years. Deric was the first to be looked at by the NFL and given the chance to walk on with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Felicia has just as impressive athletic credentials as her brothers excelling in volleyball, basketball and softball.

While climbing the ladder in the Cardinals' minor league system, Jordan played defensive back for the Falcons from 1989 to 1991. In 1990, he lead all cornerbacks with 193 tackles. He had five interceptions and four sacks in his brief career, but Jordan decided to give up football to concentrate on baseball.

St. Louis Cardinals

Jordan made his Major League debut on April 8, 1992 with the Cardinals. He served mostly as a utility outfielder during his first three seasons, but in his first full year, in 1995, he had a breakthrough season. His stats included 145 hits, 20 doubles, and a .296 batting average in 490 at-bats. He also flashed his power by hitting 22 home runs and 81 RBIs. He built on his success in 1996, hitting .310 with 104 RBIs and a .349 on base percentage, playing mostly as the right fielder for the Cardinals. In the postseason that year, Jordan hit .333 in the NLDS and had a game-winning home run in Game 4 of the 1996 NLCS.

Shrugging off a relatively disastrous and injury-riddled 1997 season in which he hit .234 with no home runs, Jordan had possibly the best season of his career in 1998, his last year with St. Louis. He scored 100 runs, saw his power return with 25 home runs, and batted a career-high .316, with an outstanding .534 slugging percentage.

Atlanta Braves

His stats in 1998 helped earn Jordan a $21.3 million contract with the Atlanta Braves. Jordan had a strong April and May to help carry the Braves early in the 1999 season. This propelled him to his only All-Star appearance. He finished the season with 100 runs again and drove in 115 runs. Jordan was a standout in the 1999 NLDS for the Braves against the Houston Astros. He 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, but went 1 for 13 in his only World Series appearance.

Jordan's batting average and RBI totals dipped in 2000, but in 2001 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 and New York Mets.

Later career

He was involved in a blockbuster trade on January 15, 2002. Atlanta sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers with pitcher Odalis Pérez for Gary Sheffield.

After a solid season in 2002 in which he hit .285, injuries significantly decreased Jordan's playing time in 2003. The aging Jordan signed a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers in 2004, but only batted .222 and again missed chunks of time with injuries. In 2005, he returned to the Braves, but he spent most of the season on the disabled list with left knee inflammation while rookie sensation Jeff Francoeur took over in right field. Relying more on his veteran savvy than athletic ability at this point, he made the team again in 2006, but was limited to a platoon role at first base before again going on the disabled list. Jordan retired as a player after the 2007 season.

Post Baseball

Jordan currently serves as a TV pre-game analyst for the Atlanta Braves on Braves Live, the offical pregame show on FSN South and SportSouth. He is active in the Atlanta community with the Brian Jordan Foundation and authored the semi-autobiographical children's book "I Told You I Can Play!"

See also

• Top 500 home run hitters of all time

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Brian Jordan Foundation
• I Told You I Can Play! at Amazon.com