Brian Jordan

Ken Smith

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May 11, 1992, 11:50:33 PM5/11/92

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In the Cards 8-3 victory over the Braves tonight, Brian Jordan had a 2 run
homer and a double off Avery. Although his overall average is not high,
he has hit over .300 in May and now leads the Cards in HR's and RBI's.
His slugging percentage must be amazing (I think 14 of his 25 hits are for
extra bases). He steals well (football agility pays off) and is playing
well defensively. His problem until recently was the inability to hit a
major league curve or changeup. Lots of extra work with Don Baylor seems to
be paying dividends now; his HR tonight was on a changeup.

The question ahead is football. The Falcons' camp begins soon. The Cards have
taken their traditional Missouri-show-me-state approach, but apparently have
been shown sufficiently to take some action. It was reported tonight that
Maxvill has made an offer to Jordan's agent to keep him out of football (and
Bo Jackson's fate). No telling what will happen, but rumors are Jordan
wants to stay in baseball.

If Jordan turns out consistent with this initial promise, a future Cardinal
outfield of Lankford, Jose, and Jordan sounds awful good (the other two
guys are having a great start as well: Lankford is above .300 and leads the
league in stolen bases, Jose is batting around .400).

Mark Reardon

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May 12, 1992, 11:43:30 AM5/12/92

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In article <1992May12.0...@m.cs.uiuc.edu>, ksm...@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ken Smith) writes:
|> [lots of nice things about Brian Jordan]

|>
|> The question ahead is football. The Falcons' camp begins soon. The Cards have
|> taken their traditional Missouri-show-me-state approach, but apparently have
|> been shown sufficiently to take some action. It was reported tonight that
|> Maxvill has made an offer to Jordan's agent to keep him out of football (and
|> Bo Jackson's fate). No telling what will happen, but rumors are Jordan
|> wants to stay in baseball.

Here in Atlanta both Sanders and Jordan are getting some press about their
two sport conflicts. Both publicly state that they would prefer to play
baseball full time. Both also state that $$money$$ makes their world go
round.

Many reports in the papers hint or state that it is all a way to
get leverage during contract negotiations. For Sanders at least, that has
worked. He makes more then Justice because the Braves can all most assign
Justice anything they want, but Sanders threatens to walk away to football.
Lets face it. Neither of these guys has proven themselves at the major
league level yet and without football they would command a lot less.

Both state that if their playing at the major league level at the beginning
of camp they will stay with baseball. If their in the minors, well Falcon
camp is better than the minor league buses. BTW, both were listed as
unexcused from required mini-camp and fined last week. This is another
reason Sanders likes the Braves. He likes the way he is treated a lot
better.

|> If Jordan turns out consistent with this initial promise, a future Cardinal
|> outfield of Lankford, Jose, and Jordan sounds awful good (the other two
|> guys are having a great start as well: Lankford is above .300 and leads the
|> league in stolen bases, Jose is batting around .400).

Remember that before this year Jordan had less than 200 professional at
bats. He is playing on talent alone, not experience. The Braves
announcers in the recent series stated that he is one of the most
fundementally sound players they had seen at his experience level and
would only get better. He plays strong defense and always throws to the
right place. In addition, he is very fast and could become a base stealing
threat, and at over 200 lbs. is stronger than Dion. If Maxvill gets serious
with the dollars Jordan will jump at the chance of a long baseball career.

--
Mark

John-Marc Chandonia, , ,

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May 12, 1992, 1:35:54 PM5/12/92

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by ksm...@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ken Smith):

> In the Cards 8-3 victory over the Braves tonight, Brian Jordan had a 2 run
> homer and a double off Avery. Although his overall average is not high,
> he has hit over .300 in May and now leads the Cards in HR's and RBI's.
> His slugging percentage must be amazing (I think 14 of his 25 hits are for
> extra bases). He steals well (football agility pays off) and is playing
> well defensively. His problem until recently was the inability to hit a
> major league curve or changeup. Lots of extra work with Don Baylor seems to
> be paying dividends now; his HR tonight was on a changeup.

He certainly impressed me during the series vs. the Braves. Has
he (like Deion Sanders) said he wants to quit football to give
baseball his full attention? I know Deion has a contract with the
Falcons that requires him to report to them or be fined; with
the current situation on the Braves, it is unclear whether or
not the Braves will be willing to pick up all the $$$ the Falcons
pay him. So what sort of contract does Jordan have?

One of the better moments of this series (as a Braves fan) was
when Deion made a spectacular catch in the 8th on Sunday
to rob Jordan of an extra base hit and the go-ahead RBI's.
Unfortunately, the struggling Pena blew it in the 9th anyway.

JMC
--
chan...@husc9.harvard.edu | I will not yell fire in a crowded classroom
John-Marc Chandonia | I will not yell fire in a crowded classroom
Graduate Biophysics Program | I will not yell fire in a crowded classroom
Harvard University | I will not yell fire ...

CAV...@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu

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May 12, 1992, 5:41:23 PM5/12/92

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In article <1992May12.1...@husc3.harvard.edu>

chan...@husc8.UUCP (John-Marc Chandonia, , , ) writes:

>
>One of the better moments of this series (as a Braves fan) was
>when Deion made a spectacular catch in the 8th on Sunday
>to rob Jordan of an extra base hit and the go-ahead RBI's.
>Unfortunately, the struggling Pena blew it in the 9th anyway.
>

Picky factual correction: the catch was made in the 7th, not the 8th.
The 8th was when Alicea homered.

Jeff Caveney

Russ Smith

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May 14, 1992, 12:24:24 PM5/14/92

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Well I guess its time to face the music, boy was I wrong about Brian
Jordan. Instead of faltering badly once the league had gotten a good
look at him(as I expected), Jordan is really starting to help the
Cards. He now leads the team with 5 homers, is right near the top in
rbi's, is up to .240, and is actually drawing a few(very few) walks.
His defense is excellent, and he's a good baserunner, although he's
only 50% on steals. He still needs time to learn to hit the curve, and
learn the strikezone, but it may well be that he is good enough to
do these 2 things in the majors as opposed to having to learn in AAA
as I originally posted. Brian has a real chance to help the club this
year and he is making an impact. Hope he keeps it up, the club is
really playing well, and he's a big part of it.

Now if Zeile can start to hit again, and if Olivares and Cormier can
start to produce enough to cover for Tewksbury and Osborne who will\
eventually come down to earth, this team might actually challenge this
year.

Russ Smith
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"You can listen to Jimi, but you can't HEAR Jimi"

Wesley Snipes- "White Men Can't Jump"
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