Brian Jordan

Brian O'Neal Jordan (born March 29, 1967 in Baltimore, Maryland) is a retired Major League Baseball outfielder and National Football League safety. In the NFL, he played for the Atlanta Falcons, while he played in the MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Texas Rangers.



Baseball and football
Jordan was a sports star at Milford Mill High School 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 MLB draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. In the 1989 NFL Draft, he was selected in the 7th round by the Buffalo Bills, however he was cut in training camp.

While climbing the ladder in the Cardinals' minor league system, Jordan played defensive back for the Falcons from 1989 to 1991. He had five interceptions 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 that gave him a $1,700,000 signing bonus to give up football and play baseball exclusively, ending his football career.

St. Louis Cardinals
Jordan made his Major League 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 1995, he had a deserving 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 and cleanup hitter for the Cardinals. He also led the major leagues in batting average with the bases loaded. 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 2006 season.

Post-baseball
Jordan currently serves as a TV pre-game analyst for the Atlanta Braves on Braves Live, the official 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!

In 2009, he was named as a television commentator for the Gwinnett Braves, the AAA farm team of the Atlanta Braves. Jordan is paired with Josh Caray for a 25-game television schedule.