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Michael Jordan announces his retirement from professional basketball after nine seasons and three consecutive NBA titles.
1993 (Oct 6)
Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan announced his retirement from professional basketball after nine seasons and three consecutive NBA titles. Jordan's announcement stunned virtually the entire sports world, as did his entry, only months later, into baseball with the Birmingham Barons, the Class AA farm team of the Chicago White Sox. When Jordan announced his early retirement, there was little he hadn't accomplished in basketball: he had led his team to an NBA championship, he had been voted league MVP several times, he had played continually to sellout crowds, and had dominated games and dazzled fans. But the luster of the sport had faded for him in 1993, a tragic year in which his father, James Jordan, became the victim of a random murder and the media alleged that the superstar was involved in heavy gambling. On October 6 he said, "There's nothing left for me to prove.... It's not worth it for me. It's not worth it for my teammates."
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.