When former Oakland A’s general manager …

When former Oakland A’s general manager Sandy Alderson was asked by ESPN’s Buster Olney on Tuesday’s “Baseball Tonight” podcast about a deal that came close to being completed in his career that the media never really found out about, he dropped a significant, and timely, bombshell. “If you recall when Jordan stopped playing basketball and decided to try baseball and ultimately went down the Birmingham Barons — the Chicago White Sox affiliate,” said Anderson, 71. “When I heard that was happening — or about to happen — I called the agent right away and said, ‘Hey look, I understand he may be going to Double-A. I don’t even know who the 25th man is on our major league team right now. I will sign him and put him on the major league roster. He’ll be part of our 25-man team. Tomorrow.”