Michael Jordan didn’t let anyone in on …

Michael Jordan didn’t let anyone in on his plans, not at first. But he kept sprinkling little crumbs, setting a trail for what would eventually happen. Jordan loved basketball. It continued to challenge and consume him, even as he spent his brief retirement struggling to catch up to those tricky curveballs in minor league baseball. Jordan craved the competition, hungered for the next challenge. And basketball’s call became more intense as baseball dealt with an ugly, seemingly never-ending strike that ended one season and threatened to delay another. He needed basketball and the game needed him more. But before he stunned the sports world on March 18, 1995 with the most memorable two-word fax in history – “I’m back” – and returned to the court the following afternoon at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis to play the Pacers, Jordan needed time to get his mind right, to dedicate his energy to not only come back, but also to be close to what he was when he walked away in October 1993 with three straight NBA championships.