Joey Cora has been around sports long enough to know a true competitor. The former second baseman had an 11-year career in the Major Leagues, and now works a third base coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the mid-90's, he played for the Chicago White Sox. There, a below-average teammate taught him an unforgettable lesson on motivation and work ethic. In 1994, Cora checked in for spring training like normal. One of the rookies was receiving an abnormal degree of media and fan attention. This, you may recall, was when Chicago Bulls superstar and reigning three-time NBA champion Michael Jordan decided to challenge himself in new ways. Jordan shocked the world when he abruptly hung up his Air Jordans and started looking for a pair of size 13 baseball cleats to break in, aiming to break into the Major Leagues. Armchair psychologists scrambled to ascribe motives to His Airness' enigmatic career change. While his new White Sox teammates may have wondered if it was anything more than a publicity stunt, Jordan tuned out all the noise and got to work. Just like in the basketball gym, Jordan was the first one to the batting cages and the last one to leave. His obvious work ethic quickly won over his Sox brethren, leaving no doubt about his will to win. "He was working out so hard," recalls Cora. "We were like, ‘Come on, bro. You’re the best basketball player in the world. What the hell are you doing?’ But we never asked him... All he wanted to do was talk baseball. He was asking questions about baseball." As Jordan's famous competitive streak was not limited to the 94 feet hardwood, neither was it confined to the chalk foul lines of the baseball field. Even unwinding in the clubhouse after practice was a high-intensity affair with MJ. Inevitably, the players would gather around the ping-pong table. "We had a few good players before him," confirms Cora, "but he was there kicking [butt], man. He wanted to go against the best, and he was going up there and kicking everybody’s [butt] in ping-pong." Cora sees no difference between Jordan's on-field focus and recreational intensity. The guy just had to win. "The competitive spirit that he had, that was something I’ll never forget," says Cora. "Every at-bat, every fly ball, every drill… When we were playing ping-pong, you could see it in his eyes. When we were running and doing stretches, you could see in his eyes the way he wanted to compete." Jordan's baseball career proved to be short-lived. While he was hacking out a .202 batting average in the minors, the players went on strike in 1995. Jordan decided to return to the NBA, where he won another "three-peat" of NBA championships. For Cora and the rest of the White Sox, it was a privileged glimpse of what it takes to be the best.

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