The Nineties: A Book

In Chapter 7, Klosterman explores the complex interplay between professional sports, media coverage, and public perception during the ’90s. He focuses on three main narratives: Michael Jordan’s brief baseball career, the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, and the rise of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Klosterman begins by examining Jordan’s unexpected decision to pursue professional baseball in 1994. This move, following Jordan’s first retirement from basketball, was met with skepticism and intense media scrutiny. Despite Jordan’s athletic prowess, his transition to baseball proved challenging. Klosterman suggests that the coverage of Jordan’s baseball stint reflected broader societal attitudes toward celebrity and expectations of success.

The chapter then shifts to the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, which Klosterman presents as a turning point in public perception of professional sports. The strike, which led to the cancellation of the World Series, exposed the financial motivations behind professional sports and eroded baseball’s image as America’s pastime. Klosterman argues that this event marked a shift in how fans viewed the sport, with increased cynicism about the motivations of both players and owners.

Klosterman also delves into the steroid era in baseball, using the example of Brady Anderson’s unexpected power surge in 1996 as a starting point.