MJ's baseball career wasn't the failure you think Posted Mar 8, 2020 It didn't matter that hitting professional pitching is one of the hardest things in sports, or that Michael Jordan hadn't picked up a bat in nearly 15 years (he was declared ineligible his senior season at Laney High School after playing in the McDonald's All-American Game that April, ending his baseball career at the age of 18). This was His Airness. (MLB.com)