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THE UNDERCOVER BUST
Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The newsletter that brings you the hits daily; like Tony Gwynn in his prime.
Somehow, Tony Gwynn hit this Randy Johnson 1-2 Slider for a double. 🤯
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja)
12:57 PM • Feb 21, 2023
Let's dive in.
Today's story is about an ex-big leaguer who got caught selling over 200 grams of cocaine to undercover police officers.
Ricardo Jordan was picked up by the Houston Astros in the 22nd round of the ’95 draft.
He jumped around from team to team, ultimately playing for the Mets, Phillies, Blue Jays, and Reds; earning almost $600,000 over a four-year period in the MLB.
After the '98 season, his pro career was pretty much over, and that's where the story begins.
Sometime after he stopped playing pro ball, he got into a different kind of game; drug dealing.
According to court documents, Jordan was a significant player in a drug trafficking ring that operated in the Miami area.
Once a promising athlete, he now found himself embroiled in a federal investigation.
The feds were trying to accomplish two things:
Step one: make friends with the dealers.
The undercover agents started buying large amounts of marijuana and cocaine from Jordan.
They purchased $5,800 worth of cocaine, and a pound of weed that Jordan sold to them for $4500.
He told one agent that he had the ability to move 5 to 10 kilos.
The agents played the long game with Jordan; they didn't bust him during the first or second transactions in March of '07.
They were patient, they waited until August, and then when they had built up enough leverage, they finally went after him.
On that fateful day, he handed an undercover officer more than 255 grams of coke in a McDonald's bag and his life changed instantly.
Jordan was arrested on the spot.
They had him dead to rights, and every transaction was caught on tape.
Ricardo was facing over 200 years.
Tesh, his lawyer, said Jordan sold the drugs to keep up with the lifestyle he had enjoyed as a ballplayer.
He did the best he could for his client by securing the minimum sentence; which ended up being seven years in prison.
Jordan was also ordered to pay $150,000 in fines.
If nothing else, this story serves as a cautionary tale for other athletes.
When you spend your whole life putting all of your energy into one thing, and suddenly you no longer have that outlet, it's essential to find a positive way to channel that ambition.
WORK IN SPORTS
If you’re looking to find new sports-related job opportunities, I highly recommend subscribing to Openly.
Its a free newsletter that usually drops once or twice a month and they have some pretty amazing listings.
Last week one of their top jobs was for a Director of Creative Technology role at MLB.
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BASEBALL TRIVIA
Find the answer in the bottom of this email!
STRANGE NAMES
If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.
Why?
Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.
If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.
Today's winner is:
Oscar “Heavy” Johnson was one of the top hitters in the Negro Leagues during the 20s; the guy could flat out rake.
Most notably, he hit over .400 in two different seasons, doing it back-to-back in 1922 and 1923.
He won a World Series with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1924 and was posthumously elected into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame in 2012.
THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE
If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:
BASEBALL TRIVIA ANSWER: Seattle Mariners