Theres a scene in the first 10 minutes of "Space Jam" that shows the opposing catcher tipping pitches to Michael Jordan as the basketball star struggles to hit for the minor league Birmingham Barons. The catcher tells Jordan what pitches are coming and thanks him for signing a basketball for his kid.

Im a hero now, the catcher said.

The movie, of course, is fictional and co-stars cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, so youd hope the tipping of pitches didnt really happen. But the constant autograph requests certainly did.

I don't know how he didn't get tired of it, but he really didn't, longtimeWhite Sox head trainer Herm Schneider said. He was very generous and kind to everybody.

Schneider, who now holds the title of head athletic trainer emeritus for the White Sox,was charged with getting Jordan ready for his baseball endeavor in 1994, working with him seven days a week during the winter before spring training. And once they all arrived in Sarasota, Floridain the spring of 94, Schneider had a front row seat for a bizarre team dynamic that featured one of the richest, most famous humans on the planet interacting with next-to-broke minor league baseball players.

He blended in very nicely with everybody and tried not to be Michael Jordan the basketball player, Schneider said. He just tried to be Michael the baseball player, and he worked hard at that. He did. He really did.

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It helped that Jordan took care of the younger players and used his deep Nike connections to help them out.

He would see these young guys that had kind of crummy equipment and crummy shoes, and he would tell them, Go tell Herm your shoe size and what size shirt you wear, etc., whatever you need and then Herm will take care of the rest, Schneider recalled.

Suddenly, the head trainer of the White Sox was putting in daily requests to Howard White, who is now the senior vice president of the Jordan Brand.

I would call him with a list that was extremely long and, by golly, the next morning, that stuff was sitting at my desk to distribute to everybody. It was incredible, Schneider said. And this went on daily. I mean, he would pick four or five guys and he would say, Go tell Herm what you need, and I'd call Nike and tell them what Michael wanted them to have. There was never a question asked of like, 'Why so much?' Nothing like that. It was like, OK, it will be there tomorrow.

And then there were the endless autograph requests.

The players, they had shoes, and basketballs, and pictures and everything else. He never really said no to any one of them at all, Schneider said. He just said, Go put it in Herm's office,and after the workout today, I'll go sign them, and then tomorrow morning you can go pick them up in his office.

According to Schneider, the requests never really stopped, and neither did Jordan's generosity.

I'm not embellishing this at all. This is the truth, the trainer said. What I saw was absolutely incredible of how much he signed and how many people were asking.

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Jordan hooked up young White Sox teammates with Nike gear - NBCSports.com