Sports Cards: Michael Jordan's Fleer Rookie and the Most Iconic MJ Cards
Happy 60th birthday, Michael Jordan!
In honor of the NBA legend's milestone birthday, we are counting down 10 of his most iconic sports cards, both from his basketball career and his brief time on the baseball diamond.
It's a mix of valuable rookie cards, entry-level base cards with career significance and short-printed insert cards that command a premium on the rare occasion they find their way onto the secondary market.
Each slide includes a link to view the card, some recent sales data and a quick breakdown of the relevant card details.
1984-85 Star No. 101 XRC
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Recent Sale: $12,100, BGS 7.5 (Feb. 15)
The 1986-87 Fleer rookie might be the most recognizable early Jordan card, but it was not his first NBA-licensed card.
His first card came in the 1984-85 Star set, but due to some specific parameters of what is considered a true rookie card, it is labeled as an "XRC," which is essentially a pre-rookie card.
The reason for the distinction is that the card was only sold in a team set, meaning it was not randomly inserted into packs and readily available to be pulled in the traditional sense.
Despite it not being considered a true rookie card, it is still an extremely sought-after piece of cardboard, and high-grade versions regularly sell for more than $10,000.
The card is a popular counterfeit target, and due to the large quantity of fakes, PSA does not grade Star cards.
1986-87 Fleer No. 57 RC
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Recent Sale: $14,500, PSA 9 (Feb. 14)
Is there a more iconic basketball card than the 1986-87 Fleer Jordan rookie?
The 1986-87 Fleer set was loaded with rookie cards of future Hall of Famers, due in large part to the fact that there were no traditional basketball card sets released during the 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons.
That meant anyone who would have had a rookie card during that span saw their rookie pushed to the 1986-87 set, and the result was an absolutely loaded checklist.
Other future Hall of Famer rookies on the checklist include Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Chris Mullin, James Worthy, Joe Dumars and Ralph Sampson.
1990-91 Hoops No. 223A Sam Vincent
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Recent Sale: $179.99, PSA 10 (Feb. 3)
On Feb. 14, 1990, Michael Jordan had his jersey stolen before a road game against the Orlando Magic, and as a result he had to wear the No. 12 for the only time in his career.
That game just happened to be when Hoops snapped the picture that would go on its 1990-91 card for Orlando point guard Sam Vincent, and in the process it also captured Jordan in his No. 12 jersey.
It's not a rare card by any means, as this was the peak of mass production, but Hoops replaced the card with a different picture of Vincent for the second-series release, and the unique story behind it has helped drive interest over the years.
The same 1990-91 Hoops set also includes the Mark Jackson card that shows the infamous Menendez brothers sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden before they were convicted of murdering their parents.
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1991 Upper Deck No. SP1
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Recent Sale: $405, PSA 10 (Feb. 15)
The short-printed card of Michael Jordan taking batting practice with the Chicago White Sox years before his foray into professional baseball still stands as one of the most recognizable baseball inserts of the 1990s.
Found in one of every 72 packs of 1991 Upper Deck Series 1, the card kicked off what would be an annual staple of SP inserts in the Upper Deck flagship set, and while there are plenty of them on the market, it still sells for good money relative to other cards from that time frame.
The card enjoyed a nice spike in value while the Last Dance documentary was airing in 2020, and ungraded copies still regularly sell for $10-$15.
1991-92 Hoops No. 579
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Recent Sale: $112, PSA 10 (Jan. 31)
It's only fitting that a representation of Jordan's time on the Dream Team during the 1992 Olympics would find its way into this article.
The 1991-92 Hoops and 1991-92 SkyBox sets both had subset cards featuring the Team USA squad in their Olympic uniforms to help build hype ahead of the 1992 Games, and a set was also released by McDonald's in partnership with Hoops.
The cards are part of the regular checklist, so there is no element of insert rarity or short-print runs, but they are still a bit more sought after than Jordan's base cards from those same two sets.
The enduring popularity of the Dream Team will always make this a popular bargain-level option for collectors.
1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team No. 1
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Recent Sale: $7,877, PSA 10 (Jan. 23)
There are a few specific sets that can be pointed to as helping to launch the insert-card craze of the 1990s, and the Beam Team inserts from Stadium Club sit atop that list.
With a 21-card checklist loaded with stars and an insertion rate of one out of every 36 packs of Series 2 in general for the inserts, the Jordan card was found in roughly one out of 756 packs, and that tough pull is reflected in the card's enduring value.
An ungraded copy sold for $282 on Feb. 14, and high-grade versions demand thousands of dollars due in large part to the timeless design and the overall significance of the set.
1995 SP Top Prospects No. 14
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Recent Sale: N/A
The first Jordan autographed card that was available to be pulled out of packs that could be bought at your local retailer was actually during his brief professional baseball career in the 1995 SP Top Prospects minor league set.
The die-cut autographs were found one per box, and the Jordan card was short-printed to an estimated 23 copies, making it both a significant and extremely valuable card that rarely makes its way onto the market.
Outside of the Jordan card, the autograph checklist is also loaded with future MLB stars, including Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones, Scott Rolen, Nomar Garciaparra and Bartolo Colon.
For collectors looking to add other Jordan baseball cards, he has true rookie cards in the 1994 Collector's Choice, 1994 Fun Pack and 1994 Upper Deck sets.
1997-98 E-X2001 Jambalaya No. 6
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Recent Sale: N/A
The 1997-98 E-X2001 Jambalaya insert set is the absolute peak of 1990s collecting.
With a die-cut round design and a colorful, stained-glass-style background, they are great-looking cards, and they were also extremely difficult to find.
The cards were inserted in one out of every 720 packs, and with a 15-card checklist, that meant the Jordan card was found in one of every 10,800 packs.
There are no recent sales of the Jordan card on eBay, but a PSA 8 version of the Scottie Pippen card from the same set sold for $1,278 on Jan. 28. It's not out of the realm of possibility that an ungraded Jordan copy could fetch north of $10,000 next time one hits the secondary market.
1997-98 Metal Universe Precious Metals No. 23
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Recent Sale: N/A
Sets today are loaded with various short-printed parallel versions of every base card, and one of the first products to employ that philosophy was the 1997-98 Metal Universe set.
Already great-looking base cards that are still in demand today, every card in the set also had a Precious Metals parallel.
The parallels had a print of just 100, with 90 of those featuring a red background and the other 10 a green background. If you have a green Jordan sitting around in a box somewhere, you might be able to turn that into a house.
No recent sales data is available on either of the Jordan parallels, but a red version of role player Antonio Davis sold for $2,798.98 on Feb. 13—to give you an idea of how sought after and valued these parallels are on today's market.
1997-98 Upper Deck Game Jerseys No. GJ13
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Recent Sale: $14,200, BGS 8.5 (Jan. 12)
Jersey swatches on cards have become an overplayed novelty in today's market, but when game-used memorabilia cards were first introduced in the 1997-98 Upper Deck set they completely changed the hobby.
Part of the reason those early patch cards are so valuable is because they were an extremely difficult pull at one in 2,500 packs of Series 1, and their ground-breaking nature has helped them remain extremely popular with collectors.
There are 22 different players in the 1997-98 Game Jerseys set, and Jordan is the only one who also has an autographed version of his card. With a print run of only 23, the autographed parallel is a big-money card, and one is currently available for just under $1 million.
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