The first thing you might think of when you hear the name Michael Jordan is that he’s arguably the best basketball player ever. He can be considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, dominating the NBA, primarily in the 1990s. However, that has made Michael Jordan’s baseball cards very valuable.
Michael Jordan Baseball Career
Jordan will always be in “GOAT” conversations within NBA history, and if his basketball career is all you know about him, it might be a surprise that he even has a baseball card. However, at the peak of Jordan’s powers, he retired and decided to sign with the Chicago White Sox, playing a season of minor league baseball.
Jordan retired after completing the Chicago Bulls’ first three-peat, winning NBA titles in 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93. Furthermore, he had also won two league MVPs (1991, 1992) during that span, continuing to cement himself as one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history.
However, that is when Jordan decided to step away from the game. There are many rumors about why he retired from the NBA at the end of the 1992-93 season, but the biggest is that the league might suspend him for a season for his possible gambling issues. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern has refuted this claim repeatedly.
What is the far less scandalous reason is that Jordan seemed to be tired of the NBA. He had reached the highest points of the league, winning the three-peat, which few NBA legends had done at that point and few have replicated.
On top of that, Jordan had just lost his father in a carjacking gone wrong three months before his retirement. His father’s favorite sport was baseball. That made the career switch a tribute to Jordan’s late father.
Jordan’s Baseball Career
Now, the fact is that Jordan’s attempt at baseball was nowhere as good as his career in the NBA. Shortly after one season in the minors 1994, he would return to the Bulls to continue his NBA career, winning another three-peat, before once again retiring at the end of the 1997-98 season. He would also come out of retirement for a second time for two more seasons in 2001-02 and 2002-03.
That one season in the minor baseball leagues led to the creation of an extremely popular Michael Jordan rookie baseball card. Jordan joined the White Sox’ Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham Barons, and quickly became someone to pay attention to.
Jordan was still one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, becoming a legitimate celebrity worldwide and making MLB news on a regular basis. That made Barons games and memorabilia around Jordan’s switch to baseball more unique.
However, Jordan never lived up to the hype on the field. He would finish his one minor league season with a .202 batting average. Despite that, there were some highlights from his short baseball career. Jordan would play 127 games, finishing with three home runs, 51 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. Striking out would be an issue for him, finishing with 114 strikeouts in 436 at-bats.
One thing that would help Jordan return to the NBA is that the MLB players union went on strike in March 1995 when Jordan was getting ready for another season in the minor leagues. The “Last Dance” documentary covers Jordan’s life and career, focusing on the Bulls team that won the NBA Finals in 1998.
It mentions that he would have kept playing baseball if it hadn’t been for the strike. That was when he started to hang out with his friends that were still on the Bulls and going to practices, which sucked him back into basketball.
Why are Jordan’s Baseball Cards So Special
The value of playing cards has always made baseball a unique sport. Every player has a card that can be bought, traded, or resold. Some baseball cards, because of the rarity of them or the player on the card, can be sold for insane prices. To give you some perspective, the most expensive card ever bought was one of Mickey Mantle for $12 million in 2022.
Now, when it comes to Michael Jordan’s Upper Deck baseball cards, it makes sense why they could be worth a lot of money. His baseball cards are rare because he only played for one season, but Jordan is also one of the most recognizable athletes in history. That immediately increases the price of his baseball cards.
On top of that, there are so many varieties of baseball cards. There are a lot of baseball cards that all look the same, which does lower the value slightly. However, others are signed by the player, have a special picture or are combined with other memorabilia aspects. That helps increase the value, which becomes a bigger deal when Jordan’s cards are already expensive because of the rarity and who he is.
Most Expensive Michael Jordan Baseball Card
So much goes into the value of baseball cards. Anything can diminish the value of a playing card, from some damage on the sides of the card to the fact that it just isn’t that rare. On the other hand, that can make a pristine rare card that much more valuable.
While Jordan did not spend much time playing baseball, the baseball card companies tried to capitalize on that by creating many cards for him. That slightly lowers the value of Jordan’s cards, but not by much, because he still only spent one season playing baseball.
However, that does lead to a wide range of prices online. On eBay, Jordan has baseball cards priced as low as $20, but others are priced as high as $2,500. The “1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Rc Rookie Mlb Baseball Sp1 Psa 10 Gem” is the most expensive card, sitting at that $2,500 mark.