Michael Jordan's 1990 Valentine's Day Jersey Heist Immortalized on Hoops Card
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On Valentine's Day 1990, Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were in Orlando, Florida to play a regular season game against the Magic.
A short time before the Bulls scheduled shootaround, Jordan reported that his iconic number 23 Bulls game jersey had gone missing.
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It's reported the jersey was next to his locker around 5:30PM, but just a few minutes later, by 5:45PM, it was gone. The locker room was thoroughly searched, but the jersey remained missing.
At some point during the search, it was discovered that the jersey wasn't simply misplaced, but in fact it had been stolen. Accusations flew and fingers were pointed at anyone from locker room attendants to official Orlando Magic personnel. Regardless, the jersey was not making a comeback before tip-off.
In the moment, a full investigation and search couldn't be done to determine who had stolen the jersey. A replacement needed to be found and found fast. It was reported by esteemed writer Sam Smith that Bulls personnel first thought to find a fan in the crowd with the famous 23 jersey and negotiate to beg and borrow said jersey. In their search, all of the fans with the Jordan jerseys were much smaller than the six-foot six-inch MJ, so that plan did not work.
The backup plan involved utilizing the Bulls lone extra jersey. It was a nameless garment stitched with the number 12. The team's only spare jersey was supposed to be used in the event of a player's jersey being damaged during gameplay. Back in the day, teams traveled light and, much to the surprise of current NBA fans, didn't carry extra uniforms.
Michael Jordan, the greatest of all-time, the most famous basketball player and arguably the most famous person on the planet, went out on the court to do what he does better than anyone in the world...in a nameless jersey with a number completely unrelated to him in any way, shape, or form.
The Orlando Magic went on to defeat Jordan's Bulls that memorable night, but Jordan put in work, doing what he does best, scoring 49 points in 47 minutes in the only game he'd ever play as number 12 (as he swore after the game).
Almost as if it was a script written for Hollywood, the stolen jersey was found tucked in a ceiling tile in the visitor's locker room. An Orlando Magic security guard later admitted to a co-worker that he planned the entire heist and came through a ceiling tile ala Tom Cruise Mission Impossible style to swipe the iconic digits.
Then Orlando Magic equipment manager Rodney "Sid" Powell confirmed that a member of the arena security personnel was the culprit.
The jersey was found days later when arena personnel noticed a ceiling tile out of place in the visitor's locker room. When Powell checked it out himself, Jordan's game jersey was right there above the displaced tile, folded neatly. It's reported that, as suspected, the security member attempted to come through the ceiling after the morning shootaround. They were clearly successful in grabbing the jersey, but not in retrieving it after the game.
Decades later, the thief still has not been apprehended. So, at this point the chances are pretty slim that Jordan jersey heist will ever be solved.
To add even more intrigue to an already insane story, Magic team officials swore the Bulls 23 jersey was mailed back to team headquarters in Chicago. Although Bulls brass who should have received the jersey claim they never got the mail.
Jordan was always known to be very superstitious, and he had worn number 23 since he was in high school. So donning a nameless number 12 jersey wasn't exactly the highlight of his evening.
"That has never happened to me before. It's pretty irritating because you're accustomed to certain things, and you don't like to have things misplaced." Jordan told the Orlando Sentinel.
The number 23 was special to Michael as he handpicked it as it represented one half of the number 45, which was his older brother Larry's jersey number. Jordan always looked up to his older brother and wanted to be half as good as big brother Larry. It's safe to say that mission was accomplished.
Although the original jersey was never recovered, every collector can have a piece of the historical heist as Orlando Magic guard Sam Vincent's 1990-91 Hoops card captured an image of Jordan wearing the number 12 as Vincent was performing a layup. Much like the missing jersey itself, collectors noticed the image after the fact and an otherwise pedestrian piece of cardboard is at least worth a second glance, if not a few bucks, as a fun addition to any Michael Jordan card collection.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms