Michael Jordan’s First Baseball Card Is Still Hot

On July 25th, 1990, Michael Jordan took batting practice before the game. He smashed two home runs during the session. Upper Deck used the event to create one of the biggest chases of the 1991 season.

With his starting pitcher warming up, Birmingham Barons right fielder Michael Jordan (45), right, gets a feel for live pitching before their game with Nashville Xpress at Greer Stadium in Nashville on April 23, 1994. / George Walker IV / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

On July 25th, 1990, Michael Jordan walked onto the field at Comiskey Park to take batting practice before the Chicago White Sox game against the Cleveland Indians. He smashed two home runs during the session. Upper Deck used the event to create one of the biggest chases of the 1991 season.

Upper Deck used a shot from that batting practice session on a Michael Jordan baseball card and they made it a short print insert card in their 1991 low series wax packs.  The odds to pull one were about 1 in every 72 packs or 1 in every two boxes.  

Collectors were already going crazy for Jordan basketball cards.  The idea of getting a baseball card of him set the hobby on fire.

It’s been 34 years since the 1991 Upper Deck SP1 Jordan card came out, and collectors are still scooping them up.  eBay data shows the card has an almost 100% sell through rate on the platform with approximately 1,900 cards listed and 1,800 cards sold in the last 90 days.  Over 200 raw versions of the card have sold on COMC.com since the beginning of the year.

1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan SP1 / Image Courtesy of COMC.com

As fellow contributor Horatio Ruiz pointed out in a recent article, this card is the 5th most graded Michael Jordan card.  PSA 10 copies have sold for about $500 in recent auctions.  Raw versions have seen price increases as well in recent years.  Back in 2019, I included the SP1 as one of the best Jordan cards you could buy for less than $5.  While you can occasionally find one for under $10, the majority of them currently sell for $10-$20 across several marketplaces.

A few short years later, the MJ baseball card hype would be revisited when he retired from basketball and made a run in the White Sox minor league system.  While also popular, those later cards from 1994 and 1995 don’t carry the same value as his first.  The 1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan SP1 continues to the be THE MJ baseball card to own.

RELATED: Michael Jordan's Most Graded Cards and Their Prices

Birmingham Barons right fielder Michael Jordan, front, takes it all in with his teammates before their game with Nashville Xpress at Greer Stadium in Nashville on April 23, 1994. / Mike DuBose / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

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