Several numbers are readily associated with Michael Jordan.
3: The spot in which he was selected in the NBA draft.
5 His regular season MVP awards
6: Championship rings (and Final MVPs).
9: The jersey number he wore as a member of the Dream Team in 1992.
12: The number he wore once and once only (it’s immortalized on Sam Vincent’s 1990 NBA Hoops card), on Valentine’s Day in 1990, in Orlando, after his regular jersey “went missing” (congrats, intrepid arena employee) shortly before the game. BTW—he dropped 49 on the Magic that night.
Then, of course, there’s 23.
As a child and NBA junkie of the ‘80s and ‘90s, not only is that number forever seared into my brain, thanks to junk (and very much NOT) wax and Jordan’s utterly unimpeachable place in both NBA history and as a cultural icon, my actual eyes have rarely gone longer than my mind’s eye without seeing #23 in black and red.
Recently, as a result of sorting through my own rather sizable MJ stockpile (plenty of good, sadly no grails) and attempting to consolidate by trading up, the inserts of my youth have once again come front and center. On the one hand, it’s irritating seeing the price tags now attached to the Jordans that we (at least my friends and I; probably your crew as well) loved but largely took for granted. More than this, though, I’m struck by just how profoundly these cards still capture those moments.
In the midst of all of this, I thought it would be a fun exercise to put together a list of, say, “the top 23 Michael Jordan inserts from the 1990s.”
Then I started sorting through these things. Very quickly I started thinking about the #45 that Mike wore during his 1994 sojourn into baseball and briefly upon his return to the NBA in 1995. At one it struck me that, if you really put your back into it, you could probably run this thing up to 1984 – the year in which MJ first won Olympic gold and was drafted by the Bulls.
In the end, I decided to stick to my original guns and target the top 23. This was not easy.
Naturally, a fair few of these, especially in top grades, carry rather hefty price tags. That being said, this isn’t really a “most expensive” list. Of course, value is factored into these rankings. Also playing a part, though, is the significance of a card and the set or product in which it resides. Also, equally, if not more important, are aesthetics and, well, vibes.
So let’s have at it:
23 – 1998-99 Flair Showcase takeit2.net
A combination of design and photography choices by a manufacturer and uniform, hairstyle, and footwear fashions of the day give sports cards an almost magical ability to a particular time and place.
Nothing screams “pre-millennium internet” quite a high-end insert set built around a computer circuit board and a “.net” URL. The thing is, while this card really does date itself, it’s really sharp-looking. That, combined with a for-the-day short print run of 1,000, an excellent action shot of an airborne MJ, and Flair’s then-still-distinctive thicker stock makes this time capsule easy to love.
You can find a nice copy of this one for a couple thousand dollars.
22 – 1994-95 E-Motion N-Tense (#3)
In the first of a few instances of “two cards, a common thread, only one spot,” Mike’s N-Tense insert from Skybox’s short-lived E-Motion product (which presumably evolved into E-XL, and then E-X2000) gets the nod for “high-end insert featuring #45”, narrowly beating out the 1994-95 Finest Refractor.
I’ll admit that there’s something about MJ’s 1994 Finest that I’ve never loved but can’t clearly articulate. But this decision is more about what’s right with the N-Tense than what’s wrong with the Finest. From the pop of the bright red of the jersey against the reflective gold surface to the thicker card stock to the gloss and embossing of the cards themselves, this card offered up glimpses of the hobby’s future.
It’s a nice one for the relatively modest price.
21 – 1995 SP Top Prospects Baseball Autograph
I’ll be honest, until the very end, this was no lock for inclusion here. Folks’ mileage varies on how to treat Jordan’s professional detour into baseball, never mind his actual baseball cards. Plus, we just addressed the weirdness of that 1994-95 stretch with an image of MJ wearing #45. Taking a pass here would have felt justified.
And yet, there’s something really irresponsible feeling about putting together a list like this and willfully ignoring the first-ever pack-distributed Michael Jordan autograph.
20 – 1993-94 Upper Deck “Seven straight scoring titles” (with Wilt Chamberlain) (#SP3)
A cool thing that used to exist was the one-off insert. It started in 1991 Upper Deck baseball, with pre-rings MJ taking BP with the White Sox. It hit basketball in 1992, with Skybox reminding us not only that “the Magic never ends” but that “the Admiral comes prepared,” and Upper Deck commemorating the retirements of Magic and Larry Bird.
In 1993 Upper Deck’s “SPs” got into the Michael Jordan business. First, they honored MJ and Dominique Wilkins for each surpassing 20,000 career points. They then shouted out Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain for each capturing seven straight scoring titles.
Even in the absence of monetary value, there’s something inherently significant about early Jordan inserts. On top of that, there’s something to be said for contextualizing just what a Goliath of the game Jordan was by pairing him with a legend of, at the time, at least, unrivaled stature. Best of all, if you’ve got a few ones in your wallet, you can afford one.
19 – 1996-97 Flair Showcase Hot Shots (#1)
Now we’re kicking off a mini-run of three higher-end MJs whose calling card, beyond rarity, value, and the reasonable significance of the products from which they came is that they’re simply just awesome to look at.
The first of these, 1996-97 Flair Showcase’s Hot Shot, is the first of a couple of cards on this list to exhibit the hobby’s newfound (at the time) commitment to intricate die-cutting. The combination of MJ, again in the classic red away jersey, the signature wristband on the forearm, putting up a righty one-hander against the backdrop of a basketball contained within a fireball is something worth basking in–if you’re able to invest a few thousand dollars.
18 – 1994-95 SP Championship Playoff Heroes (#P2)
Unlike the beauties preceding and following it here, the ’94-‘95 SP Championship Playoff Heroes Die-Cut is a masterpiece of simplicity, a perfect encapsulation of a classic image.
There is a die-cut variant that’s tougher to come by than the basic Playoff Heroes card, featuring some subtle die-cutting which begins at the top, rounds out the left corner, and works its way down the left edge. All of that, though, is an afterthought here.
What makes this card a masterpiece is the nuances. A rough matte, almost canvas-like material allows for a blurring of the background, which beautifully brings the player front and center, where we find Jordan, at home in Chicago Stadium, in the iconic Air Jordan XI’s, about to throw down a dunk during the third title run of the Bulls’ first threepeat.
There are plenty of cards on this list that give you that “I just don’t want to stop looking at it” feeling. For me, not many convey that feeling more emphatically than this very inexpensive beauty.
17 – 1997-98 Fleer Ultra Star Power Supreme
Oftentimes, less is more. More often than that, more is too much. Every so often, though, a manufacturer throws the kitchen sink at a card – and nails it.
The third and highest tier of Fleer’s “Star Power” insert set in’97-’98 Ultra (”Star Power Plus” resides in between), “Supreme” is doing A LOT. Gold, refractor-y, translucent acetate, atoms everywhere with an image of MJ front and center on each side – on the front swooping in for a layup, on the back elevating for a jumper.
A misfire would have been a nightmare. What we got instead is a delightful fever dream. Online photos don’t do these justice. Graded copies reach into the low thousands.
16 – 1993-94 Finest Refractor (#1)
At the other end of the spectrum, we’ve got Topps Finest’s maiden voyage. Historical significance? Off the charts. Aesthetics? Well…
Lists like this have a tendency of turning into confessionals. Here goes: for me, ‘93-‘94 Finest is like the “anti-Star Power Supreme”. Between the not-entirely-necessary gold framing of the player’s image to the partly kaleidoscopic background that overwhelms that image, there’s an awful lot going on that, aesthetically, amounts to less than the sum of its parts. And, to have Michael Jordan as card #1 in your new landmark set and choose an image of him, what, going up for an offensive rebound, is a bit of a misfire.
That being said, for all that Finest has meant to the hobby, and for all of the innovations that it delivered – namely, the refractor, which also elevated the likes of Topps Chrome and Bowman’s Best – the very first version of those cards off the presses, featuring not just this sport’s but sports’ quintessential superstar, matters.
MJ Finest Refractors are pretty easy to find, too.
15 – 1991-92 Upper Deck Award Winners Hologram (#AW1)
I suppose that the one-per-pack stickers from each Fleer product between 1986 and 1990 are, in fact, the hobby’s first-ever first basketball inserts. However, if you, like me, classify those as, I dunno, something slightly different, then this, commemorating MJ’s then-fifth straight scoring titles in 1990-91, is the “first” (#AW4 recognizes his MVP award from that season) “true” Michael Jordan insert.
At the very least, it’s the first Michael Jordan insert of anything resembling the modern(ish) era. They remain junk wax era cheap.
14 – 1995-96 Flair New Heights (#4 of 10)
With all due respect to Mike’s Hot Numbers card from the same product (which was one of the last cuts from this list), another insert from Flair’s inaugural campaign gets the limelight here.
Like Finest, Flair is one of the decade’s most significant products, having introduced thicker card stock, artistry in design, dual foreground-background images of each player, and inserts that were both visually gripping and tough to find. The way that New Heights captures Jordan’s picture-perfect form (to be fair, much of the credit probably belongs to Mike) in rising up for a layup not once but four times gives this card a propulsive effect that’s only accentuated by the explosive purple background.
You can own a nice one from this high-end 90s product for under $500.
13 – 1992-93 Skybox Olympic Team (USA11)
The greatest team with which Michael Jordan ever played didn’t win a championship ring but rather a gold medal.
It’s tough to explain these days, but those around at the time certainly remember just how insane the idea of the Dream Team was. As significant as the likes of Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, and David Robinson were to that team, it was the notion of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan together on one team that melted minds and, frankly, changed the very complexion of the game itself, planting the seeds for Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, and the ever-growing collection of international superstars who’ve come since.
As for this card itself, there’s just so much to like. First, for all of the various Team USA subsets from 1991 and 1992, this is the preeminent Dream Team insert set. Also, visually, these (and, naturally, Jordan especially) are stunning, with the grey border framing two edges and the rich blue background highlighting a spectacular action shot, in which the ball gets that signature early Skybox “whoosh” effect. And finally, that this was released retroactively allows for the cool “score bug” with each player’s stats from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, adorned with a gold medal on the front of the card. For under ten bucks, it’s a must own.
12 – 1992-93 Fleer All-Star (#6 of 30)
Given their condition sensitivity and fairly massive uptick in popularity in recent years and my own nostalgia-fueled biases, it should come as no surprise that the early-‘90s junk wax era is pretty well represented on this list.
With the exception of one product which we’ll get to shortly, 1992-93 Fleer boasts the most attractive and diverse lineup of MJ inserts from the first half of the decade. In the interest of saving room for some more “grail-y” inserts from later in the decade, I had to check myself a bit here. So, with all due respect to the rack-pack-only Team Leader and what would have card #24 on this list, Total D, the horizontally oriented All-Star gets the nod here. With its mellowing blue borders, background, and a head-up shot of each player, with smaller vivid color action shot on the side, this, for me, is an all-timer in terms of card design. That the action shot on the Jordan features the picture-perfect follow-through on his picture-perfect jumper only elevates it further, not to mention the absurdly low cost.
11 – 1993-94 Fleer Ultra Power in the Key (#2 of 9)
Along with 1992-93 Fleer, 1993-94 Ultra nailed its insert lineup as well as any product from the period, with two of four Jordan inserts (apologies to “Famous Nicknames” and “Inside/Outside”) featuring here.
The first is the vibrantly textured Power in the Key. Given its rarity for the time (1:37 hobby packs), extreme condition sensitivity (less than 14% have received a 9 from PSA, with under 3% earning a 10), and a beautiful multicolored key from a basketball court etched in foil, and a glossy image of Mike, this card earns its spot on this list.
Most copies aren’t cost prohibitive.
10 – 1992-93 Stadium Club Beam Team (#1)
Depending on where you fall on the inaugural version of Upper Deck in 1991, there’s a strong case to be made for Stadium Club (and, to a lesser extent, Fleer Ultra) as the first-ever truly “upscale” basketball product. Regardless of where you fall on that issue,’92-’93 Beam Team is the first-ever genuinely high-end basketball insert set.
The cards themselves are spectacular, with bright, colorful action shots, framed beautifully by holographic foil ’22-’23 Sacramento Kings-esque beams. That this set, which features basically every player of consequence in the NBA at that moment (remember, Magic and Bird were gone), is booked-ended by Mike, rising up to throw down (LOVE that it’s Danny Ainge who can only stand by and watch) at card #1, and Shaq’s first mega-insert at #21 is especially fitting.
Prices vary quite a bit, depending on condition.
9 – 1996-97 Skybox E-X2000 A Cut Above (#5)
In life as in card collecting, certain bells, whistles, and features are desirable, and even come to represent the standard. I, admittedly, am something of a sucker for simplicity – though intricacy in pursuit of a beautiful aesthetic often makes me revisit this stance. This brings us to the first of a trio of essentially perfect non-auto/-jersey/-serial numbered Michael Jordan inserts.
1996-97 E-X2000 is built on die-cuts. The base set and Credentials parallels feature die-cut images of each player within a window cut into the card. Additionally, the product featured a pair of beautifully designed die-cut insert sets. With all due respect to the rather striking Net Assets, a 20-card set that came out at a rate of about one per box, the awesome foil finish and fitting circular saw design of the 10-card A Cut Above – which were inserted one in every 288 packs, meaning that Mike only appeared once every 2,880 pack rips – is truly spectacular…and prices reflect that.
8 – 1997-98 Skybox E-X2001 Jambalaya
Here is another more or less perfect “no bells and whistles” Michael Jordan insert.
Aesthetically, it’s certainly unique, with its rounded frame, the etched image of MJ taking flight, and the textured, deep red and green panels that make up the background.
And then there’s the rarity. There were 15 cards in the Jambalaya sets. The odds of pulling any one of those is a hilarious one in 720 packs. In case you don’t have your abacus handy, the odds of pulling one guy in particular (Jordan, for instance) is on in 10,800 packs. You’ll drop a pretty penny to own one, but it’s hard to say it’s not worth it.
If all that’s not enough, unless I’m mistaken, this is the first ULTRA high-end non-parallel insert set to feature both Jordan and then-second-year sensation Kobe Bryant.
7 – 1996-97 Flair Showcase Row 1 Legacy Collection #/150 (#23)
1996-97 was the inaugural year for serial-numbered parallels in basketball. The first of two such products was E-X2000’s silver foil variation, Credentials, which has a minuscule-for-the-time print run of 499. Then there’s the Legacy Collection.
That year, Flair showcase employed the admittedly still odd “Row 2, 1, and 0” model, which in effect gave each player three base cards of increasing rarity. Each of these has a Legacy Collection variant, each with a still-impressive print run of just 150.
Now, after choosing Legacy over Credentials, I still had three MJs from which to choose. There’s no wrong decision here. I personally opted for Row 1, which features a background image of Mike gazing at the camera from the classic hands-on-knees position while in the foreground he is gathering on the left wing on break to attack the basket.
Dealer’s choice.
6 – 1997-98 Precious Metal Gems Green (#/10)
One could argue, quite convincingly, that only a complete idiot would look at one of the genuine grails, not just among basketball cards but all sports collectibles, and deem it unworthy of a top-five designation among 1990s Michael Jordan inserts. To this, I would first say that anyone with this opinion would not be the first person to question my judgment.
Now, I’ll try to keep the explanation of my rationale here simple. There’s something that I find mildly offensive about a card that leans this heavily into easy damage. This, and, similarly, the ‘93 Ultra Power in the Key that came in at #11, is an example of condition sensitivity taken to the point of self-parody.
Thus, for as gorgeous as this thing is, as much as it pops visually, and its incredible significance within the hobby, I’m dinging it the way that the very design, the very state of existence of the iconic inaugural PMGs dinged their ridiculously fragile foil finish, often before they’d even exited the pack.
They rarely come up for sale, of course, and the last one that did (labeled Authentic by PSA) netted $915,000.
5 – 1997-98 Skybox Premium Star Rubies #/50 (#23)
In was a brutally tough battle between ultra-high-end Star Rubies from consecutive years, each serially numbered to 50 (the inaugural ’96-’97 Skybox Premium Rubies were not serial numbered), the edge here goes to 1997 over 1998.
A quick aside: I mentioned this in the preamble but I think it bears mentioning (and I hope you’re still with me on this): in a vacuum, of course, each of these things has a spot on a “top 23 ‘90s Jordans” list, but simply rattling off one PMG, Ruby, Legacy, or Credential or another for twenty-three bullet points is unspeakably lame. Anyway…
The nod here goes to 1997-98 Skybox Premium’s Star Ruby simply on aesthetics. The following year’s version has an admittedly very cool shimmery foil background. This one, however, has a far darker background that evokes images of snakeskin or a leopard’s coat, against which the red from the Skybox logo and Jordan’s name at the bottom and the red and white of the home Bulls jersey pop too beautifully to ignore.
A PSA 10 copy sold back in April.
4 – 1997-98 Skybox E-X2001 Essential Credentials Future (#/72)
It’s absolutely deranged to consider but 1996-97’s E-X2000 Credentials Michael Jordan has come up short twice in the span of four spots, to something spiritually adjacent. At #7 it was ‘96’s Flair Showcase Legacy Collection. This time, it’s a sequel to the groundbreaking ’96-’97 E-X2000 Credentials. For 1997-98’s E-X2001 product, Skybox produced two Essential Credentials parallel sets, Future and Now, each significantly rarer than 1996’s 499.
The setup here is a bit funky, with each card in the Essential Credentials Now set, which has a neon green color scheme, serial-numbered to the card’s number in the set – so, card #1 in the set (Grant Hill) is a 1/1, #2 (Kevin Garnett) is #/2, and so on, until Ron Mercer at #80. Essential Credentials Futures, which have a spectacular pink/purple scheme, are numbered in reverse, meaning that cards #1 and #2 (Hill/Garnett) are numbered to 80 and 79, respectively, while card #80 (Mercer) is a 1/1 and #79 (Tracy McGrady) is #/2, and so on. As card #9 in the set, Michael Jordan’s Now parallel is numbered to just 9, while the Future variant has a print run of 72.
I realize that I probably will (and am fully prepared to) catch some serious flak for this but for the purpose of this selection, I’m thumbing my nose at “asinine rarity” in favor of merely “extreme rarity” and mesmerizing aesthetics.
3 – 1996 SPx AUTO (#8)
The first pack-inserted autographed card depicting Michael Jordan in an NBA jersey. ‘Nuff said.
2 – 1993-94 Fleer Ultra Scoring Kings (#5 of 10)
No serial number. No patch. No auto.
What this Scoring Kings set has – like several other 1992-98 also-ran-turned-hobby-darling insert sets – is an excellent combination of “accessible rarity,” condition sensitivity, a stellar superstar checklist, and a glorious design that never gets old.
This is the platonic ideal of the “basic” insert. Raw or graded, prices aren’t too bad.
1 – 1997-98 Upper Deck All-Star Jersey AUTO (#/23)
The very first MJ game jersey card ever produced, signed, hand-numbered to 23, and set against a nice jersey mesh background, with two beautiful images of Mike from (I believe) the 1991 or 1992 All-Star game. And, if you’re into that sort of thing, potentially a seven-figure price tag.
I mean… c’mon.
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