Michael Jordan Baseball Cards: Ultimate Guide PLUS Pricing

Michael Jordan baseball cards were once the stuff of dreams for diamond fans — can you imagine how awesome it would be to have the greatest basketball player of all time lace up his spikes in the major leagues?

But it was all just that, a pipe dream. No way Jordan would walk away from the Chicago Bulls to try his hand at hardball.

Right?

Right.

But then …

Well, then, Michael started taking some batting practice with the Chicago White Sox in the offseason. and a shot from one of those sessions ended up on a 1991 Upper Deck card.

A 1991 Upper Deck baseball card.

And the whispers started again. Was Michael getting tired of basketball? Would he ditch the court for the outfield grass?

Nah. He was in the midst of winning three straight NBA titles with the Bulls, after all.

When that Three Peat wrapped up, though, and on the heels of his father James‘ murder, Michael walked away from basketball.

Baseball fans’ hearts skipped a beat — did that mean Michael was headed to the diamond? Maybe …

Maybe?

Defnintely, Jordan told us the next spring, joining the White Sox in Spring Training and embarking on his minor league career.

And, of course, opening the cardboard floodgates.

Michael Jordan’s baseball career was short-lived and not overly impressive, but its legacy lives on in our memories and photos and videos, and in our collections.

To wit, that one-year(ish) dalliance with the diamond generated something like 60 cards featuring Jordan in his new sport, and they all maintain a strong hobby presence all these years later.

Here, then, is a complete rundown of Michael Jordan baseball cards, from the sublime to the overkill.

Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed.

1990 SCD Baseball Pocket Price Guide Michael Jordan (#51)

While Sports Collectors Digest (or SCD) was the periodical of choice for hardcore collectors during the 1980s and 1990s, and while Baseball Cards Magazine was the place to turn for hobby fun, there was no doubt who ruled the roost when it came to card values: Beckett.

But Krause publications wasn’t willing to surrender the price guide battleground without a fight, so they unleashed their own yearly tomes – price guide and standard catalog – as well as the SCD Baseball Card Price Guide Monthly.

That mag wasn’t as slick and colorful as Beckett Monthly, and it wasn’t as playful as Krause’s own Baseball Cards, but they did bring over one innovation from their sister pub: repli-cards.

Repli-cards, in case you don’t remember, were cards fashioned after classic designs but picturing players who weren’t originally in the set featured – think 1959 Topps Ken Griffey, Jr. They were Archives and Heritage before Archives and Heritage.

In 1990, SCDBCPGM (say *that* three times fast!), rolled out the beautiful 1957 Topps design, and they got a jump on the Jordan-to-baseball craze by showing His Airness in White Sox uniform, holding a bat over his right shoulder.

It was a magical sight, and it’s still a pretty neat card. And, among Michael Jordan baseball cards, it’s the first.

Value: $100-200

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1991 Ballstreet Michael Jordan (#19)

The Ballstreet Journal was one of the many rags that sprang up in the early 1990s hoping to capitalize on our growing collective infatuation with sports ephemera.

And, like the Krause publications, Ballstreet doubled down by inserting baseball cards into their issues.

As stories and rumors regarding Jordan’s love of baseball continued to grow, you could hardly blame the upstart for including him in their lineup.

Note that PSA no longer grades these Michael Jordan baseball cards, but they did for awhile, so there are at least a few slabbed MJ’s out there, though they don’t come up for sale that often. Thus, some price uncertainty.

Value: $50-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1991 RBI Magazine Prototype Michael Jordan (#1P)

Regional Baseball Index (RBI) was another one of those paper speculators, though with a specific focus on the hobby as yet another price guide magazine.

They turned in a hefty effort to drum up interest, too – their inaugural test issue from late 1991 featured Baseball Jordan on the cover and ten prototype cards inside.

The checklist?

Bo Jackson, Nolan Ryan, Ken Griffey Jr., George Brett, Don Mattingly, Ryne Sandberg, and Cal Ripken Jr.

Oh yeah … and Mickey Mantle.

Batting leadoff? Michael Jordan.

This is another card you won’t see on the market too often, so prices will pretty much be whatever the buyers drive them to in the moment.

Value: $100-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1991 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Michael Jordan (#SP1)

This was the Michael Jordan baseball card that really got the hobby excited, of course.

Issued as an insert in Upper Deck’s 1991 “lo” series, this card lit up collector wantlists just as Jordan and the Bulls were putting the finishing touches on the first championship run during their first 3-peat.

Did this card mean Jordan was walking away from basketball now that he’d won a title?

Nah. Not yet.

And, since the 1991 Upper Deck features Michael taking batting practice in 1990 and was issued three years before he decided to give baseball a try, it’s not really a rookie card in the strict sense.

Try telling that to us collectors, though.

Value: $45-50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1993 Pocket Pages Promo Michael Jordan and Nolan Ryan (#64)

The Pocket Pages Card Show Digest was sort of like a hobby blog report before there were blogs (outside of ARPANET, anyway). Shaped long and skinny, like old media guides or fold-up roadmaps, Card Show Digest reported on hobby happenings like new releases, guest signing schedules, and the like.

And, being an early 1990s hobby publication, Card Show Digest naturally inserted their own cards into each issue.

Jordan got that treatment in 1993 and, though that card shows him with the Bulls, it also shows him alongside Nolan Ryan. So it makes our cut, if only barely (and it’s another one that doesn’t have much of an established market).

Value: $25-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1993 Upper Deck SE Michael Jordan Retirement (#MJR1)

Michael Jordan shocked the world by announcing his retirement from the NBA just before the start of the 1993-94 season and then delivered a follow-up cross to the chin early in 1994 – he’d be heading to Spring Training with the Chicago White Sox to begin his baseball career.

What ensued was a 13-month odyssey that led Jordan back to the Bulls after summer of chasing pitches, but not before we got a slew of “real” baseball cards featuring the basketball legend.

This one wasn’t one of those, however, as it was part of the Upper Deck SE offering, an insert seeded one in every 72 packs. The front shows a smiling, suited Jordan at a press conference.

The back, though, punches its ticket onto our list with a shot of Jordan swinging a bat wearing a White Sox uniform (disguised as an Upper Deck uniform).

Value: $55-60

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Action Packed Scouting Report Michael Jordan (#23)

After cutting their teeth in the super-high-end football card Market, Action Packed was also dabbling in the lower end of the hobby … minor league cards!

Scouting Report hedged its bets, though, by following up prospects like Trot Nixon, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Johnny Damon with a run of Roberto Clemente cards.

Oh, yes, and a card of that prospect-by-default, Michael Jordan.

Value: $25-35

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Classic Birmingham Barons Michael Jordan (#1)

By 1994, Classic had moved beyond their roots of *just* producing a baseball board game and associated player cards to issuing 30+ minor league sets each season.

Among those that summer was an issue featuring the Birmingham Barons, which just so happened to be Michael Jordan’s Double-A team.

Jordan got a card, of course, and so did manager Terry Francona.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Collector’s Choice Michael Jordan (#23)

Collector’s Choice was Upper Deck’s entry into the swampland, purportedly positioning itself as an affordable alternative to the day’s mainstream and higher-end issues.

At 99 cents a pack for 12 cards, though, I can tell you CC didn’t feel all that affordable at the time, not for kids who grew up with packs that retailed for between a quarter and 50 cents and delivered payloads of 15 to 18 cards each.

Old man grumbling aside …

At least the 1994 Collector’s Choice set delivered on the Michael Jordan front – in multiple places.

This one was actually part of the basketball issue and came in several parallel forms: Blow-Ups, Gold Signature, Silver Signature.

Pricing shown here is for the plain old base model.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Collector’s Choice Michael Jordan (#635)

The first of two Jordan cards in the baseball version of 1994 Collector’s Choice, this one shows Jordan, well, up close.

At least it lives up to its billing, huh?

Yeah, it’s part of the ten-card Up Close subset.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Collector’s Choice Michael Jordan (#661)

This one is Jordan’s base card from Collector’s Choice, so it pretty much qualifies as an Airness baseball rookie card.

Upper Deck must have thought so, too, since they included it in their 20-card Rookie Class subset.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 SI for Kids Series 2 Michael Jordan (#270)

Sports Illustrated debuted in 1954, with part of their appeal including baseball cards inserted in the center of the magazine. Thirty-five years later, Sports Illustrated for Kids debuted, with inaugural frontman Michael levitating two youngsters via a couple of palmed basketballs.

Five years after that, in 1989, S.I. combined the two ideas – their first Michael Jordan baseball card insert. It was part of their larger series of nine-card panels issued throughout the year, one that included Walter Payton, Stan Musial, Reggie Whites, and other luminaries across several sports.

Value: $200-300

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 SP Holoview Michael Jordan (#16)

This one was part of a 38-card insert set issued in packs of 1994 SP cards. These were actually pretty “important” inserts, if you can ascribe that word to such things, in that the “Holoview” technology got multiple exposures pretty much right after we’d struggled with “Magic Motion” for decades.

And then there were the two versions – the base, or “Blue”, version that you’d pull most of the time.

And the “Red” die-cut version that was limited to something like 700 of each card.

Pricing here is for the Blue Jordan; expect to multiply those numbers by ten – or more – if you ever find a Red Michael to buy.

Value: $50-75

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Sports Stars USA Michael Jordan (#153)

Sports Stars USA was a multi-sport endeavor produced in the mid-1990s, with a Michael Jordan baseball card a pretty apt embodiment of that crossover nature of the cards. These issues featured glossy, full-bleed fronts that often included multiple images along with some flash design elements, and simple black typeface on otherwise stark white backs.

They were very Broder-like, in other words, so it’s not surprising PSA no longer grades them.

That wasn’t always the case, though, so you can still find slabbed copies on occasion.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Ted Williams Co. Dan Gardiner Michael Jordan (#DG1)

Ted Williams ate, breathed, and exhaled baseball all throughout his life, so it’s not too surprising he eventually lent his name to a baseball card company.

No surprise, either, that Michael Jordan then landed in Teddy Ballgame’s set. What a duo, huh?

As for the card itself, it’s based on the artwork of Dan Gardiner, so there’s always room for subjectivity. To me, Jordan’s cap screams old-school Tigers at a glance, and the whole thing looks like it’s set on a golf course.

Tiger. Golf course.

Yeah, this one always reminds me of Tiger Woods.

Value: $25-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck Michael Jordan (#19)

Here’s sort of an unusual entry for our list: a plain old base-issue Michael Jordan baseball card. Sure, it’s part of the “Star Rookies” subset, but that whole 30-card run was the start of the base Upper Deck set, all available in packs.

And, no Michael Jordan wasn’t really a star rookie on the baseball diamond, but he also totally was.

Value: $30-50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck Fun Packs Michael Jordan (#170)

Upper Deck Fun Packs were one of several products that emerged in the mid–1990s ostensibly to serve the more youthful members of the collecting public. Checking in at around a buck a pack, these issues were usually colorful and marketed as being affordable … which they were, compared to the really high-end stuff out there, but not so much when compared to base Topps, Fleer, Donruss just a few years before.

Still, the advent of this market segment begat this colorful Michael Jordan baseball card, so at least we had something to talk about in this slot.

Value: $25-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck Minor League Michael Jordan (#MJ23)

Upper Deck Minors was a 270-card set issued during the summer of 1994 and featuring top prospects from across the game. Jordan fit into that category by virtue of the superstar power he brought to the White Sox’ minor league system, so his presence here is wholly unsurprising. He also appeared on a couple of inserts for the set.

Value: $100-200

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck Minors Scouting Report Jumbo Michael Jordan Baseball Cards (#SR1-SR5)

Upper Deck wasn’t content with a base Jordan minor league card and two Jordan minor league inserts. Nosiree, Mike!

So they followed up with this five-card Minors Scouting Report issue featuring nothing but Jordan and sold in bubble packs of one card each. Any of the five is about as desirable and expensive as the other four … which is pretty darn expensive, as not many of these come to the market.

Value: $100-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck MJ Rare Air Michael Jordan (#38)

Another card that’s technically a *basketball* card, this one is part of another 1994 Upper Deck set dedicated to Jordan, the 90-card Rare Air issues. And, of course, this qualifies as a baseball card because it is – that’s not a basketball wrapped around Michael’s left hand or a net draped over his head, after all.

Value: $40-50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck Next Generation Michael Jordan (#8)

Yet another Upper Deck production, Next Generation featured 18 up-and-coming baseball youngsters UD thought would rule the game in the coming years. They did pretty well with their picks, too – Roberto Alomar, Alex Rodriguez, Tim Salmon, Mike Piazza, Gary Sheffield, etc.

They even tacked on an unnumbered Ken Griffey, Jr., to boot!

And, of course His Airness made the cut, both on this base card and the Electric Diamond parallel that doubled the checklist for master-set collectors.

Value: $25-35

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1994 Upper Deck SP Insert Michael Jordan Central Region (#CR2)

This card is part of the somewhat landmark Holoview F/X inserts that Upper Deck seeded at one per five packs of the 1994 SP, the only SP set with all-foil base cards.

Holoview F/X is sort of famous for finally getting multiple exposures somewhat correct after years of bad “Magic Motion” trips for collectors. It’s somewhat more famous for the Special F/X parallels, which are about 15 times as scarce.

Jordan was part of the 38-card run and appears in both the base (“Blue”) and Special F/X (“Red”) versions of the inserts.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Collector’s Choice Michael Jordan (#500)

In March of 1995, Michael Jordan famously announced his return to the NBA through a lengthy press release that read, in full: “I’m back.”

But, even with his baseball career behind him, Jordan still had plenty of baseball cards in his future.

To wit, his card #500 was one of three featuring his surname in the 1995 Collector’s Choice base set, joined by Brian Jordan (#192) and Ricky Jordan (#369).

Value: $15-20

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Jordan Time Capsule Michael Jordan Baseball Cards (#TC1-TC4)

Upper Deck was back with more minor league in prospect cards in 1995, including the 165-card SP Top Prospects issue. And, while they could no longer claim that Jordan was a top prospect, UD could still try to squeeze a little more Michael into their baseball products.

Enter the four-card Jordan Time Capsule insert set!

Value: $25-35

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 UD Authenticated Star Rookies Michael Jordan (#19)

If this card looks familiar, then you’ve been paying attention. Basically, this Upper Deck Authenticated card from 1995 is the 1994 Upper Deck Michael Jordan base card with a “limited edition” stamp and extra number on the card back. That extra number shows that 45,000 of these buyb-backs were sent back into the hobby the year after official UD Michael Jordan baseball rookie card.

Value: $30-35

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Michael Jordan (#200)

Michael Jordan and Harry Caray on the same baseball card? Yes, please. The only thing that might make this image even more spine-tingly for Chicago fans is if somehow Upper Deck had found a way to coax Walter Payton into photo-bombing the whole shindig.

Value: $30-50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck 23K Gold Michael Jordan

Card companies upped the ante and upped the ante and upped the ante in the 1990s until there was really nowhere left to go in terms of super-duper high-end stuff except for … solid gold!

OK, maybe this Michael card isn’t *solid* gold, but it is 23K-laced and “limited” to just 25,000 copies. Not much of a limit in today’s world of 1:1s, but that was downright stingy back in the 90s.

There were actually a few different permutations of the 1995 Upper Deck 23K Jordan card, but this one makes the cut here because it features Baseball Air on the back.

Value: $50-60

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Tribute Set Michael Jordan Baseball Cards (#JT1-JT5)

More Upper Deck.

More gold.

More Michael Jordan.

This five-card set was a tribute to Jordan as he stepped away from baseball and back to the hardwood, giving us one (of many) last looks at the legend as a minor leaguer.

Yet another card without much of an established graded market — there just aren’t that many out there, though the demand is not necessarily that great, either.

Value: $20-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Minor League Michael Jordan (#45)

Card manufacturers back in the 1990s had to plan out their sets months ahead of time and then push forward with those plans almost no matter what.

So, even though Jordan was back in the NBA when 1995 Upper Deck Minor League debuted, he was still a “White Sox Top Prospect.”

(This one also comes in a somewhat less plentiful “Future Stock” version.)

Not at all accurate, of course, but you know Mike helped sell some UD cards … again.

Value: $20-25

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Minor League MJ’s Scrapbook Michael Jordan Baseball Cards (#MJ1-MJ10)

Yeah, and then there’s the 10-card Michael Jordan’s Scrapbook insert set that was part of the 1995 Upper Deck Minor League issue and *may* be a little harder to play off as a consequence of timing.

Or not … I mean, they had to plan this one out, too, and get it inserted one in every 35 packs.

Still, there’s no way UD would have pulled this run even if they could have. Good thing for us, too, because it’s a fun little insert.

Value: $10-50

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Minor League Michael Jordan One-on-One Michael Jordan Baseball Cards (#Mon Jan 10 2022 00:00:00 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time))

Yep, another 10-card Jordan insert in the 1995 Upper Deck Minors run, though the odds of pulling this one are a bit murkier.

Basically, you can choose just about any sort of Michael Jordan baseball card you want to own, and 1995 Upper Deck probably has something that’s right up your alley.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Minor League Organizational Profiles Michael Jordan (#OP6)

Organizational Profiles was yet another Upper Deck Minors insert, this one offering up one player from each franchise who was beating down the door to the majors.

The White Sox’s entry didn’t age well from a baseball perspective.

Because, while the Phils got Scott Rolen and the Astros got Billy Wagner, Chicago got … a basketball player. But then, so did we. So it’s a win.

Value: $20-30

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)

1995 Upper Deck Steal of a Deal Michael Jordan (#SD15)

Inserted in Series One packs of 1995 Upper Deck, Steal of a Deal was a 15-card run featuring players who figured in shrewd trades or signings – “steals,” in other words.

Not sure who the White Sox traded for Jordan, or who they bumped from the Birmingham Barons roster to fit him in, but it’s hard to argue he didn’t pay big dividends for them.

And for Upper Deck, obviously.

(One last entry without a clear price point due to low overall trade volume.)

Value: $20-??

Check prices on eBay (affiliate link)

Check prices on Amazon (affiliate link)