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Michael Jordan over giant piles of hundred dollar bills
Michael Jordan does not need another insanely expensive basketball card, but apparently the hobby has decided to keep inventing them anyway. A 1985 Star Company “Gatorade Slam Dunk” Jordan graded PSA 8 just sold for $70,725, establishing a new all-time record for the card.
The card was one of the biggest results in Robert Edward Auctions’ September sale, finishing behind only a pair of Mickey Mantle cards that each reached $76,875. The Jordan lot is especially tough in high grade because its fragile green borders are prone to chipping and centering issues, and only two examples have been graded higher by PSA.
This Is Not Even The Michael Jordan Card Most People Know
Ask a casual sports-card collector to picture a Jordan card, and there is a very good chance the 1986-87 Fleer rookie immediately comes to mind.
This is not that card.
The Gatorade Slam Dunk issue came from a nine-card Star Company set released in 1985 featuring players associated with the NBA’s dunk contest, including Jordan. It predates his famous Fleer rookie and comes from the strange early portion of Jordan’s card history when Star held the NBA license and produced several issues that have become increasingly important to collectors.
It was seemingly only available at a banquet that was held in Indianapolis during the All-Star Weekend that year, and no one actually knows how many were produced.
The PSA 8 Gatorade card sold for more than three times the $20,910 paid for a PSA 8 Jordan Fleer rookie in the same auction.
That is a pretty good indication collectors are no longer treating every pre-Fleer Jordan as the appetizer.
The Gatorade card also has one major condition problem working in its favor: finding a clean one is difficult. Green borders are essentially cardboard’s way of making every microscopic chip announce itself to the room.
This copy avoided most of that carnage.
REA Basically Spent The Night Rewriting Price Guides
Jordan was hardly the only player setting records.
Sports Collectors Daily reported that a 1956 Topps Mickey Mantle Gray Back graded PSA 8.5 sold for $76,875, beating the previous record for the grade by more than $20,000. A 1962 Topps Willie Mays PSA 8.5 reached $64,575.
Then the grade-specific records kept coming.
A 1920-21 W514 Joe Jackson PSA 2 sold for $23,370, while a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie in PSA 6 brought $20,295. A 1951 Bowman Mantle rookie graded SGC 3 reached $34,440.
Basically, REA held one monthly auction and made several sections of the price guide immediately outdated.
Jordan’s result stands out because it came from a card that still lives outside the mainstream conversation surrounding his his collectibles market.
His Fleer rookie is iconic. His game-worn jerseys sell for millions. His sneakers have become their own luxury asset class. Now, an old Star Company card with “Gatorade Slam Dunk” printed across the front is worth more than $70,000.