Michael Jordan jersey from final regular-season Bulls game sells for $173K at auction
On April 18, 1998, Michael Jordan did what he’d done for most of the previous 14 years — put on a Chicago Bulls uniform, lace up his Nikes, and beat the New York Knicks.
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Jordan scored 44 points in 40 minutes to pace the Bulls to a 111-109 win over the ‘Bockers, sending Bulls fans home happy and putting a satisfying end to a 62-20 regular season that left them tied with the Utah Jazz for the best record in the NBA, setting the clubs on a path for a meeting in the NBA Finals. This meeting did not end well for Bryon Russell, but it went swimmingly for M.J. and the gang, who completed the second three-peat in the Jordan/Pippen/Phil Jackson era.
Jordan would never suit up for the Bulls again after that postseason, retiring and spending three years on the sidelines before returning as a member of the Washington Wizards. That makes the uniform Jordan wore in that April 18, 1998, victory over the Knicks — his final regular-season game as a member of the Bulls — something of a collector’s item. How much of one? Apparently, six figures’ worth. From Darren Rovell of ESPN.com:
The jersey that Michael Jordan wore in his final regular-season game with the Chicago Bulls sold for $173,240 early Sunday. […]
“No one who has been out of the game fewer than fifteen years has had items sell for these kinds of prices,” said Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions, which sold the jersey and a pair of game-worn shoes from the 1996 NBA Finals for $34,160. “Michael Jordan is the collectible equivalent of Babe Ruth.” […]
Jersey authenticator MeiGray authenticated the jersey as matching the jersey worn on April 18, 1998, when Jordan scored 44 points against the New York Knicks, the last time he wore the red and white in a regular-season game on the United Center floor. The jersey also came with a letter from the Bulls vouching for its authenticity as being game-used.
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The jersey sold for nearly $70,000 more than the autographed sneakers that M.J. wore during his legendary “Flu Game” against the Jazz in Game 5 of their ’97 Finals matchup. That seems kind of bonkers given the relative importance of the outing being commemorated, but I suppose there’s no title-round historical bump when you’re talking about a one-of-one collectible. Oh, well.
Let this be a lesson to anyone who doubted the arguments that this summer produced an $8.9 million award in Jordan’s favor in a long-running case over the unauthorized use of his identity in an advertisement — real-deal Jordan stuff has a very, very real value out in the world … and it’s evidently high enough to get someone to pay nearly $200,000 for a tank top that he sweated in five years before his actual last game.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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