J&J’s dad here with some memories of the past. When I was growing up in Hawaii in the ’80s and ’90s, basketball was my favorite sport to play and watch. Michael Jordan was the guy to watch with his spectacular slam dunks, gravity-defying hang time, last-minute game-winning shots, highly collectible Air Jordan shoes, and overall confidence and swag. He is my basketball GOAT (“Greatest of All Time”), and our son Jordan is named after him (thank goodness the wife approved😂🤣). The sport and the player got me into collecting basketball cards at a young age.
After getting out of school at Aliamanu Elementary and Intermediate School in Hawaii, I would hang out with friends across the street at the Salt Lake Shopping Center and go to a small ice cream place called Lafert’s Ice Cream Shop (it’s no longer there now) to buy some ICEE frozen slushy drinks and packs of Fleer basketball cards for 50 cents per pack with 12 cards in each pack. I was thrilled when opening a pack and pulling a Michael Jordan basketball card out of the pack. These 2.5 x 3.5 inch cardboard-like cards had NBA player picture/image snapshots on the front side of the card and stats on the back.
My mom did not approve of this hobby of mine and thought I was wasting money and creating a mess/clutter, but 40 years later these cards are selling for thousands of dollars and worth a lot of money now! Pretty good for a 50 cent “investment”, which I was not thinking about at the time as a kid. I just loved collecting them back in those days. Check these cards out below, which are cards that I have pulled when I was a kid. It sure brings back a lot of memories! I don’t plan to sell them and will hand them over to my sons Jordan and Jacob when they are old enough.
It’s crazy though! From pennies to thousands on small cardboard paper sheets! Now, there are online digital NFT marketplaces for sports like NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day and UFC Strike where these sports card collectibles are now on the blockchain as online digital moments. I’ll have a post talking about sports NFTs later, but check out the NBA Top Shot moment of Lebron James that sold for $208,000 (yep, that is 6 figures for the NFT video clip below of Lebron James). Man, am I getting old . . . old school cardboard to new high-tech versions.
This is the 1986 Fleer #57 Michael Jordan. I have one of these and have it graded BCCG 9 since it is the best card out of the bunch. Folks on eBay are selling it at a minimum ~$10K+ and it all depends on the condition of the card. This one is probably one of the most sought after Michael Jordan rookie cards.
This one is the 1987 Fleer Jordan. I have four of these that are ungraded, but selling for ~$4K+ graded on eBay. I am sure if I get these graded, I can get the same. There are typically four these in an entire box with 36 packs in each box. I also have two complete base and sticker sets. So, I must have bought at least a box or nearly 36 packs when I was kid.
This is the 1986 Fleer sticker card, which is the same year as the first card above. I have two of these that are ungraded, but selling for ~$5K+ graded on eBay. I’ll get these graded when the time is right.
This is the 1987 Fleer sticker card, which is the same year as the second card above. I have four of these that are ungraded, but selling for ~$1K+ graded on eBay. I am sure if I get these graded, I can get the same.
