2000 Upper Deck SP Top Prospects Game-Used Bat Autographs #A-MJ Michael Jordan Signed Game-Used Bat Relic Card (#24/45)

Graded NM 7 by BGS, with Autograph Grade 10 by Beckett (0017776736). Hall of Famer. This is one of only seven copies of this piece recorded in Beckett's census reporting. In a move that sent shockwaves through the basketball community and made headlines throughout the world, Michael Jordan retired from basketball on Oct. 6, 1993 in order to play Minor League baseball for the Birmingham Barons, the Chicago White Sox AA affiliate. During his 127-game tenure in the Southern League, Jordan hit .202 and collected a very respectable 30 stolen bases. In anticipation of possibly being called up to the Majors as a replacement player due to the ongoing MLB strike, Jordan announced his return to the Bulls on Mar. 18, 1995 with a simple faxed statement containing only two words—"I'm back." Just 11 days later, he scored 55 points against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, displaying that even an 18-month absence from professional basketball was no match for his otherworldly talent.

Here is one of the finest (and perhaps the very finest) cards to celebrate Jordan's brief but memorable Minor League baseball career. "His Airness" has struck his flowing, blue ink signature across the obverse of this scarce, striking  Upper Deck SP Top Prospects Game-Used Bat Autographs collectible. Issued in the period between Jordan's second retirement from the Bulls in 1998 and his return to the Association with the Washington Wizards in 2001, the piece's cardfront presentation is highlighted by a game-used baseball bat relic piece that was used by the generational icon in a Minor League baseball game. Among the very first autographed Jordan bat-relic cards ever produced, this was one of only two entries available in the Game-Used Bat Autographs insert line, with the other belonging to Ken Griffey Jr. Numbered out of only 45 copies, the piece enjoys a scarcity that is uncommon among Jordan's baseball card portfolio, most of which were subject to the massive print runs that typified baseball cards of that era. The card's BGS condition report: Centering: 9.5, Corners: 6.5, Edges: 7, Surface: 9.5. A statement on the card affirms the manufacturer's guarantee of authenticity for the piece's content and serves as the item's COA. The limited-edition piece is hand serial-numbered "24/45."