Heritage Auctions announced Saturday that it has sold a photo-matched Michael Jordan UNC jersey for the price of $1.38 million — the highest any Jordan jersey has ever sold for.
Jordan wore the jersey on the cover of the March 1983 edition of the Sporting News for a feature declaring him the NCAA’s best player. The jersey has not been officially authenticated as game-worn, but the letter from the auction house claims it is.
Lot of reports out there that this was a GAME WORN Jordan jersey.
No authenticator has proven that. The only authenticator letter says that this photo matches The Sporting News cover.
This jersey has not been matched to a game. If it were, it would have sold for $5M+ https://t.co/2WB6JdHbXG pic.twitter.com/fw1phYnAq2
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 8, 2021
The jersey was first auctioned off in 1999 for $63,500. The previous record for a Jordan jersey came back in October of 2020 when a game-worn Chicago Bulls jersey went for $480,000 — nearly three times less than what was paid for his UNC jersey.
In the 1982-83 college basketball season, Jordan averaged more than 20 points per game for the Tar Heels, as well as more than five rebounds and two steals per game. It was the most he averaged across all those categories during his collegiate career under head coach Dean Smith.
While some may consider Jordan to be the greatest player of all time, this jersey sale doesn’t quite break the all-time record. The most expensive jersey ever auctioned was game-worn by Babe Ruth for the New York Yankees, which was sold for $5.64 million.
Photo via Heritage Auctions.
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