Michael Jordan was one of the most famous athletes of all time thanks to his iconic career in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. Fewer people remember or know about the brief period when Jordan surprisingly left basketball to pursue a career in professional baseball in the mid-1990s. Still wanting to remain competitive in sports, Jordan signed a contract with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1994 and joined one of their minor league affiliates to see if he could make it as a baseball player.

As one of the most marketed athletes at the time, Topps was quick to capitalize on Jordan’s transition to baseball by releasing special baseball cards featuring him as a professional baseball player for their 1994 set. These Jordan baseball cards from Topps were something brand new and unexpected for collectors. With no prior baseball playing experience, it was unclear if Jordan’s move was just a publicity stunt or if he was genuinely trying to start a second career on the diamond. Either way, his Topps baseball cards from that year sold tremendously well and remain some of the most coveted and valuable Jordan cards for collectors today.

Topps issued a total of five Michael Jordan baseball cards as part of their 1994 set, with the first four being part of the main base set while the fifth was in the Special insert subset. Card number 405 showed Jordan’s rookie baseball card wearing his White Sox uniform with the text “His Airness takes his game to the Ball Diamond.” His second card, number 582, depicted him batting right-handed with the caption “A dream come true: Baseball at the Major League level.” Card 674 had an action photo of him diving back to first base with the words “Michael’s making the most of his chance.” His final base card, number 762, pictured him stretching before a game with the label “Transition complete: Jordan joins the Sox organization.”

The most desirable and expensive of the five is considered to be Jordan’s Special insert card. Labeled “The Special One,” this parallel photo showed him smiling in a White Sox batting helmet and included career stats from both basketball and baseball. Only 250,000 of these Special inserts were produced compared to the millions of base cards, making it exponentially rarer. The Special subset signify more prestigious versions of key players for that year. Having one of the 250,000 limited Jordan Special inserts is a huge status symbol for any collector.

As the first year Jordan was featured in Topps’ baseball sets, his 1994 rookie cards hold immense significance and value. Everything was relatively new and experimental with his baseball foray in the minors so these cards perfectly captured the novelty and intrigue surrounding his transition. As a result, even run-of-the-mill ungraded copies of Jordan’s 1994 Topps base cards today sell for well over $100 on the secondary market. Near mint to gem mint graded versions in a PSA 10 slab often command prices above $1,000 each. And the ultra-rare Jordan “Special One” insert has been known to attract bids exceeding $10,000 for top condition copies.

Interestingly, despite only having a very brief baseball career that resulted in poor stats in the minors, Jordan’s experiment has now immortalized him in the world of baseball cards as well. While his basketball accomplishments with the Bulls will always be his primary claim to fame, his few months playing minor league baseball in 1994 earned him a permanent place in the history books of Topps’ baseball sets too. The notoriety from being one of the most famous athletes in any sport translated well to significant sales and demand for his initial baseball cards issued by Topps during that time period. Over 25 years later, Jordan’s 1994 Topps baseball rookie cards remain some of the hobby’s most exotic, prized possessions for collectors.

While Jordan only appeared in Topps’ baseball cards for a single year in 1994 before retiring again to return to the NBA, that one-year appearance has left an indelible mark on the sports collecting industry. His transition created an unprecedented situation of having a former world-famous basketball star featured suddenly in a baseball card set. This unique scenario inflated interest and rarity for Jordan’s five 1994 Topps baseball cards unlike almost any other traditional baseball rookies. Even though the baseball stint was brief, the permanent collectibles created from his Topps cards that year helped cement his place further in card collecting lore and as one of the true iconic crossover athletes in history.