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Last Updated On: June 30th, 2023
Michael Jordan was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the #3 draft pick in the 1984 NBA draft. The one licensed basketball card company at the time was the Star Company, which produced Star branded NBA basketball cards from the years 1983 to 1985 before Fleer entered the game with the popular 1986 Fleer basketball product release.
The 1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card was born in the Star basketball card set. Thanks to serendipitous timing, and an exclusive licensing agreement, the Star Company was fortunate to be the only company able to produce basketball sports cards of the biggest star in NBA history for a span of a few years.
This post covers the Star #101 card, and several of the key MJ rookies of the 1984 set. Be sure to check out our MJ Star card buying guide as well.
Table of Contents
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card #101
The 1984 Michael Jordan Star #101 card is labeled as an XRC, although it could arguably be considered a Jordan “true rookie” given it was released the year he was drafted and it is NBA licensed. While there is plenty of debate whether it is his true rookie versus the 1986 Fleer card, there’s no question it’s a highly sought-after card by collectors around the world.
The Star Company chose an unorthodox way to release their sports cards. Most sports card companies such as Topps would package cards in wax boxes and randomly insert them into packs. Star released their cards in poly “team bags”, which meant the Chicago Bulls team bag came with all Chicago Bulls players — a guarantee you were getting an MJ as it was the top card of the sealed poly bag. This is the primary reason for some collectors to consider the card an XRC — the lack of a traditional distribution from Star.
Star cards were originally authenticated and graded by both PSA & BGS, the two premier sports card grading companies at the time. PSA eventually halted Star grading for almost 30 years given the abundant number of fakes on the market making it challenging to authenticate the cards. BGS continued to grade the cards, however, so it’s no surprise most of the graded population of Star cards is with Beckett Grading Service. That said, PSA finally green lighted Star basketball card grading in 2022, beginning with the 1984 set.
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card #101 Graded Population
| Card | BGS 8 | BGS 8.5 | BGS 9 | BGS 9.5 | Total BGS Population (all grades) |
| 1984 Star Michael Jordan Rookie Card #101 | 287 | 254 | 73 | 3 | 1140 |
BGS has been the primary Star card grading company for the last 30-40 years, with 1,140 total 1984 Michael Jordan Star Rookie Cards having been graded. By comparison, PSA has graded only 129 so far since restarting their Star grading program.
Keep in mind a fair amount of the reported population numbers do not account for double submissions from collectors unhappy with their grade that crack the case, and resubmit the same card hoping for a better outcome. The pop reports also do not account for examples where a collector cracks open a BGS graded star card and submits the same card to PSA for their opinion, and vice versa. There were 3,000 or more 1984 Star sets produced by Star Company. It’s important to keep this in mind when analyzing population reports for the *almost* 40 year old card.
It’s clear that obtaining a high grade for the #101 rookie card is extremely challenging since there are only three BGS Gem Mint 9.5 copies out of all the graded cards. This represents a sub 1% Gem Mint designation. Also, only 73 cards have received the Mint BGS 9 rating, which represents only 6.4% of the total population of BGS cards.
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card #101 Value
The most recent recorded sale of a BGS 9 graded 1984 Star rookie auctioned at Goldin Auctions for almost $90,000 in December, 2022.
For comparison, a BGS 8.5 sold for $31,000 in February, 2022, and a BGS 8 went for $18,000 at PWCC auctions in January. A PSA 8 graded copy of the card sold at Heritage Auctions at the end of January for $52,800.
1984 Michael Jordan Olympic Card #195
In addition to the release of the primary 1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card #101, Star Company also issued another rookie card of Michael Jordan in the same year – the Olympic Jordan Card #195. As the name suggests, the card depicts Jordan in an Olympic USA jersey from his showing at the 1984 Olympics, where he led the USA national team to a gold medal at just 21 years old.
The Michael Jordan Olympic card was extremely condition-sensitive, particularly due to horrible centering issues, as the example above shows. But also, like its counterpart, the #101 card we have already discussed, the Olympic card came in a separate sealed poly bag which included the Jordan card at the very top of the bag. The card was thus prone to corner dings and surface wear/dings.
1984 Michael Jordan Olympic Card #195 Graded Population
| Card | BGS 8 | BGS 8.5 | BGS 9 | BGS 9.5 | Total BGS Population (all grades) |
| 1984 Star Michael Jordan Olympic USA Card #195 | 48 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 986 |
As with the Star #101, the MJ Olympic #195 card was also predominantly graded by BGS for the last 30 or so years. The BGS population report has a total of 986 graded cards, with zero having received a grade of BGS 9.5 Gem Mint. Heck, only two out of 986 have even received a Mint 9 grade.
PSA has only graded 44 total MJ Star Olympic cards since their restart, so we won’t go into their numbers here. Only to mention just one of the 44 received a PSA 8 NM-MT grade.
To put the Olympic card condition sensitivity in perspective, only 78 total Olympic cards have received a grade of BGS 8 or better out of 986 (8%). Compared with the #101 rookie card, where 617 out of 1,140 were graded BGS 8 or better (54%).
Given the extremely rare chance of scoring a high grade Olympic card, the values of the BGS 9 and BGS 8.5 have soared in recent years.
1984 Michael Jordan Olympic Card #195 Value
The most recent sale of a BGS 8.5 copy of the Olympic MJ card went for $10,000 in January, 2023, via eBay according to CardLadder. The most recent sale of a BGS 8 sold in December, 2022, also via eBay for $3,650.
Of the two lone copies in BGS 9 grade, neither has surfaced publicly in many years.
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie of The Year #288
The last 1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card in the Star basketball set is card #288, also known as the Rookie of The Year card. The Rookie of The Year card came in the same poly bag as the Olympic #195 card mentioned above, however it was the very bottom card of the stack. Like the XRC and Olympic card, this one was also susceptible to corner and surface damage due to its exposure to the exterior.
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie of the Year #288 Graded Population
| Card | BGS 8 | BGS 8.5 | BGS 9 | BGS 9.5 | Total BGS Population (all grades) |
| 1984 Star Michael Jordan Rookie of The Year #288 | 68 | 41 | 7 | 0 | 664 |
As shown in the BGS grading table, only 664 MJ #288 cards have been graded, which is considerably less than the XRC and Olympic cards. There are zero BGS 9.5 Gem Mint graded copies, and only seven BGS 9 MINT. Similar to the Olympic card statistics, only 17% of The Rookie of The Year cards fared with a BGS 8 NM-MT or better grade.
PSA has graded 37 total MJ Star Rookie of The Year cards since their restart of Star grading. Just a paltry three of the 37 received a PSA 7 NM grade, with none higher.
1984 Michael Jordan Rookie of The Year #288 Value
A BGS 8.5 graded Rookie of The Year MJ card last sold for $6,300 in December, 2022, via PWCC auctions. The most recent sale of a BGS 8 also sold in December, 2022, via eBay for $3,800.
By comparison, the only recent PSA sale of the card is a PSA 7 that went for $1,855 in December as well.
Summary
The 1984 Michael Jordan Rookie Card is without a doubt card #101, but Star Company fortunately included two more Jordans in the set, the Olympic #195 and Rookie of The Year #288. Recent sales data is clear that obtaining any MJ rookie or ’84 Star card will be expensive, given the always high demand and limited supply of around 3,000 sets produced. That said, it’s still possible to find MJ Star cards on eBay with a quick search.