Michael Jordan uniform from 1992-1993 Bulls season up for auction
A rare piece of Chicago sports championship history is up for auction.
Any Bulls uniform worn by Michael Jordan is sure to be priceless to countless fans. But for the right price, it could, in fact, be yours.
The away-game uniform dates back to the 1992-1993 season — the third of six Bulls championship seasons during the 1990s.
In the 1992-1993 season, Jordan played in all 78 games — averaging 32.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.8 steals per game. He led the league in scoring for the seventh consecutive year, and averaged 35.1 points per game in the postseason.
The NBA legend wore the jersey and shorts for at least 17 games that season. The first was the Bulls' 101-96 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday, Nov. 13, 1992, in which Jordan scored 34 points while wearing the jersey. The last was the Bulls' 97-95 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday, March 11, 1993, when he wore both the jersey and shorts and scored 29.
All this has been proved by photo matches.
The Bulls — led by Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, B.J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, and John Paxson — went on to beat the Phoenix Suns four games to two in the 1993 NBA Finals and win their third straight NBA Championship.
There is no mention of Jordan having worn the uniform up for auction during any playoff games that year.
Jordan was wearing the uniform up for auction in a photo that appeared on the cover of a very sad issue of Sports Illustrated that fall. The photo from the Oct. 18, 1993, edition of the magazine showed Jordan walking across the court during a game from the back, with the caption, "Why?"
This issue of the magazine came out 12 days after Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA — to the shock and profound disappointment of Bulls fans and the city of Chicago.
"I love the game of basketball. I always will. I just feel that, at this particular time in my career, I have reached the pinnacle of my career," the then-only-30-year-old Jordan said at a news conference that gloomy Wednesday, Oct. 6. "I have achieved a lot in that short amount of time, if you want to call it short. But I just feel that I don't have anything else for myself to prove."
Of course, this really turned out only to be a hiatus for Jordan. After a couple of seasons playing minor league baseball, Jordan returned to the Bulls in March 1995, and went on to lead the Bulls to three more NBA Championships before departing again after the 1998 season.
But when Jordan announced his retirement in the fall of '93 — even though he left the door open to return to the game someday — the impression was that he was leaving for good. There does not seem to be any record of it online, but shortly after Jordan's announcement, one local radio station played a melancholy song to the tune of The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" that went: "Goodbye, Michael Jordan. Who could play the game like you? When the Bulls don't make the playoffs, we're sure going to miss you."
As for that uniform up for auction, on Tuesday afternoon, the bid for it was at $662,500. But its estimated value is $2 million.
It is up for bid in the Heritage Auctions Spring Sports Catalog Auction.
