Upper Deck Reveals the Michael Jordan Legacy Collection

Upper Deck announced that longtime company spokesman Michael Jordan is being honored with a 1,170-card tribute insert set chronicling every single Chicago Bulls game MJ played in from his NBA debut on October 26, 1984 through his game-clinching heroics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 14, 1998. The latter game, which marked Jordan’s sixth NBA team championship with the Bulls, provided a perfect end to MJ’s illustrious career in the Windy City.

“Michael Jordan has meant so much to the Upper Deck Company for the better part of the past two decades that it’s only fitting that we do something special to celebrate his incredible career,” said Jason Masherah, Upper Deck’s director of Sports Brands. “With his Hall of Fame announcement right around the corner, now is the perfect time to salute one of Upper Deck’s longest-tenured spokesmen and most popular athletes of all time.”

The 1,170-card set will pack out inside four Upper Deck basketball products during the course of 2009: Lineage (April 1); Radiance (April 29); Upper Deck (Sept. 22); and First Edition (Sept. 29). Each of the cards includes MJ’s specific box score stats from the game in question, giving every card some historical significance as the overall set captures every game Jordan ever played with the Bulls, regular-season and playoff battles included. The cards will fall, on average, 1:4 packs across all four brands.

In addition to the 1,170 Jordan game cards, Upper Deck has also included 100 different game-used memorabilia cards – each one crash-numbered to 23 – sporting swatches from Michael’s game-worn jerseys. More than 100 different action photos showing Michael through the years were used for card front photography.

Jordan, along with former San Antonio Spurs center David Robinson and former Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton, was among the 16 Hall of Fame finalists announced during the NBA All-Star Game festivities in February. The official election announcement will be made on Monday, April 6, at the NCAA Final Four in Detroit, with enshrinement in September at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.