The Last Dance: The Jordan '89 and Rodman '88 Fleer

The Last Dance is now in week two of consuming the sports world and the trading card world.  It showed us the late ’80s where Jordan was winning scoring titles, defensive player of the year awards, and slowly but surely turning the Bulls into more and more of a contender.  But during this time, he continuously ran into the brick wall that was the Bad Boys in Detroit.

Jordan’s Bulls fell to the Pistons in the playoffs every year from 1988 to 1990.  During those series, Jordan took an absolute beating.  This was due in part to the infamous Jordan rules.  Laimbeer, Mahorn, Rodman, and company would not let Jordan beat them, and he was going to earn every last basket he scored. It was the playoff series in 1989 and 1990 that pushed Jordan (and the rest of the Bulls) into the weight room. They had to be physically prepared for their inevitable matchup with the Pistons in the following years’ postseason. 

1989 also gave us another highly sought after basketball card from Fleer featuring Michael Jordan.  Michael Jordan’s 1989 Fleer #21 shows Jordan raising up for a dunk in Chicago stadium in his home whites. In the bottom left corner, the words “Scoring Avg. Ldr.” are printed, which at the time was who Jordan had become.  He was the NBA after Magic and Bird were gone.  The league made sure to market him as such.  However, Jordan was fed up with just having individual accolades in the late ’80s, he was obsessed with becoming the champion.

Since the hype around The Last Dance, MJ’s 1989 Fleer has benefitted.  In late 2019 this card, PSA 10, was trading for around $120, and never really any higher than $150 per PSA auction data.  In the lead up to the documentary, the card began to make its move.  It was trading for $200 in late March and by early April was near $375. Today this card is trading for between $500 and $600 and has even seen a sale as high as $700.  Much like all things Jordan in the trading card world, this card has taken flight.

On the other side of Sunday night’s episodes, one of those Bad Boys who initiated some of those beatings Jordan took (and Pippen for that matter) got the spotlight. Of course, this Bad Boy eventually joined forces with Jordan and had his back in the late 90s. 

Dennis “Worm” Rodman, needs no introduction.  His legend is well known, from being kicked out of his house after high school, his American dream story began.  After a growth spurt, he was able to earn a basketball scholarship to play at Division II Southeastern Oklahoma St. The Bad Boys Pistons then drafted him as a defensive specialist and energy man. Rodman was an integral part of enforcing the Jordan rules in the late ’80s.  He then became a cultural icon who was arguably bigger than Jordan off the court, and a key associate on the court in the late ’90s.  When Pippen was out in 1997, Rodman became Jordan’s #2 and kept the Bulls in contention.  

Rodman’s 1988 Fleer #43 shows a young, reserved Rodman before the piercings, the hair, and the temper.  Rodman was relatively quiet off the court in his early years. But, on the court, he drew plenty of attention with his energy, rebounding, and dirty work.  Rodman’s Fleer rookie PSA 10 has seen quite the jump in the last week.  Earlier this year the card was going for $400-$500. In the last week, this card has jumped as high as $2,000.  Much like the trajectory of his career, Rodman is seeing a meteoric rise in his card prices.

With the Bulls first three-peat and the Dream Team surely being a focus in this Sunday’s episodes, these cards will surely continue to rise.