Michael Jordan and Shohei Ohtani PSA 10 Rookies: A Can’t-Miss Live Break
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This week, the hobby gets one of those rare crossover moments where two eras collide in real time. As part of a “Once in a Lifetime” special eBay Live event hosted by BBQ Breaks, a PSA 10 1986-76 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie, another 1986 Fleer Jordan rookie (PSA 8) will be auctioned. Also, two PSA 10 Shohei Ohtani Bowman Chrome rookies will be auctioned live, starting at just one dollar.
It’s a pairing that stretches from the dawn of the modern basketball market to the height of baseball’s two-way phenomenon. You can catch all the live auction action on Thursday, Dec 11, 2025 at 6:00 pm PST.
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The Cornerstone: 1986–87 Fleer Michael Jordan #57 PSA 10
Few cards have ever shaped the hobby the way the 1986–87 Fleer Michael Jordan rookie has with collectors. After a four-year stretch without a mainstream NBA card set, Fleer returned in 1986 with a 132-card release that effectively reintroduced basketball to collectors. Jordan was already two seasons into his career, but this card felt like his true hobby debut. The red, white, and blue bordering, the clean design, and the mid-flight dunk image created one of the most recognizable cards ever printed.
The card’s lasting power owes as much to its condition challenges as to its aesthetics. The colored borders chip easily, and centering varies wildly, which is why only about 330 PSA 10s exist out of the thousands submitted. That scarcity, paired with Jordan’s status as a global icon, has kept the card near the top of the market.
Current values for PSA 10 Jordan Fleer rookies are around $265,000 (based on third party valuation and recent sales), with an autographed version selling for $2.5 million in June 2025. For many collectors, the Jordan Fleer rookie isn’t just a card; it’s the benchmark by which grails are measured.
The Modern Megastar: 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani #1 PSA 10
If the 1986 Jordan Fleer rookie is the defining card of the hobby’s rise, Shohei Ohtani is the defining athlete of its present moment. When Ohtani arrived in 2018, he felt almost mythic: a legitimate two-way player in a league that had long given up on the concept. He promptly won Rookie of the Year, then began stacking MVP seasons, 40-homer campaigns, and ace-level pitching years. His move to the Dodgers only cemented his global reach.
Within his growing portfolio of rookies, the 2018 Bowman Chrome #1 stands out as a centerpiece. It’s his first flagship Bowman Chrome rookie in an MLB uniform and highlights the offensive side of his two-way game that captivated fans early on.
The PSA 10 population now sits in the mid-4,000s, yet demand keeps prices in the $2700 range, depending on timing and platform. In 2025, the card has risen roughly 15 to 25 percent, underscoring how Ohtani has become one of the hobby’s strongest long-term bets.
Two Slabs, One Strong Hobby Story
Together, the Jordan PSA 10 and Ohtani PSA 10 capture the arc of the modern hobby in two slabs: the card that helped relaunch basketball collecting and the card representing the most transcendent baseball talent of the era. Seeing them share a stage—even briefly—feels like a moment worth tuning in for.
Lucas Mast is a writer based in California’s Bay Area, where he’s a season ticket holder for St. Mary’s basketball and a die-hard Stanford athletics fan. A lifelong collector of sneakers, sports cards, and pop culture, he also advises companies shaping the future of the hobby and sports. He’s driven by a curiosity about why people collect—and what those items reveal about the moments and memories that matter most.
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