(Audacy) At this point, anything that's associated with the legendary Michael Jordan — whether that's a coveted pair of his signature sneakers or even a pair of "heavily used" boxers, it's almost a certainty that it will sell for a lot of money. The most recent Jordan collector's item that went up for auction was a ticket stub from his NBA debut for the Chicago Bulls against the Washington Bullets — and it sold Friday morning for a record-setting $264,000.
The ticket stub, which was graded a 6-out-of-10 by Professional Sports Authenticator, broke the previous record for collectible sports ticket,according to Dan Hajducky of ESPN. That record ticket was previously from Game 3 of the 1903 World Series (the first modern World Series), featuring the Boston Americans and Pittsburgh Pirates, which went for $175,000 back in October. A stub from Mickey Mantles' debut in 1951 stub moved to third, having sold for $141,395.
That was the latest high-selling item in what has been a skyrocketing market for sports memorabilia during the COVID-19 pandemic — especially for collector's items from all-time greats like Jordan and Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan tallied 16 points, seven assists, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals in 40 minutes to help the Bulls earn a 109-93 win over the Bullets in his professional debut.
Despite the hype surrounding Jordan coming to Chicago, attendance for his first-ever game at the old Chicago Stadium was well below a sellout. Only 13,913 fans were in attendance, which was below the venue's sellout capacity of 17,374.
As we all know, Jordan would become arguably the greatest player to ever play in the NBA and transformed a rather mediocre Bulls franchise into one of the most successful teams' in NBA history — leading Chicago to six NBA championships while earning five MVP awards and 14 All-Star selections along with numerous other team and individual accolades.
Follow Jasper Jones on Twitter @jonesj2342.
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