The 29 Michael Jordan Beckett Covers (1990-2005): History, Values, Grading

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If you collected basketball cards in the 1990s, there’s a good chance Beckett Basketball Card Monthly was part of the experience.

Before we could pull out a phone and check recent eBay sales, Beckett was where we went to figure out what our cards were worth. And if you were a Michael Jordan fan like me, seeing MJ on that month’s cover made a new Beckett even better.

That got me wondering.

How many regular Michael Jordan Beckett covers were there?

That seemingly simple question sent me down a serious collecting rabbit hole.

Watch Michael Jordan Beckett Magazine Video

32 minutes of PURE nostalgia, everything you wanted to know below.

After searching through old issues and archives, I identified 29 regular Beckett Basketball issues featuring Michael Jordan from the magazine’s launch in 1990 through 2005. I own several of them myself, including the iconic Issue #1 that I’ve had since I was a kid.

Even more interesting? The magazine we once used to determine the value of our collectibles has now become a collectible itself.

In this article, I’ll show you all 29 covers I found, look at what old Jordan Becketts are selling for, explain the growing interest in magazine grading and carefully open my 35-year-old Issue #1 to see what Beckett said Michael Jordan’s cards were worth in 1990.

And yes, that includes his 1986 Fleer rookie card.

Other Jordan Collectible Stuff You May Like

I’m all about Jordan, baby.

• Getting back into sports cards as a Dad? This guide to collecting Michael Jordan cards on a budget breaks down a simple system.
• Jordan’s Base Cards. Here’s why starting with MJ’s Base Cards can keep you focused (free spreadsheet for tracking!)

First, what Counts as a Michael Jordan Beckett Cover?

I need to establish some ground rules because Beckett published a lot more than its regular monthly basketball magazine. For this project, I focused on the regular Beckett Basketball issues featuring Michael Jordan from Issue #1 in 1990 through 2005.

I’m not including:

• Beckett Basketball Plus
• annual guides
• tribute magazines
• special collector editions
• various other Beckett publications that featured Jordan

Why stop in 2005? Jordan played his final NBA game in 2003, but I wanted to capture the immediate post-retirement period before Beckett’s Jordan appearances became more retrospective. There are Jordan covers after 2005 — I just needed a logical place to draw the line!

Jordan Beckett Magazine Covers Full Listing

I’ve organized all 29 Michael Jordan Beckett covers by year, making it easy to follow Jordan’s career—and Beckett’s evolution—from 1990 through 2005.

1990–1993: Issue #1 through Jordan’s First Retirement

This spans the inaugural issue #1 through Jordan’s first retirement. Fun fact: Beckett chose Jordan to launch its new basketball magazine before he’d even won his first NBA championship.

#1: March/April 1990

• Raw copy = $10–$75, depending heavily on condition
• Graded copy = $100-$300
• I found a CGC 9.8 that sold for $669 (below)

#10: May 1990

#14: September 1991

#24: July 1992

#23: August 1992

#31: February 1993

#38: September 1993

#41: December 1993

1995–1998: “I’m Back” and second 3-Peat

Jordan’s return gave Beckett plenty of new material.

#58: May 1995

#67: February 1996

#69: April 1996

#74: September 1996

#85: August 1997

#96: July 1998

#97: August 1998

1998–1999: The Jordan Legacy Covers

Jordan’s second retirement didn’t slow down his Beckett appearances. Issues #100–104 create one of the most concentrated stretches of Jordan covers I found.

#100: November 1998

#101: December 1998

#102: January 1999

#103: February 1999

#104: March 1999

2001–2002: The Wizards Comeback

Jordan’s Washington Wizards comeback generated another run of Beckett covers. Seeing MJ outside a Bulls uniform still feels strange to me, but these issues are an important part of completing his playing-career story.

#132: July 2001

#136: November 2001

#137: December 2001

#138: January 2002

#139: February 2002

#144: July 2002

2004–2005: Final Retirement

Jordan’s final NBA game came in 2003, but Beckett obviously wasn’t done with him. I especially like Issue #176, which features Jordan alongside LeBron James—a fitting visual passing of the torch between basketball generations.

#168: July 2004

#176: March 2005

#179: June 2005

Can You Grade Beckett Magazines?

Yes, and this is where old sports magazines become especially interesting to me.

Collectors can professionally grade eligible magazines through companies including CGC (since 2004)(opens in new tab) and now PSA (since 2025)(opens in new tab).

Magazine grading has also expanded beyond Beckett. Sports Illustrated and other vintage sports publications are increasingly being treated as legitimate collectibles rather than simply old magazines. For example, the 1984 Sports Illustrated with Jordan making his innagural debut on SI, sold for $126,000 in 2024. Btw, “A Star is Born” was the perfect headline.

I’m not saying everyone should start sending their Becketts off to be graded, but exceptionally clean Jordan issues—particularly significant covers such as Issue #1—are worth a closer look.

Are Jordan Beckett Magazines Worth Collecting?

I’ll always be a Michael Jordan card collector first, but that’s also why these magazines intrigue me.

Many desirable Jordan cards have become increasingly expensive. Vintage Beckett magazines offer another way to collect original pieces of Jordan history for considerably less money. The photography, headlines, advertisements and card prices capture how collectors viewed MJ while his career was actually happening.

Will old Jordan Becketts explode in value? Who knows.

Dad’s Final Thoughts

There’s something wonderfully backwards about collecting Beckett today. As kids, the Jordan cards were the collectibles and Beckett was just the tool we used to figure out what they were worth. Nobody was worried about keeping the price guide itself in mint condition.

More than three decades later, those magazines have become pieces of the history they documented.

Do you still have any old Beckett magazines tucked away somewhere? And would you ever consider getting one graded?