Michael Jordan #12

[isaac2004]

I was reading about the infamous game where Jordan had to wear #12 because his #23 was stolen.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon...ls-12/1763265/

Does anyone know whatever happened to the jersey, and if it entered the hobby at all?

[BigJJ]

I never knew that. Interesting.
Surprised five have not entered the hobby. Lol

[almostdone]

I have a great story about that night in Orlando. A friend of mine, Tony Smith, was the official photographer of the Magic at the time. This was the first time that Jordan and the Bulls had come to Orlando. The media hype was huge but when Jordan didn't come out for a warm up a rumor started that he wasn't there and stayed back in Chicago.

After some more time the extra news coverage reporters started to leave thinking Jordan was a no show. Tony of course stayed being it was his job.

Jordan came out at game time with the number 12 on and the crowd slowly noticed it. There are very few mid game action shots from that game but Tony was lucky enough to snap a photo of Jordan taking a jump shot while being quadrupled covered. The picture shows Jordan high above the four defenders with his usual look of intensity and a great shot of the 12 on his jersey.

Tony knew this picture could be worth a ton of money to him so he kept it very close to him. He had made only 5 16 X 20 prints of it. He was friends with the owner of the Magic and talked him into getting all five prints signed by Jordan. One he gave to the owner of the Magic as a thank you, he gave one each to his two assistants and still had the other two. One is beautiful framed and matted and the other, ironically, he wants to sell. He also still has the original negative of the shot.

By the was Tony did almost half of the photographs for Upper Deck first basketball set in 91 including the back shot of card #1 Michael Jordan. If you look at the cards there is a high concentration of visiting uniforms with Orlando players in the shot. All of these were taken by my friend Tony Smith.

Drew

[D. Broughman]

1990-91 Hoops Sam Vincent card #223 shows Jordon in the # 12 jersey.

[isaac2004]

Originally Posted by almostdone

I have a great story about that night in Orlando. A friend of mine, Tony Smith, was the official photographer of the Magic at the time. This was the first time that Jordan and the Bulls had come to Orlando. The media hype was huge but when Jordan didn't come out for a warm up a rumor started that he wasn't there and stayed back in Chicago.

After some more time the extra news coverage reporters started to leave thinking Jordan was a no show. Tony of course stayed being it was his job.

Jordan came out at game time with the number 12 on and the crowd slowly noticed it. There are very few mid game action shots from that game but Tony was lucky enough to snap a photo of Jordan taking a jump shot while being quadrupled covered. The picture shows Jordan high above the four defenders with his usual look of intensity and a great shot of the 12 on his jersey.

Tony knew this picture could be worth a ton of money to him so he kept it very close to him. He had made only 5 16 X 20 prints of it. He was friends with the owner of the Magic and talked him into getting all five prints signed by Jordan. One he gave to the owner of the Magic as a thank you, he gave one each to his two assistants and still had the other two. One is beautiful framed and matted and the other, ironically, he wants to sell. He also still has the original negative of the shot.

By the was Tony did almost half of the photographs for Upper Deck first basketball set in 91 including the back shot of card #1 Michael Jordan. If you look at the cards there is a high concentration of visiting uniforms with Orlando players in the shot. All of these were taken by my friend Tony Smith.

Drew

Thats a great story, curious, how much is trying to sell the print for, and can you get a photo?

[BigJJ]

Another interesting question is what happened to the jersey that disappeared.

[almostdone]

Originally Posted by isaac2004

Thats a great story, curious, how much is trying to sell the print for, and can you get a photo?

It's been a while since we have talked about it and he has not done sports photography in many years but I think he said $2000 was his selling price. I have know idea if that is a good price for it or not. It is a rare piece since there were only five prints made and all of them were signed by Jordan as well as the fact that Tony still holds the original negative so there can't be any other reproductions made. I know two of them won't go to market (the one Tony keeps and the one he gave to the Magic owner).

As far as a picture of it I could try to ask him but we are both fairly busy and are circles don't intersect too often any more. If the is any real interest in it though I could try to get in touch with him about it.

Here is a link to a website about his photography if you are interested in seeing the type of work he has done. http://www.tonysmithphotography.com/about_us.htm

Drew

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by BigJJ

Another interesting question is what happened to the jersey that disappeared.

It was probably later made into a Ranzino Smith jersey.

[ClownQuestionBro]

Originally Posted by D. Broughman

1990-91 Hoops Sam Vincent card #223 shows Jordon in the # 12 jersey.

Haha. I remember that card from when i was a kid and i remember wondering why MJ was wearing #12 or if that guy just looked a lot like MJ. Now i know.