DALLAS, TX.- Michael Jordan’s unexpected turn on the baseball diamond produced the biggest result in Heritage Auctions’ Sept. 18-19 Fall Sports Card Catalog Auction, as a signed card celebrating that remarkable chapter in his career sold for $625,250 to lead the event to $19,758,916.

The 1995 Upper Deck SP Top Prospects Michael Jordan (Autograph) PSA EX-MT 6, PSA/DNA Auto 10 - MBA Gold stood atop an auction that demonstrated demand across the sports card market, from premium modern issues featuring Jordan and Shohei Ohtani to exceptional graded sets from some of the most important years in Topps history.

Jordan’s brief pursuit of professional baseball with the Chicago White Sox organization in 1994-95 remains one of the most fascinating detours in modern sports history. The $625,250 card pairs one of the world’s most recognizable athletes with Upper Deck’s premium SP Top Prospects baseball release and a PSA/DNA Auto 10 signature. Cards tied to Jordan’s baseball career occupy an unusual place in the hobby, connecting basketball’s defining superstar with a documented period in which he tested himself in an entirely different professional sport.

“Michael Jordan’s baseball career represents such a unique chapter in the story of one of the greatest athletes of all time, and this card captures that moment in a way very few collectibles can,” says Chris Ivy, Director of Sports Auctions at Heritage. “Jordan signed countless basketball items during his career, but there are far fewer significant cards that combine his autograph with his time as a professional baseball player. The $625,250 result shows how much collectors value important cards that tell a story beyond the statistics and championships.”

Vintage set collecting produced several of the auction’s largest results, led by a 1953 Topps Baseball Complete Set (274), ranked No. 11 Current Finest on the PSA Set Registry, that reached $549,000. Topps followed its landmark 1952 issue with another celebrated design in 1953, using colorful illustrated portraits created by artist Gerry Dvorak and other illustrators. The offered set carried an 8.0 GPA on the PSA Set Registry, with 272 cards graded PSA NM-MT 8 and just two graded PSA NM 7: Mickey Mantle No. 82 and Willie Mays No. 244. The checklist begins with Jackie Robinson and includes stars such as Roy Campanella, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra and Warren Spahn.

Another foundational Topps issue followed closely when a 1952 Topps Baseball Graded Complete Set (407) realized $463,600. The landmark release helped establish Topps as a dominant force in the American trading card hobby and contains some of the most recognized baseball cards ever produced, including Mickey Mantle No. 311, Willie Mays No. 261, Jackie Robinson No. 312, Yogi Berra No. 191 and Eddie Mathews’ rookie card No. 407. The complete set also includes the celebrated high-number series, cards No. 311-407, whose scarcity and history have become inseparable from the mythology surrounding the 1952 Topps release.

Collectors continued to pursue exceptional complete sets when a 1955 Topps Baseball Complete Set (206), ranked No. 13 Current Finest on the PSA Set Registry, brought $451,400. Every card in the 8.0-GPA set is graded PSA NM-MT 8 with no qualifiers. The horizontal-format issue combines vivid portraits with full-figure action images and includes established stars such as Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Duke Snider, as well as rookie cards of Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Harmon Killebrew and Ken Boyer.

Jordan returned to the top of the results with one of the most recognizable modern basketball cards ever issued. A 1986 Fleer Michael Jordan Rookie No. 57 PSA Gem Mint 10 sold for $402,600. For generations of basketball collectors, Jordan’s Fleer rookie has become the defining card of the modern post-war basketball hobby, combining the beginning of his NBA ascent with a standard-issue release that continues to command extraordinary attention in the highest grades.

Shohei Ohtani, one of the central figures in the auction’s pre-sale lineup, delivered another of the event’s leading results. A 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani Rookie Autographs Blue Refractor No. BCRA-SO PSA Gem Mint 10, PSA/DNA Auto 10, numbered 121/150, reached $390,400. The signed rookie issue dates to the season in which Ohtani brought his rare two-way abilities to Major League Baseball, and pairs a PSA Gem Mint 10 grade with a PSA/DNA Auto 10 signature.

Another scarce Jordan card from Upper Deck’s influential Exquisite Collection realized $378,200. The 2009 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Michael Jordan Rookie Patch-Flashback No. 78A BGS EX-MT+ 6.5, numbered 11/23 and carrying MBA Gold Diamond certification, reimagines Jordan’s rookie imagery through the premium memorabilia format that helped establish Exquisite as one of the defining high-end basketball products of its era.

The depth of the 1986 Fleer basketball issue was evident again when a near-complete set containing 131 of 132 cards, with every included card graded PSA Gem Mint 10, sold for $341,600. Missing only Jordan No. 57, the set includes Gem Mint examples of stars and Hall of Famers such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon, Chris Mullin, Isiah Thomas and Dominique Wilkins.

A 1967 Topps Baseball PSA Graded Complete Set (609), ranked No. 3 Current Finest on the PSA Set Registry with a 9.34 GPA, also realized $341,600. The set combines veteran icons including Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Bob Gibson and Ernie Banks with the rookie cards of Tom Seaver and Rod Carew. Of its 609 cards, 89 earned PSA Gem Mint 10 grades and 518 were graded PSA Mint 9.

Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays provided two more standout vintage results. A 1955 Topps Jackie Robinson No. 50 PSA Mint 9, with just one example graded higher, sold for $292,800. Issued during the season in which Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers captured the franchise’s long-awaited World Series championship, the card is one of the enduring images from Topps’ celebrated 1955 horizontal-format set.

A 1951 Bowman Willie Mays Rookie No. 305 PSA NM-MT 8 reached $268,400. The card captures Mays during his National League Rookie of the Year season and remains one of the foundational rookie cards of the post-war baseball hobby. Of more than 2,500 examples listed in the PSA Population Report, only nine carry higher grades.

Modern baseball also was represented among the strongest results by another 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani Rookie Autographs Blue Refractor No. BCRA-SO, this example graded PSA Gem Mint 10 and numbered 044/150, which realized $268,400.

The same price was achieved by a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson Rookie No. 482 PSA Gem Mint 10. One of just 25 examples to earn the Gem Mint grade, Henderson’s rookie is the centerpiece of the 1980 Topps issue and celebrates the Hall of Famer who became baseball’s career leader in stolen bases and one of the defining leadoff hitters in the game’s history.