CGC x JSA Certifies SLAM Magazine Autographed by Michael Jordan

Submitters continue to trust their most prized sports magazines to CGC® and JSA® authentication and grading, including coveted vintage and modern Sports Illustrated issues and even a record-breaking SLAM #249 Caitlin Clark cover graded CGC 9.9 that in May 2025 became the most expensive issue of SLAM magazine ever sold.

More recently, CGC x JSA certified a SLAM magazine with a young Michael Jordan on the cover, which was signed by the legendary NBA player. The SLAM Classic #29 Michael Jordan cover earned a grade of CGC 9.2, with an autograph graded JSA 10, making this a rare and extremely desirable collectible featuring the signature of arguably the NBA's greatest player of all time.

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SLAM magazine has featured Jordan on its front covers several times since the magazine debuted on store shelves in 1994. He has been the cover athlete on 13 SLAM issues to date, not including other special collector's issues, like the aforementioned SLAM Classic #29. This special issue was released in June 2003 and featured the magazine's list of the 75 greatest players of all time.

Since SLAM wasn't published until the mid-1990s, the magazine missed out on Jordan's earliest years in Chicago. The SLAM Classic series (and other special issues like SLAM's "75 Before '94" series) were the perfect opportunity to revisit His Airness' formative years in the NBA. The SLAM Classic #29 front cover recalls his earliest days with the Bulls through a baby-faced image of Jordan from the 1980s posing with a basketball while wearing his team's red warmup shirt.

Jordan's first-ever appearance on a SLAM front cover was on issue #6, which was released in July 1995 and featured an intense in-game sideline headshot of the All-Star screaming. Although debut issues are always popular with collectors, longtime Jordan fans covet anything with ties to his early NBA career. Add an autograph to it and CGC x JSA certification, and this is now a rare gem of a Jordan collectible. While there have been four total issues certified by CGC of this SLAM issue, this particular example is the highest graded and also the sole autographed issue authenticated by JSA in the CGC Population Report.

Jordan's iconic basketball career and popular Air Jordan signature sneaker line have made him one of the most recognizable figures in the world of sports to this day. Undeniably among the most important athletes of all time, No. 23 is widely regarded by NBA fans and analysts as the greatest to ever play the game. From his game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA title game while playing for the University of North Carolina to his six NBA championships in Chicago during the 1990s, few can match the career resume of Jordan.

Selected with the No. 3 overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan immediately became one of the most dominant offensive forces in the league on his way to earning the Rookie of the Year award. He would lead Chicago to six NBA titles, while also earning six Finals MVPs, five league MVPs, 14 All-Star selections and three All-Star Game MVPs. He won 10 scoring titles and is a two-time Slam Dunk Contest champion. Among numerous post-retirement honors, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

Related Links:

• CGC-certified Sports Illustrated Starring Michael Jordan Realizes Record $126,000
• CGC-certified Caitlin Clark SLAM Magazine Issue Sets Record in Auction