Kenner’s Starting Lineup was a line of NBA action figures sold in toy stores, and each figure came packaged with a collector card of the same player tucked into the box — there were no wax packs and no cases, so the only way to get the card was to buy the toy. This is the 1988 edition, the very first Starting Lineup and Jordan’s debut in the line. The photograph is a clean, classic shot of Jordan in the red Bulls road uniform dribbling upcourt, and it is the color that makes the card: the red jersey set against the white inner border, the deep blue frame and the black background really pop together, with the Starting Lineup banner up top and the Chicago Bulls roundel and nameplate below.

The back, printed in Canada by Kenner under MSA’s NBA license, carries his full bio and 1984–88 regular-season statistics alongside a facsimile signature. Because these cards were packaged with a toy rather than sealed in packs — pressed against the figure’s plastic tray, handled outside any sleeve, and often bent or surface-marked in the blister — gem-mint survivors are genuinely tough, and this first-year card is the most condition-sensitive of Jordan’s Starting Lineup issues. Of 3,339 copies graded across all grades, only 56 have reached PSA 10 — a gem rate of just 1.67 percent.