This is one of the earliest collectibles to picture Michael Jordan at all. It is not a card and not a photograph — it is the actual press-table ticket to a Portland Trail Blazers home game on November 24, 1984, seven weeks into Jordan’s rookie season. The Blazers printed his photograph and a short bio directly on the stub: third selection in the 1984 draft, the North Carolina guard who had just won Olympic gold.

There is a particular irony baked into this ticket. Portland held the second pick in the 1984 draft and took Sam Bowie, passing on Jordan, who went third to Chicago. A few weeks later they printed his face on their own press ticket. The final score is on the stub too: Portland won 141–131.

Tickets survive far worse than cards. They were folded, torn at the stub, carried in pockets, and discarded the same night. A full, un-torn press ticket in EX-MT 6 is a genuinely difficult object to find — PSA has graded exactly one at this level and five above it. The reverse carries a period detail that fixes it firmly in 1984: a Steinfeld’s pickle coupon, good for fifty cents off, expiring December 31 of that year.

This is the first piece in the Ticket Stubs section. Like everything else here, it will grow slowly — the value is in the pieces that were never meant to last.