The 1989-90 Hoops set is often viewed as “junk wax,” but it was aggressively pursued when it came out in late October 1989. Often, it’s the Michael Jordan cards, like this #200, that people are chasing. But this time, it was the only David Robinson rookie card that people were searching for.
But 1989-90 Hoops changed the game in many ways. It was widely-promoted. The number of cards, 353, was much larger than usual. It was the first time that a second series was produced, allowing for important updates. And other not so noticeable firsts, like the first full-color photos and logos on the reverse. These were nice features of the design, along with other subtle changes like using the font specific to each team on the front.
The numbering was a bit chaotic though… You’d typically find Jordan early in the set with other Chicago Bulls teammates, but he doesn’t appear until card #200 in this set. In my opinion, this photo doesn’t compare to some of the Fleer photos (the rookie and the 89-90 and ’90-91 dunks) but it’s a nice image regardless. It shows him more in the role of captain setting up a play and you can’t overlook the subliminal “#1” that the raised finger suggests.
There is an article worth reading by Brian Nelson called, “The Investment Case for the 1989-1990 Hoops Michael Jordan #200 Basketball Card” that is really worth reading. In it, he estimates that this card appears 3-4 times in Series I boxes and potentially a bit less in Series II. He mentions that this particular set really shouldn’t be called “junk wax” when compared to baseball’s similarly-titled era and he provides comparisons to other cards demonstrating that the 1989-90 Michael Jordan Hoops #200 doesn’t typically get the value it deserves. For those that really want to spend an extended period of time thinking about this card, I’ll leave you now to his article…
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