To mark both her husband’s 32nd birthday and his two-sport career, Juanita Jordan commissioned jeweler Howard Kaplan to produce a pair of unique works of art. Both pay tribute to Michael Jordan’s incredible athletic talent: the first, a single Air Jordan model sneaker acknowledges his place in basketball history while the second, a faithful copy of his Wilson A2000 fielder’s glove, pays tribute to his baseball career. The two pieces were presented to Jordan by Juanita at his 32nd birthday party in Chicago in February 1995. The artistic interpretation of Jordan’s fielder’s glove is a hollow cast with an outside layer of sterling silver. Only ten casts were made at a foundry in Israel, and after those were cast, the mold destroyed. Two of the pieces were presented to Jordan, jeweler Howard Kaplan kept one, and the other seven were sold at charity auctions around the country. The life-size glove weighs a beefy six pounds and three ounces and remains in wonderful display condition. The piece reproduces all the stitching and web detail found on the actual A2000 model glove and is correct right down to the custom “Michael Jordan” name stitched onto the thumb. It’s interesting to note that Jordan was still actively pursuing his baseball career at the time this piece was created. He had just finished his first season in the minors, batting .202 with 3 home runs for the Birmingham Barons. While those stats are a far cry from his basketball numbers, scouts expected Jordan to improve in the coming 1995 season. Unfortunately for baseball (but not for basketball), MLB went on strike in 1995 and Jordan switched back to basketball, uttering the famous press conference opening line of “I’m back.” This stunning artistic tribute to Jordan’s abbreviated baseball career is among the rarest and seldom seen pieces of Jordaniana. This comes with a photocopy LOA from Howard G. Kaplan.

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