Product Details

1993-94 Upper Deck Basketball Card Overview: This is an officially licensed card! The legend of the Johnny Kilroy card stems from a 1993 Nike ad campaign disguised as a real-life mystery. It remains one of the most famous crossovers in sports marketing and trading card history. When Michael Jordan abruptly retired from the NBA in 1993 to play baseball, Nike launched a highly popular ad campaign. The commercials jokingly suggested that his retirement was a cover and that MJ was still playing in the league under the alias "Johnny Kilroy," a mysterious player with goat-level skills. To play along with the fun, Upper Deck secretly slipped an official Johnny Kilroy card into their 1993-94 basketball card packs. Fans suddenly started pulling an unannounced "rookie" card of a player no one had ever heard of. The Card Details: Card #JK1 featured a photo of Michael Jordan (in a disguise) with the Chicago Bulls.