Modern Style (1992-today)

Modern Style (1992-Today)

By the time 1992 rolled around and the Dream Team was on their way to a gold medal in Barcelona, Jordan had become the most famous basketball player and one of the most famous people in the world. This marked the year that Upper Deck would sign Jordan to an exclusive contract to represent him in all of his memorabilia and autographed merchandise.

Modern Style UDA Signature

This contract also marks the change from the single-stroke autograph variation to the “Modern Style” that you still see today, albeit with some slight variations over time. By far, this has been the longest Jordan has kept an autograph style and I don’t foresee any changes, so this is what it’ll be forever.

A significant and appreciated deviation from the single-stroke variation where his first and last names overlapped and connected for an almost clumsy style autograph in my opinion, the “Modern Style” enters existence with a simplified and clean elegance. Instead of the overlapping of names, this version reverts back to side-by-side version, giving a much more appealing and showy autograph style. Overall, this signature has stayed very consistent over the last 30+ years.

There are a few different variations of Jordan’s signature during this “Modern Era”, mostly differentiated by certain years as the signature becomes slightly simpler as time goes on. Early in this signature era you’ll see many more definitive letters formed and as we reach the mid to late 1990’s through today, only the “M” and “l” in Michael are generally discernible and the “J” and “d” in Jordan.

Of note, there seems to be some definite differentiation between his UDA signatures from 1992-1996 and some in-person signatures during this time. Actually, some of these date as early as 1989-90, so pre-UDA and during the time of the Single-Stroke style. See the dated Wheaties piece below which was signed in approximately 1990. The in-person actually seemed to have more defined letters when time was taken to sign them. Maybe this is because for a UDA signing, Jordan would sign hundreds to thousands of items at a time, whereas his in-person autographs could take a little more time to sign. Obviously, this would be different for any rushed in-person signatures that would be a little sloppy compared to these others. See examples of UDA and modern style non-UDA below, as well as in-person examples on the In-Person Autographs page.

Non-UDA Modern Style Signature (circa 1992-1996)

The “M” in Michael is almost identical throughout the time he switched to the more flamboyant signature in 1982-83 timeframe. This is a staple of the modern style where the “M” and the “J” are the standouts of the signature.
The “ichael” has been replaced with a few short peaks instead of letters and either 1 or 2 higher loops, depending on the timeframe when it was signed. Earlier versions can have two loops, one for the “h” and for for the “l”. Later and current versions usually have the higher loop for the “l” and then just some small peaks between that and the “M”.
As we move to the last name, the “J” stroke starts higher and above “Michael” and continues into the lower figure 8, back up and into a loop for the “d” and then a finishing line for the remaining letters.
Again, there seems to be some better letter formation on non-UDA pieces during the 1990-96 era, which would have included his baseball career.