About

Air Jordan 9: the Jordan that never saw an NBA game

Every Air Jordan is recognizable by the games it was worn in. Except this one. On October 6, 1993, Michael Jordan announced his first retirement, and the ninth shoe was released that same year. That makes it the only one from the early series that its namesake never wore in an NBA game. What he did do: play baseball for a farm team of the Chicago White Sox.

You can see that in the shoe. The design leans on baseball spikes, and on this page you’ll find versions with MCS in the title: those are the actual cleats, with studs under the sole. For the field, not the floor.

The most striking element is on the side. The midsole is not a flat band but a series of broad, glossy teeth that curl upward like flames and grip the upper. Above them are pressed panels in the leather, rounded and stitched with a dotted line, as if the panels were stamped into the material. There’s a pull tab at the back and JORDAN is printed in a contrasting color on the collar band.

And then the detail you only see when you turn the shoe over: words in different languages are printed on the outsole describing its attributes, including fuerza for strength and intenso for intensity. A shoe that puts its message on the sole, in the place no one sees when you wear it.

Note the labels in the titles. Retro means a reissue of the original construction; Low and Boot are different heights and versions; GS, PS and TD are children’s sizes in descending order. There are also a few Jordan Sixty Plus versions listed, a hybrid model that combines the ninth’s sole with a different upper.

Within the line, the 9 sits between the Air Jordan 8 and the Air Jordan 10, which appeared in the same retirement period.

On this page you can see which versions of the Air Jordan 9 are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from which price they can be found and how many shops have them in stock.