The Air Jordan 4 took the world by storm in 1989. Along with a career season came a career sneaker.
Tinker Hatfield once again designed this shoe. The Air Jordan 4 featured many new design concepts. First, the straps on the side for increased ankle support. It was nearly impossible for MJ to roll his ankle in these shoes. The Jordan 4 again featured the air sole heel for dded cushioning and a full length midsole. In the White/Black-Cement, the shoe featured a unique texturing nicknamed “Cookies & Cream†for its striking resemblance. The Jordan 4 was another masterpiece to the Jordan lineup.
Mike flies to new heights
While wearing the Jordan Retro 4, Michael Jordan reached new points in his career. Taking home another scoring title with 32.5 points per game, Jordan also appeared in the All-Star Game, First Team NBA, and All-Defense. This year was arguably Jordan’s best year despite no championship.
It was in the Jordan Retro 4 that Jordan made “the shot†which was a series winning shot at the buzzer to advance the Bulls to the next round in a do or die situation.
Spike likes Mike
Nike continued the Jordan IV commercials with Mars Blackmon (Spike Lee) and created the famous Can/Can’t TV commercial. Spike Lee really liked these shoes personally and gave them some extra promotion in his movie Do The Right Thing.
A classic scene for all AJ fans is when one of the persons in the movie gets his brand new Jordan IV scuffed by a bicycle rider and flips out about it, places his shoe upon a fire-hydrant and cleans it with a toothbrush. Rent the movie today if you haven’t it!
Retros get their big break
Unlike the first series of retro Jordans in the mid-90s, the retro Jordans were an incredible success starting with the Retro Air Jordan 4 in 1999. When the Air Jordan 4’s were retro’d 1999 in white/black and black/cement grey it was crazy. Stores sold out after a few hours and everyone seemed to want a pair. As you can see a totally different approach to when the Air Jordan 1, Air Jordan 2 and Air Jordan 3 were first retroed. Despite anger on the part of many Jordan collectors, both colorways sold out.
