RESEARCHING REQUESTS TO AUGMENT MY OWN
I’ve got a couple of things I’m checking out at the moment that possibly Shirt readers can supply input on:
First, I noticed a new (old) Rawlings logo on the left sleeve of some 2007-08 Buffalo Bisons Triple-A jerseys. It’s a combination of the full name Rawlings script (introduced in 1987) and the oval with the upper case script R inside (first seen on minor league gamers in 1998), with the script on top and the oval centered underneath. Has anyone else seen this type of Rawlings logo on other minor league baseball jerseys? Contributions are appreciated.
Second, I received in a trade for a group of caps an oddity. It’s a New Era Cubs road lid with MLB tagging inside the cap, and looks normal except for one thing: the New Era logo is added on the left side of the crown. I’ve seen that on minor league caps, but, except for photo shoots, not on an MLB hat. Two other aspects muddle things up further: the cap shows some game wear, and the number under the brim (29) and the size (7 1/2) would match up to pinch-hitter extraordinaire Lenny Harris, who spent roughly half of 2003 as a Cub. Harris wore 29 as a Cub, and the size is identical to a Marlins cap Harris gave me a couple of years later. Can anyone account for other MLB caps, spring training or regular season, that carried the New Era logo on them? I’d love to hear about it either way. Thanks.
PADRES PATCH
The 2009 Padres home, road, and alternate blue jerseys will feature a team 40th Anniversary patch. The logo, viewable on both the MLB and Padres websites, will incorporate several elements, most notably the team’s current home uniform script and the traditional Swinging Friar logo.
MORE CAVS RETRO
Earlier this week, the Cleveland Cavaliers whipped out a new set of Hardwood Classics uniforms in a game against the Knicks. The new retro unies were patterned after an early 1970s Cavs design…bright yellow jerseys and trunk with red print thereon, and the team nickname bearing an underscore that almost looks like an oddly-plumed feather. These should be fun for hoops collectors when they hit the market.
CRUDDY CLEMENS
That’s not a commentary on the pitcher himself, but the status of an alleged 1987 Red Sox jersey of the Rocket recently up on eBay and offered as game-used. Sad to say, at least three notable problems stick out like a sore thumb:
Initially, 1987 was the year the Red Sox wore Fenway Park 75th Anniversary patches on the left sleeve. The offered jersey has none, and no mention of an imprint from removal is mentioned in the description.
Next, while the jersey bore a legitimate (albeit improperly evident) Rawlings flag tag, the red Rawlings label wasn’t the style used in 1987, but the wider version not seen in MLB gamers until the White Sox TBTC gamers worn in July, 1990.
Finally, the jersey is a Rawlings and is a home white…Rawlings only made the road greys from 1987-91, while Wilson made all home unies in that time span. It may well be poor research instead of willful deception, but it definitely is one to avoid.
MEET ME AT THE (WORLD’S) FAIR
Two occasions have come about in MLB history that found one or more teams paying homage to a locally held World’s Fair with a sleeve patch. It can be seen on many 1965-66 Topps cards of Mets where the red and blue New York World’s Fair patch was the left sleeve adornment of Mets home shirts in 1964-65 as well as a Pacific card from around 1988 of Yogi Berra showing the same patch on the right sleeve of Yogi Berra’s gamer.
Then, of course, there’s the 1939 New York World’s Fair patch, worn by the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants in 1938, as ’39 was when both leagues wore the Baseball Centennial patch. The recently auctioned 1938 Brooklyn coach’s jersey of Babe Ruth shows a good look at the logo (left sleeve for all three teams).
Not to forget, while the team never wore a patch reflecting it, the 1969 expansion Montreal Expos team was named after the Worlds Fair-like Expo ’67 exhibition in Montreal.
b> MORE BAT PROBLEMS
A thread on Game Used Forum had collector’s recently offering their thoughts on collecting bats that had blank knobs, number changed knobs, or blackened knobs, and the concerns about seller chicanery being possible regarding these. There is another “doctoring” technique that, while I’ve not seen it recently, was common with one forger/seller quite a while ago.
This crook’s trademark was, after buying store model Louisville Slugger bats, sanding the knobs flat to remove any trace of the knob engravings that would peg it as a retail bat. Several were dealt by him at early 1980’s Chicago club (CSCA) mini-shows. Of course, the rub was that LS bats have a slight rounding to the knobs, with his doctoring making them completely flat…OK for Adirondacks of the era, but not Louisvilles.
The jerk, who also forged autographs on gum cards, had a habit of giving refunds on items he was detected on, but would then turn around and resell it to the next unsuspecting buyer (the same goes for his phony signed cards). The promoter of these shows, respected Chicago promoter icon Bruce Paynter, dismissed early complaints by both me and other collectors, deciding that he couldn’t enact punishment on items he wasn’t an expert on.
Things went on unabated, until sometime afterwards, when the crook made the mistake of dealing Paynter a number of his forged autographed baseball cards. At that point, Paynter did take action, and the shady seller was barred from his shows. I like Bruce Paynter, but who knows how many other buyers got stung by this guy due to his early inaction on the matter?
MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG
One pet peeve I have is hobbyists who seem unable to spell or pronounce basic terms involved with the hobby. One example: football jersey sellers who decide they are offering “dureen”, instead of durene jerseys. Annoying, but understandable to a degree, as the fabric is not used on contemporary mainstream NFL jerseys, and would only be a familiar term to vintage football game-used enthusiasts. Admittedly, I even screwed up that one a couple of decades ago.
The one that really galls me these days is “authentification”, and it’s sister non-word, “authentify”. This isn’t merely an educated, but erroneous guess at a word’s spelling…it isn’t a legitimate word at all! You can have a certification or an authentication, but not an “authentification”. You can certify or authenticate, but you can’t “authentify”. The eBay sellers and hobby shop dealers should learn the lingo, as they don’t look or sound terribly intelligent using a non-existent word in their ads and with their customers.
JUICE…YOU BROUGHT IT ON YOURSELF!