This is an article and a topic that is well worth devoting some time and attention to. Partly because of the item and the issue at hand as well how it relates to the bigger picture and the relationship between MEARS and MEARS Auctions.
The issue at the forefront is language that the consigner of the 1975 Carlton Fisk Boston Red Sox Home Post Season Jersey has been adamant about being made known to the collecting community. This information comes in two parts; those being information provided by Lon Lewis as it relates to the Red Sox team order sheets in his possession and the consigner’s personal interpretation of that information.
Mr. Lewis provided this information to the consigner:
“The regular season order sheets for 1975 reflect Fisk having 3 home and road jerseys, size 44 and in 1976 two home and road jerseys, size 45″. During the knit era, it was normal for the Sox to order 2 sets of home and road jerseys for each player. However, they added and extra set for the starters (Fisk, Lynn, Rice, etc.) plus some of the pitchers and back-ups bringing their total to three. In 1976 there were only two sets ordered for everyone”.
For the record, this was information that I was aware of.
The consigner was insistent and rather adamant that this (his) language be added to the letter I prepared for the jersey.
“Using this information one can make the theory that only one set for the post season was ordered by the Red Sox. Since the 1975 post season home jerseys were only used in a total of six games in 1975, those jerseys were most likely carried over for use in the 1976 season which is quite possibly the reason the Red Sox only ordered two sets for each player for that next season.”
I have no problem if the consigner wants to advance that as his theory, but it is not mine and thus I did not include it in the letter as he requested. If you look at the letter I prepared for this jersey, either in the separate feature article on this jersey than ran prior to the auction or included in the lot description, I would hope you found the work to be detailed and objective. While this theory would certainly bode well for the consigner, it is his theory. Had I included that language as he requested in the body of my letter, it would have been more than a reasonable assumption that this was a theory/position I was personally advancing since it was to be included in the body of my work.
Mr. Lewis was more than kind and gracious with his willingness to share information. He also made known that we don’t know how many post season jerseys were ordered. That is something I made direct reference to. I did not include the consigner’s language or wish it to be attributed to me for the following reasons.
I considered these points when evaluating his proposed language and theory. If you notice, the jerseys ordered for Fisk in 1975, to include the post season were a size 44. Fisk’s 1976 jerseys were ordered at a size 45. If the Red Sox had intended Fisk to have three jerseys for the 1976 season, might they not ordered him three in a size 45? If the counter is there is not that much of a difference between a size 44 and size 45 and he could have lived with one size 44 and two size 45s, they why order the different sizes to begin with? Also since it appears Mr. Fisk gifted a post season jersey (actually quantity of those is unknown), he would have been down one shirt for use in the 1976 season, and as such, we might have expected to see an additional jersey ordered to replace the gifted one if only one was issued for the post season. Being unable to reconcile these thoughts with the proposed theory, I was not comfortable being seen as the person to advance the “one post season jersey theory.” To do so would have been tantamount to me numerically implying the shirt I researched and evaluated had to be the one worn by Fisk in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
For some reason, the consigner is under the impression that this information about sizes, quantities and years was not provided to the collecting public because of the potential impact it could have on a previously examined 1975 Fisk jersey. According the consigner by way of his comments in a public memorabilia forum about a 1975 Carlton Fisk home jersey offered by Robert Edwards Auctions (REA) in 2006:
“This particular jersey was a size 43 and sold for $5,800. According to the order records Fisk only received three home jerseys for the 1975 regular season and those were all a size 45. MEARS could possibly be on the hook for refunding that money since they authenticated the jersey as authentic. This is why I strongly believe they continued to ignore this information and chose not to use it in my auction description. They totally decided to thow me and my item under the bus just to try save face, ther asses and some money along the way.”
This is simply not true. If you notice in the very first section of the letter I wrote on this jersey I included this language:
“Size: The offered jersey is tagged as and measures at a size 44. The 1975 ALCS program (28) lists Fisk at 6’, 2”, 210 lbs.
Information on the Red Sox Team order sheets that have been made available to the collecting public by Lon Lewis indicate that size 44 was ordered for Fisk in 1975. As such, I consider this to be a correctly sized jersey for Carlton Fisk in 1975.”
Additionally, the above post by the consigner is not accurate in that according to Mr. Lewis, the 1975 jerseys should have been a size 44 and the size 45 was not ordered until 1976. As you can clearly see, I did not conceal the fact that a Red Sox jersey ordered for Fisk in 1975 should be a size 44 and the not the size 43 of the jersey previously offered by REA. I also made sure I properly attributed the source of that information. The REA jersey was evaluated in 2006 and was done so without the information we now have available to the collecting community courtesy the generosity of Mr. Lon Lewis. For the record, I was not party to that 2006 REA LOO effort. That jersey will now be considered a candidate for the MEARS Buyer’s Protection Program. The REA jersey was not considered a post season jersey since it features a Bicentennial patch. As such it does not factor into the number of post season jerseys ordered for Fisk, so its existence, regardless of size, has no bearing on the issue at hand. In other words, even if the REA jersey had been a size 44 jersey it still does not change the fact that we don’t know how many post season jerseys were ordered as it would never have been included in that possible population of post season jerseys.
This brings me to the second issue, that being the relationship between MEARS and MEARS Auctions. These are two separate business entities and they remain such in my mind. As a person who offers opinions on items, the hobby’s interests are best served when my loyalties are to a process and not to the submitter/ consigner or MEARS/MEARS Auctions. Like I said previously, I feel my processes and methods for this jersey were fairly detailed and objective. I should not be researching and offering an opinion with “sellability” in mind. While this may benefit a consigner and MEARS Auctions, it is not part of the way I work nor should it be as it has potential to taint the process and objectivity of the work I am asked to do.
MEARS Auctions has the responsibility to take the research and opinion provided and offer it with the item in the most positive and reasonable manner possible. This does not include me making accommodations that effect the material representation of my research and subsequent opinion because it might help sell a jersey. I was also the person who wrote the lead in for this lot. This language included:
“Quite possibly one of the most significant jerseys ever offered regardless of sport. The 1975 World Series, in particular, Game 6, represented a watershed moment in the history of the game and professional sports as a collective body. Consider the information presented carefully and decide for your self the likelihood that this very jersey was worn by Fisk as he hit that iconic home run on October 21st 1975. We feel the probability is fairly high.”
In the conclusions I offered as part of my letter, I also made note of:
“While I could not find any observable physical characteristic placing this jersey on Fisk for any one particular game of the 1975 post season, I also found no observable physical characteristics excluding it from any home game either.”
I feel very comfortable in being able to objectively defend the information I offered as the person who researched and evaluated the jersey (MEARS) as well as the person tasked with the introduction for MEARS Auctions. All of this was done with knowledge of the information provided my Mr. Lewis and well as the theory offered by the consigner. You now have an additional theory provided by the consigner to consider as well. My position and opinion remains unchanged, that being that lot # 43, The 1975 Carlton Fisk Boston Red Sox Home Post Season Jersey in the current MEARS Auction is:
“Quite possibly one of the most significant jerseys ever offered regardless of sport. The 1975 World Series, in particular, Game 6, represented a watershed moment in the history of the game and professional sports as a collective body. Consider the information presented carefully and decide for your self the likelihood that this very jersey was worn by Fisk as he hit that iconic home run on October 21st 1975. We feel the probability is fairly high.”
As always, collect what you enjoy and enjoy what you collect.
MEARS Auth, LLC
For questions and comments on this article, please feel free to drop me a line at DaveGrob1@aol.com
POST SCRIPT: The image provided with this article features the jersey and the custom display that is available to winning bidder of this item.