Mariano Rivera 1998 W.S. jersey

[jetersbatboy]

Guys, I need your thoughts on this jersey

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220498589101&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT#ht_1098wt_941

I have a few questions. Does the Steiner LOA look a little different to you. What I mean is the LOA looks like someone typed the description in. has anyone seen another Steiner LOA that looked like this? I thought players where issued new jersey for the World Series or did they just sew W.S. patches on the carry overs? The jersey tagging shows a ton of use for a jersey that would have only bin used in 2 games. Any help would be appreciated.

[jetersbatboy]

He also only had one appearance in his home jersey, in game one.

[bronx_burner]

Saw this a little earlier. And the text font of the description immediately jumped out at me. The other thing I didn't like is that the holos are the type that don't have serial numbers. I've seen lots of those holos before but I'd want to have numbers on a purchase of an item like this. Not that you can look up the numbers at Steiner anyway but with these holos, 2 can be carefully peeled from cheap items and one put on each of the jersey and letter and they would still "match". With the numbered ones, one would have had to be removed from a letter which I doubt could work without damaging it.

I guess I'm skeptical "a" letter was scanned and the description added in a different font and then printed and holos added. Could be real, but that scenario scares me away.

[jetersbatboy]

I had that same theory!

[kingjammy24]

steiner came out with the numbered holograms years after-the-fact. if you were one of the folks who purchased from steiner from 2005 to about 2007, you had no choice but to get unnumbered holograms. steiner took years to clue in and theres not much that can be done about that. certainly wouldn't hold it against an item because steiner was clueless about their ids.

scott, doesn't this 1998 rivera home WS gamer seem nicer?:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2007/1180.html

what about the tagging about the ebay rivera? something doesn't seem right.

http://www.americanmemorabilia.com/Auction_Item.asp?Auction_ID=30398

"Rivera" is the wrong font, wrong case, and its turned purple. that is, it's not faded but it's almost like what happens when fresh ink gets wet and bleeds. why did "Rivera" bleed but "1998" didn't?

rudy.

[bronx_burner]

Not holding that against them. I'm aware thats' all there was for a time. But there are dozens of Steiner Letters available to peruse on ebay, none having that odd font for the description. Because of that, I never even made it to looking at the shirt.

[BULBUS]

I wouldn't touch this jersey. Both the tagging and the letter fonts are off, and very fishy.

Also, I believe they did sew ws patches on jerseys that were used during the season and previous playoff games, so a ws jersey could show a lot of use.

-Chris

[kingjammy24]

i'm wondering what the tagging on 1998 yankee spare jerseys looked like. i wonder if the spares were simply tagged with the year whereas the regular player orders had the year and name. if that were the case, then i wonder if someone took a legit 1998 spare, tried to stamp "Rivera" on it with some bizarre stamp and irregular ink.

can those who own 1998 yankee shirts post pics of their tagging?

rudy.

[BULBUS]

i'm wondering what the tagging on 1998 yankee spare jerseys looked like. i wonder if the spares were simply tagged with the year whereas the regular player orders had the year and name. if that were the case, then i wonder if someone took a legit 1998 spare, tried to stamp "Rivera" on it with some bizarre stamp and irregular ink.

can those who own 1998 yankee shirts post pics of their tagging?

rudy.

This jersey is tagged 1998, number 22 on back, carried over to 1999 (Joe D #5 on sleeve):

26640

[kingjammy24]

it seems like a plausible idea that yankees spares in 1998 were tagged with "1998" whereas regular player orders had the players last name followed by "98".

here are some examples of tagging compared to the ebay jersey:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4355/arod.jpg

what strikes me the most is the lower case font. sure it's the wrong font as well, but the fact that it uses a lower case strikes me as even more odd. does anyone have any examples of the yankees using a lower case on their tagging from 1997-1999?

as mentioned earlier, REA auctioned off a 1998 rivera home WS gamer. here is a photo of rivera during the 1998 WS and the REA gamer and the ebay jersey:

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8273/arod2e.jpg

rudy.

[jetersbatboy]

Rudy and Chris,
Thanks for the photo's and insight on the jersey. I wont make what could have ended up as a several thousand $$$ mistake. I must add that another thing that caught my eye about the jersey, was the W.S. patch. It seam to show a ton of use, lose threads and overall wear. Even if the jersey are recycled, the patch was new. I also find it odd that the name is printed bellow the year code, as the other examples shown are above.
Thanks Scott

Rudy, and yes the R.E.A. jersey is much nicer

[BULBUS]

No problem Scott.

Rudy, the font of the 1998 is also off. I have a few jersey from 1996-1999, and they all have the same font as the examples you provided. This jersey just doesn't add up.

-Chris

[sox83cubs84]

The 1998 may be OK, as that was a transition year for the font on Russell tags. The dual case name, though, is something I have NEVER seen on any Russell game jersey that was truly a team issued/GU item. Definitely problematic. Maybe a blank turned into a Rivera clandestinely?...

Dave M.
Chicago area

[kingjammy24]

fyi, the REA rivera is a size 46 and the ebay rivera is a size 48.

besides the incorrect case, the bleeding is disturbing. i've never seen that on any other russell gamer. it hasn't faded. you can see what proper fading looks like on the REA rivera. instead, it bled. what would cause that to legitimately happen? those shirts are tossed in the wash, etc and the tag's don't bleed. they just end up fading. it's almost as if someone applied some sort of chemical to "rivera" or used a completely different kind of ink to stamp "rivera" than what was used on "1998". and the "rivera" bled but the "1998" didn't? they're on the same tag yet only 1 of the words bled? really bizarre.

rudy.

[karamaxjoe]

Why can't you just photomatch the pinstripes with all the photos that must exist?

[jetersbatboy]

Why can't you just photomatch the pinstripes with all the photos that must exist?

That just sounds to easy!:D I have searched ever photo sharing site, and almost all only show away games. Also Mo only pitched one inning of game one, so there is very limted supply of photo's.

[kingjammy24]

current bidding has hit $3000.

rudy.

[bottomofthe9thonline]

$4200 for a fake jersey.......