St. Louis Cardinals Jersey Help Needed

[markfd]

Here is a jersey I bought years ago as part of a lot and I am not very familiar with Cardinals jerseys. Can someone take a look at the attachments and let me know what you think, is this a 2004 jersey, a 2005 jersey, a fake?

Thanks!

[sox83cubs84]

Re: St. Louis Cardinals Jersey Help Needed

Looks to be at least a game-issued 2004 World Series home jersey (the Cardinals were inconsistent on year tags at that time). How much wear it got, though, is anyone's guess. King used to sell game-used jerseys through an eBay seller whose ID included the word "caveman". More recently, he's sold a few items under his own seller ID to raise funds for his son's traveling baseball team. I never bought a jersey directly from him, although I did get a Brewers TBTC cap and a 2004 alternate lid, the latter of which had awesome wear.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[cohibasmoker]

Re: St. Louis Cardinals Jersey Help Needed

I have a Cardinals 2004 home World Series jersey that was worn by one of the Cardinals' coach's - Mitchell PAGE. I got it from a forum member who told me he got the jersey directly from the Cardinals during their annual "Winter Warm-up".

On my jersey, under the Majestic tag, there are two smaller flag tags - one is a size tag and the other is a year tag.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[Birdbats]

Re: St. Louis Cardinals Jersey Help Needed

Mark, the jersey looks like it could be from 2003. When Majestic started making Cardinals jerseys, they had a hard time keeping the placket closed because of the weight of the embroidered logo. The fix was a strip of Velcro. By 2004, the problem appears to have been fixed because I can't say I've heard of a 2004 shirt with Velcro sewn in... but it was very common in 2003. Also, in 2003, year flags were rare. Granted, they've been spotty every season since 2003, but you're more likely to see a 2003 without a year flag than a 2004. The biggest difference I've spotted between 2003 and 2004 is the shape of the Cardinals' heads and look of the faces. This photo shows the difference:



Maybe that photo will help you determine if your jersey was made in 2003 or 2004. Now, if it was made in 2003, that doesn't mean it wasn't worn in 2004. Ray was a big guy, so maybe when he joined the Cardinals in 2004, the only jerseys they had that would fit him were 2003 leftovers. His 2004 team portrait certainly seems to show him wearing a 2003 jersey:



The few photos I can find of him from the World Series are not close enough to show anything useful.

I guess the only other question is whether somebody attached a World Series patch to a 2003 jersey to make it seem to be something more than it really is. The patch should be ironed on to the fabric, which will be obvious if you examine it from inside the sleeve. The stitching around the patch also should be small and tight. If all that checks out, you should feel more comfortable with the jersey.

Hope that helps.