1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

[miracleonice80]

Hi....anybody have an idea what an "ER" stamp code would be on an NFL game ball from the '90's-present? Thanks

[RaiderNationPDX]

Re: 1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

April 1992 or 2002, by my count. Is the "Wilson" wordmark gold-foil stamped or are the ball's stampings all black? The latter would be 1992 and the former would be 2002.

[miracleonice80]

Re: 1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

Its the gold stamping Wilson. It has Tagliabue's name on it. Can you give me a breakdown on the code chart of the '60's-present Wilson game balls? I get confused with all those letter codes.......

[miracleonice80]

Re: 1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

Didn't Wilson go gold letters in 1991?

[RaiderNationPDX]

Re: 1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

I believe the switch to gold foil stamping was 1993; that particular ball style was used 1993-2005. The black stamped with Tagliabue's signature would have been from 1990, when he became commish, to 1992.

Code breakdown is:
A=XXX8
B=XXX9
C=XXX0
D=XXX1
E=XXX2
F=XXX3
G=XXX4
H=XXX5
I=*
J=XXX6
K=XXX7
*My observation is that "I" was formerly used (I have seen it on 1976 Rozelle footballs), but isn't any longer. I've yet to be corrected, but would love to hear it if someone else has seen differently.

As for the second letter, the month is indicated with:
O=January
through
Z=December.

[RaiderNationPDX]

Re: 1990's-present NFL game ball stampings

Just to retract, after some research I've been doing on a ball: Wilson did go gold foil for the Tagliabue ball starting in the 1991 season. All-black stamped balls were used in 1990 (and into 1991 for the playoffs) but beginning with the 1991 preseason, the balls had "Wilson" stamped in gold foil. My bad.