1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

[russyurk]

I missed the MEARS auction (http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co...hvalue=Olympic) over the holidays but one of the jerseys that sold just showed up on eBay (#221177081378) and they are not exactly as they are billed. These were extra jerseys but I would hesitate to classify these as even game issued, I would say with 99% certainty that these were never worn by the names associated with the jersey. I feel especially bad for the winner of the Will Clark jersey that paid $624.

Every photo that I have seen of the 1984 per-Olympic tour shows name plates which none of these jerseys have. They also all had front numbers which several do not have. Beware of these, they are neat jerseys that you could call team issued but nothing more than that.

[yanks12025]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

In the mears listings they did say "While these jerseys are not from the Olympic Games they were available to the team for any number of exhibitions, practices and promotional team activities prior to".

[yanks12025]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

Also couldn't the numbers and name plates have been removed after?

[russyurk]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

Also couldn't the numbers and name plates have been removed after?

It's possible but there is no mention in the mears listings and I emailed the eBay seller and he ignored that portion of my email.

[russyurk]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

In the mears listings they did say "While these jerseys are not from the Olympic Games they were available to the team for any number of exhibitions, practices and promotional team activities prior to".

Understood but I merely point this out to help other collectors. Exhibition play is highly doubtful and the rest is a convenient stretch.

[akrover]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

Exhibition, issued, or not, if these had nameplates I would have loved to grab the Billy Swift.

[jppopma]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

I could understand no NOB, but the lack of front numbers seems a bit too off for me.

[flaco1801]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

Russ...i have a Red Hoover shirt...no NOB and no number on the front...under the Rawlings tag is # Hoover....this is a practice shirt? i think its number 11..thanks, Jeff

[yanks12025]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

But the way the auction sounds is they were given to a college to reuse? What if the college wasn't allowed to have NOB and numbers on the front?

[commando]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

Here is the original thread explaining the provenance of the jerseys:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=2674&highlight=usa

It's safe to say that these jerseys were part of the USA baseball Team program, but photos will need to be found to know when these were worn, where they were worn, and which players were wearing those numbers at that point in time.

[russyurk]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

There is no doubt these were a part of the 1984 Olympic program and that the jerseys are authentic to the period. However they are, at best, practice worn and at worst jerseys that sat in a box in case they were needed. They are still very cool but the point of my original post was to point out that they were not game worn and help educate fellow collectors on the board. I have a full numerical roster for the 1984 tour and the names listed in the mears auction are correct. It crossed my mind that perhaps these may have been worn early in the pre-Olympic tour but I have a photo from the June 22, 1984 game in Syracuse that clearly shows 10 members of the squad with NOBs and other photos from July 6, 1984 in Fenway that show the same.

Jeff - I hope that helps, just as an FYI I have John Hoover's olympic worn red jersey in my collection as well as head coach Rod Dedeaux.

[GSUTim47]

Re: 1984 Olympic jerseys MEARS/eBay

All,

I am the person who was in possession of these jerseys before having them auctioned off by MEARS; the information that is listed on the ads, including those up now, was all of the information I had to give. Coach Stallings brought these jerseys back from international competitions to GSU, and because UGA's colors are red, these jerseys were not used by Stallings' teams. All of this information was passed on to MEARS before the auction, including the fact I did not know if/when they were utilized by the team.

As you see the jerseys...in the MEARS photos...is how I found them in the equipment room attic; no name plate or number has been removed.