Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

[Swoboda4]

Looking for info on this '86 Mazzilli game used bench jacket. The anniversary patch is not original, looks to have been placed over a small remaining small piece of the original patch that was removed for some reason. The removal of the original was mess that left small holes in the jacket sleeve. Has anyone any info on this jacket? Were anniversary patches taken off '86 jackets for re-use in '87? Does anyone have another '86 bench jacket that they can show an image of the front and inside sewing pattern of the anniversary patch? Thanks

[metsbats]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

I doubt that 86 jackets were reused in 87. I can check with John Ruffino who was the assistant equipment manager in the 80's with the Mets to see if he remembers.

Here's photo of Ed Hearn's 86 jacket for reference.

[metsbats]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

Here's a patch on one of my 86 gamers.

The jacket patch look very odd almost like there is another patch under it from the doubling of the edges.

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

David, can you take a photo of inside the shoulder sleeve of your Hearn jacket, specifically behind the anniversary patch, showing the sewing pattern? This is what I think I have, a '86 jacket where someone removed the anniversary patch but couldn't remove it completely. So a new patch(not as thin edged as the original ) was applied. There are remnants of different threads inside of the Mazzilli and I want to see if your threads, exposed on the inside sleeve match anything I have for color or pattern. Any help is appreciated as I'm considering carefully exposing what's underneath.

[metsbats]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

Robert, I don't own the Hearn jacket as it was from the cover of one of his Christmas cards. I can ask him if he can take a photo of the inside of the jacket if he has the time.

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

I'm sorry I misunderstood. If anyone has any example of the back stitching on an 86 anniversary patch I guess it could help thanks

[Doodles]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

I don't have an example of a 1986 jacket, but do know a lot about the patches. The patch on your jacket is a repro I have seen before...not a very good one. The original did not have orange threads on the edge like almost all patches, but the orange edge was a felt like material. That repro has a felt type edge, but they also put a stitched orange border on top. I think I see another bit of orange felt under the repro patch, which I think is what you are referring to as a small bit of the original. Is that the part that looks to be stitched with the white zig-zag sticthing on the underside? Also, how are the 1 and 3 sewn on? The original patch may have been sewn on in a similar fashion.

It is possible the Mets took the patches off. I was at the Mets Hall of Fame the other day, and they had a "1986 jacket" with a horrible repro patch on it as well. Maybe it is a real 1986 jacket and they felt putting a repro back on was a restoration. Generally though, I always suspected Starter sent the Mets a new shipment of these jackets every year, after embroidering the names on the back, so why take the patches off?

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

Doodles, thank you. Yes, there is what appears to be the original, or part of the original patch underneath. And the zig-zag sewing pattern underneath belongs to the underneath patch. I tried to see if the top patch can be carefully removed and it appear to have been heat pressed on after some poor sewing for placement with orange thread? But why the white-yellowish thread on the edge? Was that just an initial stitch for placement?
My Dykstra '86 Playoff home pinstripe jersey has the original patch and aside from it being smaller (as the underneath jacket patch also appears to be) I was more interested in what the underside looked like: it was orange thread. I'll post photos next. Im going to citifield for a couple of the White Sox games and you can be sure I look in the museum.

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

The under side of the Dykstra '86 Playoff pinstripe (for sewing comparison).

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

Again, what appears to be the original '86 anniversary patch is slightly visible under reproduction patch that for some reason was placed above, possibly heat pressed. Doodles (May I call you "dood"?) mentions that at CitiField there is on display an '86 jacket with possibly the same situation.

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

David, thank you for the '86 gamer photo.

[Swoboda4]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

the stitching for the 13 on the shoulder is white, the zig zag on the original patch edge is yellowish.

[Doodles]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

Swoboda,

The Dykstra jersey patch is sewn on in a straight around orange stitch, not the "zig-zag" (is this the official term?) stitch that the original jacket patch used. The jersey patch was probably sewn on by Goodman or the Mets' stitcher. All the jerseys I have seen have had that straight stitch. I am almost positive the jacket's 13 and anniversary patch would have been sewn on by Starter. Looks like they used the same stitching for the 13 as for the patch, which I would expect. I have that same jacket from Starter, not team issued, but bought in 1988. It has the round baseball Met logo patch, no numbers or anniversary patch (I added that patch later myself). It too uses the zig-zag...which not to get too technical, but we must, actually uses two colors of thread somehow...the outside layer which is seen, is orange on mine. This makes sense as the patch edge is orange and you don't want to see the thread. On mine, the thread on the underside is blue...not so important as it would never be seen. When I had a sport shop sew my anniversary patch on years later, they used the same stitching...orange zig-zag on top, blue on underside. Here is my jacket:



So where do we go from here? If it were me, and I wanted to keep the jacket, I would try to remove the repro patch. You say it is heat pressed...perhaps heating it would loosen the adhesive. This jacket is polyester, so I would not heat it too much, as it may scorch. I would protect the areas around the patch if I did so...and heat from the underside possibly. If you are lucky, you can get that repro off and replace with a vintage real patch...I have an extra laying around somewhere. There are many repros out there, including a vintage, smaller fan club version that often confuses people.

[Doodles]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

BTW, what very well may have happened is someone wanted the original patch to use on perhaps a jersey to make it a 1986 jersey when it wasn't, or perhaps replace a missing 1986 patch on a more valuable player jersey. They then could only find a repro to replace it with.

[Doodles]

Re: Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

What ever happened with this project?