Paul Molitor BP Jersey...any thoughts?

[staindsox]

Just wondering what you guys thought of this one. Do you think it is legit? Would this be an easy one to fake? Thanks in advance.

Chris

[staindsox]

P.S. I know he wore a 44 those years.

[kingjammy24]

hi chris,

the manufacturer's tag is from 1996-1997. as a 96/97 twins bp shirt, the style is generally apropo. however, there are 2 issues.

1) molitor played for the twins from 1996-98. all of the images i can find of the 1996 and 1997 twins in their bp jerseys show them wearing russell bp jerseys, not majestic.

2) it's a bp jersey and as such, suffers from the inherant problem with many bp jerseys: it's practically indistinguishable from a minor league shirt.
without some substantial provenance, there's no way of knowing whether this jersey was worn by #4 on the minnesota twins or #4 on the elizabethon twins or #4 on the gcl twins. not all major league teams recycled their jerseys to the minors. some minor league teams had jerseys identical to their major league parent clubs produced solely for their own minor league use. it's entirely possible this twins majestic bp was never even delivered to the minnesota twins. it may have spent it's entire life sitting in a minor league clubhouse.

1996 and 1997 twins:
http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4840/mollyut1.jpg

dan serafini playing for the 1992 gcl twins and jose valentin playing for the 1993 elizabethton twins. both wearing jerseys similar to the gfc "molitor":
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9194/twinsbk8.jpg

in short, if i was in the market for a twins molitor bp shirt, i'd look for a russell and i'd want some way of knowing it wasn't exclusively a minor league shirt. without solid provenance, i don't know how you'd prove the latter.

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

has anyone ever seen a size flag tag completely sewn down on all 4 sides like the one on the gfc molitor?

i've only ever seen them affixed via the top and the other 3 sides are free to fly in the wind, so to speak. have never seen one sewn down like that.

anyone?

thx,

rudy.

[staindsox]

That attention to detail of yours, another outstanding post...thanks Rudy. I'll look through all of my Molly stuff to see what photographic evidence I can come up with.

Chris

[staindsox]

Rudy, you were right on the money. I have 1000-some Molitor cards and not a single one was lacking an R. This could have been used when he was a benchcoach with the Twins, but couldn't have been used when he was playing with the Twins. Thanks!

Chris

[hblakewolf]

Chris-

Who's offering this jersey and how is it being described? Is it possible that it's being offered as a Twins minor league jersey?

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@patmedia.net

[staindsox]

It's a Grey Flannel listing. It may be legit in that Paul was a coach with the Twins a few years later, but it could not have been used by Paul between 96-98. I just sent them an email, so we'll see if I get a response.

Here is the link...http://www.greyflannel.com/main.php?item=2568

[kingjammy24]

gfc authenticated this jersey as a molitor gamer. the preponderance of evidence seems to indicate the twins used russell bp jerseys during 1996 and 1997. therefore, in order to authenticate this jersey gfc must've had some evidence that the twins wore majestic bp shirts during 1996-98 right? it's a situation similar to many of lampson's authentications in that he authenticates something atypical and because it's atypical it necessarily must mean that he has some evidence to support this deviation. unfortunately, i've never heard of lou ever turning over any of his magical 8000 photos in support of any of his wacky authentications.
in this case, gfc has authenticated a 1996-98 majestic twins molitor gamer. the evidence found suggests they used russell. simply ask them to provide the evidence that showed them that the twins wore majestic bp gamers during this time period. simple right?

rudy.

[staindsox]

I didn't get a response, but it looks like the jersey has been pulled down. I give them all the credit in the world for that...we know of other places the wouldn't do that.