Need Help in Dating Wilson Tag

Below is a photo of a Wilson tag style I am trying to ID. The tags are identical other than one tag is very washed out while the other jersey tag shows little wash wear.

Here is a little bit of background. I currently have in my collection what appears to be three 1960s-era St. Louis Cardinals red durene football jerseys. All are style-matched. Two have the tags as seen in the photo, and the other has the traditional 1960s-era Wilson tag.

In a recent major auction, a jersey with this style of Wilson tag was identified as a Chicago Cardinals jersey from the 1950s based on the tagging. However, the jersey had sleeve numbers which the Cards never had on their jerseys during their years in Chicago. The sleeve numbers were not added until 1962, the Cardinals third season in St. Louis. Of course, it could have been a “recycled” jersey from their Chicago days and they added the sleeve numbers in 1962 (or later), but regardless, I can’t verify when Wilson was using this particular style of tagging to establish the date that these jerseys were manufactured.

Any assistance in identifying the era of this Wilson tag style will be much appreciated.

Mark Hayne
gixc@verizon,net

Help, please!

Mark Hayne
gixc@verizon.net

Mark,

The tagging is indeed from the mid to late 1950s. Wilson did not have numerical size tags printed higher than a size 48, so in cases where the jerseys were 50 or larger, they would simply cut the size off of the bottom and add a size flag... They would essentially cut their tag in half and keep the top.

The cool thing about the photo you provided is that you can still see the tops of the cut-off size numbers (forty-something) across the bottom of the tag.

Of course all NFL teams recycled equipment in those days, but from what I understand, the Chicago Cardinals were notoriously cheap. It's easy to believe that a jersey might have been in their keep for several years.

Thanks to B-T-P-H for the top photo used in this comparison!

Hey Anthony,

Thanks so much for the assistance! I was completely baffled by the "short" tag. Your explanation solves the tagging mystery.

This now leaves me with the question of whether or not these are actually Cardinals jerseys. Although they are a style match to early-1960s Cardinals, the question is whether these are: (1) blanks from their late-1950s days in Chicago that they numbered in the early 1960s; (2) old-stock jerseys that the cheap Cardinals purchased from Wilson in the early 1960s; (3) jerseys from their Chicago days with the shoulder numbers added in 1962 (they had no sleeve numbers in Chicago); or (4) college jerseys as this is a very common style - dark red jerseys with white numbers (too large for a typical high school jersey from that era). Knowing the sources of both jerseys, I have convinced myself :) that they are early-1960s Cardinals.

Thanks again for your help!

Mark