Game Used hat question, MEARS

[STLWSB]

I know this has probably been brought up before, but how can one tell if a hat is game used or not? Is there different tagging from store hats? What is the grading criteria for hats at MEARS PSA or other grading companys, I searched but found nothing on the MEARS website. Any help on this subject would be appreciated.

[David-A]

Global will authenticate/reject game used hats if you are still looking for info.

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[kingjammy24]

To the best of my knowledge, retail hats do not differ in any way from gamer hats. That is, the hats that New Era sends to retail stores are identical the ones they send to teams.
If you ask this question of many dealers/authenticators, their reply will usually involve "player characteristics" which, in most cases, simply amounts to the hat having a uniform number written in marker under the brim and/or sweat stains. If you're thinking those are pretty poor ways to determine legitimate game use, then you'd be right.
If you manage to find the grading criteria MEARS uses for hats, please share it. I'd love to see it.

Rudy.

[scottanservitz]

In my opinion, game used hats are the hardest things to authenticate for the reasons stated before. Sometimes players write things under the brim of the hat such as their children's names or religious sayings or verses. Photos are very hard to find of such things due to the placement of these writings. So for these reasons alone, hats in my opinion are a big gamble.