1989 Willie hernandez Jersey?

[ATigerFan]

I was wondering if this is a real game used one.

[ATigerFan]

The seller said it could be from spring training. I was wondering what anbody else's thoughts might be?
Thanks for the info.

[mbrieve]

I don't know a lot about older Tigers jerseys other than the fact that during the 80's and 90's they were often recycled to their minor league system.

That being said, the numbering on the back, especially the "2", looks off. Do a getty image search for "Willie Hernandez" and you will see that the middle part of the number to shouldn't be so diagonal and should be more straight across.

I would stay away. It is most likely restored and done poorly at that...

[jppopma]

This does not look good at all! Like Mbrieve pointed out the #2 is totally way off, actually the 1 is much too thin as well. Additionally, the Tigers jerseys through the 80's had the HUGE 4 inch letters (very noticable) and these look normal size. Finally the tagging looks to be ok, but not for this jersey. On my Tigers jerseys that are tagged this way, the bottom number is a inventory control number. The odds of that number being the same as the uniform number are pretty slim.

My guess is that someone turned a used and likely sent to the minors jersey, and did a very bad job of turning it into a Hernandez based on the incorrect tagging premise. I'd be curious if they answer you about things being original or restored.....

[kingjammy24]

dave miedema's take:

"One poor guy recently had up for auction on eBay a very poorly doctored 1989 Detroit Tigers home jersey. The seller did not quote an ID other than the extant NOB (HERNANDEZ) and made mention of what he felt (correctly) were changes on the back. The apparent status of the item was a legitimate 1989 Tigers jersey by Wilson that carried an inventory tag of "21", and, based on a rather uneducated forger who owned the jersey before this guy did, was played with in an attempt to pass it off as a Guillermo Hernandez gamer.

Almost anyone who collects Tigers jerseys knows that the inventory numbers, introduced in the late 1970s, are not identical to the uniform numbers of the players. Add to it a smaller NOB font, a totally erroneous numeric font, and you have what was once a nice Detroit home gamer turned into something bizarre, and left with a seller who was unaware of the inherent problems."

rudy.