Game Issued that appear Game Used

[allstarsplus]

I bought over a dozen game issued 2008 Yankees jerseys from Steiner. I just got the box and popped it open. 1 Joba jersey and 1 Mariano jersey had an odor when I took them out of the bag. Then I saw some dirt marks on them. I bought a game used Ivan Rodriguez which also was similar.

I called my Steiner rep Charles Stabile and he said Congrats, they were probably taken out of their locker and marked game issued. The tags are crisp so I am thinking 1 games use.

I know people have bought game used that appeared to be game issued but what about game issued that appeared to be light use game used?

[yanks12025]

So now do i have to bid on all their game issued jersey's hoping they were marked wrong.

[kingjammy24]

hey andrew

given the big difference in price (and profit) between game-issued and game-used i'd think that most sellers would be very diligent in discerning the two. most of them seem to err on the side of saying something has use when it doesn't. of course, the reverse is possible. rare though i imagine.

re: the dirt stains
could be possible that the dirt stains occurred in storage and/or collection? maybe they had some cleats pushed against them or some such.

the "odor" is more compelling. if there's an odor and the dirt hasn't been washed off, i'm guessing if they were game-used then they're unwashed. would the "steiner process", whatever it is, sell unwashed jerseys? i'd try to find out when the jerseys were actually pulled because the idea here is that they were used and before the team could launder them, steiner pulled the unwashed jerseys from the locker. seems to happen a lot more in football than baseball. steiner must've pulled them very shortly after a specific game.

rudy.

[trsent]

Rudy, what makes you think Steiner "pulled" anything?

Is Steiner in the locker room pulling jerseys or does the team give them jerseys after the game, event and season? I would bet the team gives the items to Steiner, but I could be wrong. It would be neat to know the process.

I always assumed that Steiner doesn't have a game used process such as that of MeiGray, but they could have changed it or I could be wrong.

Andrew, from what you seem to have, there would be no issues for you to assume you have some game used jerseys, but I do not know how you could sell them without a full recap of all details.

I think people would love to have your game issued jerseys!

[camarokids]

maybe someone was eating ice cream or a candy bar while "processing" the jerseys???

as far as the smell, someone could have tried them on who didn't use their right guard that day???

or maybe you got lucky, an extra b-day present??

[markize]

Andrew,

now that i see those jerseys, i think i could kick myself. i was contacted by a steiner rep about a jeter game issued jersey that was selling for $700. i passed as i would rather have a game used jersey. i saw that rivera jersey on their website about a week ago (if its the same jersey). nice haul!!

mark

[gnishiyama]

I have had the same "problems" ( in this case is a potentially good problem ) but the problem is convincing your buyer (and perhaps even yourself) that you have a real game used jersey unless you can positively photo-match it. Perhaps you should retain the services of Kyle to see if you can photo-match it.
The problem is if I can't photo-match it, then I just have a dirty issued jersey. My Japanese customers when buying an issued jersey want something that is clean and mint. Its hard to explain to them that the jersey is dirty from just being mishandled.
My biggest problems with Yankee-Steiner items is those damn holograms that don't just won't adhere to the item!
Goh Nishiyama

[gnishiyama]

Rudy,
Steiner oftentimes sells un-washed game used jerseys.
Check out my Robinson Cano 2008 9/21/08 Final Home game used pants
that I have on ebay right now. (shameless plug )
They are filthy!
Goh

[JETEFAN]

A good friend of mine had the same issue a couple of years ago and was told by his Steiner rep that it was a common occurrence. It's soiling transfer from handling the game used bats, helmets, cleates etc. along with the issued stuff as it's being collected. I have also seen it many times on "issued" items. At least that was Steiners story, makes sense. The issue is as the last poster points out, what's on the paperwork. tell yor rep to send you new "Game used" paperwork along with his congrats.....

George

[shafrancollectibles.com]

There is no way Steiner would re-cert it as Game Used nor should they. The tags are crisp as can be. The dirt marks could be explained in a variety of ways, both in favor of game use or against it as it could easily be a handling issue either before Steiner got it or within their own warehouse. What if someone buys a game issued jersey and manufactures their own "use" to it with some dirt somewhere down the line? Unless you find 100% photomatch proof of the dirt marks in game action, I can't see how it can be sold as game used.

To offer it as a game used jersey, when the Steiner COA states game issued, would be a bit mis-leading and/or deceptive.