Nolan Ryan Supposed GI Jersey on eBay

[woodward30]

Hi guys, I was just wondering the significance of the 42 on the tagging on this supposed Nolan Ryan GI jersey on eBay. Is it likely to assume that this was a probably a gamer of a scrub player that was stripped and turned into a Nolan Ryan and called game issued? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, take care.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nolan-Ryan-1987-...QQcmdZViewItem

[sox83cubs84]

The hypothesis you have is dead-on. The 42 is a uniform number that was the original number on the jersey. That number was, according to Street & Smith's 1987 yearbook, given to Tom Funk, a pitcher who joined the Astros in 1986 as a September call-up, but who didn't make the team in '87. The jersey IS team-issued, and does reflect Ryan's identity, but was never intended to be worn by Ryan, and never issued to him to be worn....a deft bit of Government-style bureaucratic evasiveness appears to be the seller's way of trying to make it into something far more enticing than it actually is...ether that or he is genuinely clueless that someone duped him. Either way, not worth the trouble.

Dave M.
Chicago area