1982 Red Sox Year Tagging: Font Variation?

[Robert Sanders]

Another question concerning the 1982 Red Sox jersey I asked about a couple of days ago: Does anyone out there know how much variation one can expect to find in the stitched numbers found in 1980s era Wilson Red Sox year tags? Comparing the photo of the jersey in question (see below) with Bill Henderson's example of 1982 Red Sox year tagging on his CD (sorry, I don't have Adobe Writer and therefore cannot copy that particular photo and attach it below), I note two distinct differences in the shape of the 2. First, in Bill Henderson's photo there is a distinct curl at the beginning of the 2, whereas in the photo below, there is no such curl. Second, the 2 in Bill's photo ends with just a short upward tail, whereas the tail in the photo below is much longer. I have absolutely no idea how much variation one can expect to find in any one year between one year tag and another in terms of the physical shape of their commonly shared stitched numbers. If this stitching was guided by hand, especially if it was carried out separately by multiple people, then a certain amount of variation is to be expected. If, on the other hand, all such stitching were done by one or more programed machines, with no human guidance, then every year tag for 1982 should have exactly the same looking 2. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

[sox83cubs84]

I don't think this tag is problematic...I believe tags were hand-stitched by Wilson in that era, and a slight variation is not unusual.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[RJB44]

I have a 1982 Red Sox Wilson and the tagging is pretty much the same as the jersey pictured below. I agree, there may be some slight variations, but nothing significant.

[RJB44]

Sorry, on second look, the 82 tag on my jersey does have that little tail at the top.

[Robert Sanders]

Thanks Dave and RJB44! Comparing various features of each of the three 2s in the three respective photos, it would indeed appear that each 2 is slightly different in appearance from one another, and there are certain features shared by Bill Henderson's 2 and RJB44's 2 not found in the photo I have posted (e.g. beginning curl), whereas there are also features more in common between RJB44's 2 and the 2 in my photo than what is found in Bill Henderson's 2 (e.g. angle of the downward portion of the line from the top-right corner to bottom-left corner). Additionally, the length of the final tail in RJB44's 2 lies halfway in between Bill Henderson's 2 and the 2 in my photo. This all seems to confirm Dave's statement above that Wilson did this stitching by hand, and that therefore one can expect to find a certain amount of variation from one tag to another. Thanks again to both of you for your quick and very useful replies!