Manute Bol...taken from us too soon

[tcfor3]

The Bol jersey that is pictured on this thread. Is it a presentation jersey? Maybe from when he was signed by the Bullets.

I worked for the Bullets for four seasons in the mid to late 1980s and have had over 200 Bullets uniforms and warm up sets in my collection at various times. I have never seen a game jersey from the 1983-84 to 1985-86 seasons, when they wore this particular style, that had the name screened directly onto the jersey. The team always used nameplates on game jerseys.

I also have more than 3,000 game action images, slides and negatives as well as some game and season highlight videos of the Bullets from this era and can't find one of Bol or any other player wearing a jersey that has their name directly screened onto the back of the jersey.

This is a Wilson jersey which means it was used by the Bullets prior to the 1986-87 season when the NBA started using Sand-Knit uniforms. It has the extra tag for the extra length that the jersey is made with.

It was definitely manufactured to be a game jersey, but with the name not being on a nameplate, that is something the team didn't do as a rule.

The warm up set appears to be game worn. If the bottoms are Sand-Knit, there should be sewn into the back of the waistband the measurements for Bol's inseam as well as his jersey number. This measurement varied on his warm-up bottoms from 48" to 50-1/2" for the sets made by Sand-Knit.

[tcfor3]

After further analysis of the Manute Bol jersey pictured on this thread and pictures of that I have of Manute from his career with the Bullets, this jersey was not game worn by Manute Bol.

The style of striping on the front was worn by the Bullets from 1973-74 to 1982-83. Bol began his NBA career in 1985-86.

This jersey could have been used by Bob Dandridge who wore #10 for the Bullets from 1977-78 to 1980-81.

The Bullets wore jerseys made by Wilson from 1976-77 to 1985-86. Prior to that they wore Rawlings uniforms going back into the 1960's when they were in Baltimore.

Washington's home uniforms from 1983-84 to 1986-87 had four additional blue thin stripes that ran parallel to the thicker red and white stripes on the front of the jerseys that are not present on this jersey. These thin blue stripes were located as one above and one below each of the thick red stripes with about one inch of the white stripe showing between the blue and red stripes.

I will try to post pictures later of what the striping on the front of Bullets 1983-84 to 1986-87 jerseys looks like for your reference.

FYI: It was fairly common for Bullets to pull old game jerseys from storage and renumber and reletter them for presentations which is what it appears happened with this jersey.

[LEGEND33]

Thanks for the info.
Alberto

[LEGEND33]

WARMUPS TAG (i have also a red one version)

[otismalibu]

Washington's home uniforms from 1983-84 to 1986-87 had four additional blue thin stripes that ran parallel to the thicker red and white stripes on the front of the jerseys that are not present on this jersey. These thin blue stripes were located as one above and one below each of the thick red stripes with about one inch of the white stripe showing between the blue and red stripes.

You can see in the photo that Alberto posted - no thin stripes. There are also a number of Getty photos against the Mavs that show Bol wearing a home jersey with no thin stripes.

But, Getty #102316243 is supposedly from the same game against the Mavs, and it looks as though the Bullets jersey have a seam across the back. I don't see a nameplate.

[tcfor3]

In response to the photos posted with Manute wearing a jersey without the thin blue lines that the Bullets wore in Manute’s first two seasons (1985-86 and 1986-87).

The images of Manute from the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks games are from preseason games. My collection of photos are from regular season and playoff games only so this is the first time I have seen images that show the Bullets wearing older style jerseys during a future season's preseason.

While these do show Bol wearing a jersey without the thin blue stripes, there are still marked differences between the jersey pictured on this thread and the one that Bol is wearing in the Getty images.

The numbers and letters on the jersey that Bol wears in the images against the Knicks and Mavericks do not match up in placement on the front of the jersey with the jersey pictured on this thread. The name on the back of the jersey is also placed on the jersey with much more of an arch and also doesn’t match up in placement in relation to the numbers on the jersey as with the name on the nameplate shown on Getty image #102316243. The numbers on the back of the jersey pictured on this thread are also sewn much closer together than on the Getty image jersey.

The line you describe on Getty image #102316243 is the bottom of the nameplate on the back of his jersey. You can see the same type of “line” on the jersey of the player (Jeff Malone) to Bol’s right.

During the mid 1980’s, the Bullets had precut nameplates made for their home and road jerseys that they would have a player’s name screened onto and then sewn onto a jersey as needed. I have several of these blank nameplates as well as a few others that have had player’s names screened on that were removed from jerseys when the player left the team. They are cut the same size.

So while there is evidence that the Bullets wore older style jerseys in Manute’s first preseason, the jersey in the Getty photos does not match the particular jersey pictured on this thread.

[otismalibu]

The images of Manute from the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks games are from preseason games. My collection of photos are from regular season and playoff games only so this is the first time I have seen images that show the Bullets wearing older style jerseys during a future season's preseason.

So, what we've learned here, is that your collection is not complete Pre-season game jerseys still count as game worn, although not as desirable as regular season or post season.

While these do show Bol wearing a jersey without the thin blue stripes, there are still marked differences between the jersey pictured on this thread and the one that Bol is wearing in the Getty images.

No one is saying that Alberto's jersey is a match to the photo. It was posted to show that Bol did indeed wear the jersey w/o the stripes you mentioned.

Those are some interesting nameplates on the Bullets jerseys. Why wouldn't they just cut plates to fit the name? Much less sewing involved in adding the plate and much less seam ripping when removing. Lot of extra work to basically hide the end seams.

[tcfor3]

First of all, I never said my collection was complete.

In addition, I am always willing to learn more about what teams have done in regards to there uniforms. While I have acquired a great deal of knowledge about several teams uniform histories, I am always ready to add to that knowledge.

While there is evidence that the Bol wore a Bullets jersey that did not have the additional blue stripes during the preseason of his rookie year, the jersey pictured on this thread is not that jersey.

It would be highly unlikely for the Bullets to make more than one home or road jersey for any player for the preseason unless there is evidence that that particular player's jersey was lost or stolen during that preseason. They wouldn't have gone to that expense unless absolutely necessary.

Second, my original question still stands, This jersey doesn't have the name on a nameplate, so why or for what reason was it made?

If anyone can shed some light onto that, please do.

[otismalibu]

While there is evidence that the Bol wore a Bullets jersey that did not have the additional blue stripes during the preseason of his rookie year, the jersey pictured on this thread is not that jersey.

Yeah, I think we've established that. It's not a photomatch thread...it's a RIP tribute thread. The only reason the photo was posted was in response to your claim that he didn't wear Bullets jerseys w/o the stripe.

They wouldn't have gone to that expense unless absolutely necessary.

They were spending all their money on nameplate material and thread.

This jersey doesn't have the name on a nameplate, so why or for what reason was it made?

Retail? I've picked up a few Wilson 76ers jerseys that were exactly the same as their late 70s/early 80s gamers. Supposedly, these were sold to the public. Just bought one on eBay a couple days back. No name on back.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=390212648268

Did they do this with Bullets jerseys? Could fans buy nameless jerseys just like what the players wore? If so, maybe a Dandridge retail jersey was improperly customized after the fact. Or maybe it's a Dandridge gamer? I could find any photos of Dandridge where the front numbers matched up.

[tcfor3]

This isn't a retail jersey because there is an additional white cloth tag attached to the Wilson tag on the front that should have the additional length that this jersey has when it was made written on it. That tag wouldn't have been added to retail jerseys by Wilson.

This could be a Dandridge game jersey that someone had Bol screened directly onto the back.

This could have been done by the Bullets' front office to have pictures taken at a press conference of Bol holding the jersey when he was signed. A search for images from when Bol was signed by the Bullets may show that this was done.

I have looked through the Bullets media guide from 1985-86 and newsletters from that era, but none show a photo from Bol's press conference when he signed.