Info Needed Mazzilli '86 Mets Bench Jacket

[Swoboda4]

Doodles you're on! I forgot. I'll buy it from you. Thank you very much.-Robert

[TNTtoys]

As I said earlier, I have an authentic team issued patch if you want it. The way to tell is the little blue w on the right side bat handle. No repro has it. Also the authentic patch measures 3 1/2 in. top to bottom. The team issued Fan Club patch measures 3".

Steve,

While no reproductions have contained the "little W", it's worth noting that there were 2 versions of this patch worn on field in 1986, an earlier one and a later one -- the earlier version of this patch did not have the "w" either.

One can safely say that if the patch contains the "w" it is authentic... however, not having it does not guarantee that it is not authentic.

Nick

[Doodles]

Nick,

I believe you, but I have looked at tons of pictures of this patch and have not noticed a second on field patch without the w. Do you have a photo?

Steve

[Doodles]

Doodles you're on! I forgot. I'll buy it from you. Thank you very much.-Robert

Robert,

An authentic patch is available on ebay and looks in great shape...item 361478839756. This way I can keep mine!

Steve

[Swoboda4]

Nick and Steve, thank you very much. Very interesting and let me add this. I looked at the patch on eBay and it does contain the W and priced accordingly but the "25" appears to be wider, or thicker than the example I have on the Dykstra, and on Nick's '86 jersey; where the "25" looks thinner. I'm on the road and can't research properly. Thank you both; I would have no idea about the patch otherwise .

[Doodles]

Nick and Steve, thank you very much. Very interesting and let me add this. I looked at the patch on eBay and it does contain the W and priced accordingly but the "25" appears to be wider, or thicker than the example I have on the Dykstra, and on Nick's '86 jersey; where the "25" looks thinner. I'm on the road and can't research properly. Thank you both; I would have no idea about the patch otherwise .

Swoboda,

You are very observant. Both my patches, the one on my jacket and the spare I have, exhibit what looks like a wider 25. Some of the buildings look a bit thicker too. I have wrestled with this issue and concluded the wider 25 could be is due to several possibilities:

1) The photos make the 25 look a bit wider than it actually is sometimes. This happened on the first patch I bought too.
2) Both my patches and the one for sale were never used on a jersey. Patches on game used jerseys were laundered with lots of other jerseys with harsh detergents probably every time they were worn on the field. I believe the threads on the top layers shrunk down a bit, and were abraded so that the buildings and 25 look a bit thinner.
3) It is possible that there were several batches made, per Nick's thought. Once the Mets won the World Series, they may have decided to run some more for fans and collectors and they were slightly different.

I have studied my patches and what I believe to be game used patches I have seen in pictures very closely (yes I am a nut). The little w is the same. On the other bat handle, there is a tiny little curl on the bottom of the line in the bat. The longer bridge cables have 3 tiny stitches. The stitches of the baseball all really defined and thick and hit the same things in the same spots. The e and the s in Mets have an extra white outline not usually seen. The outline is a fuzzy material, not thread. There is no repro I have seen that replicates all these tiny details properly.

On the left here is my vintage patch...on the right is an excellent repro I bought in 2011 for the 25th anniversary of 1986...see the differences? Even an excellent repro misses most of the details I mentioned. The authentic one also shows the thicker 25, especially where the 2 meets the orange ball.

[TNTtoys]

Nick,

I believe you, but I have looked at tons of pictures of this patch and have not noticed a second on field patch without the w. Do you have a photo?

Steve

Steve,

Another collector and I did a thorough analysis of our gamers, and found that the earlier issued 1986 gamers had an original version of the patch which discolored very easily and deteriorated over time. These generally had the greatest use out of all of the 86s. The latter batch had a "corrected" patch that matches those you have described here. I have photos of the jerseys (with some closeups of the patches) at home that I can upload later.

Nick