'70s Brewer Jersey Help

[mattmueller]

I recently acquired a 1973 Brewer home white, size 40, #16 jersey. The jersey shows its age and a bit of use, stitching is letting go on some of the lettering and numbers. And with no #16 on the Brewer's roster until 1975, it is likely this use came through a spring training / minor league use. When I received and examined the jersey, I noticed the left sleeve had a thin black arm band attached to it. This band has the appearance of almost a flat, braided rope that is 1/2" wide and appears at the tip of the sleeve, and was attached by two parallel straight line stitch patterns around the sleeve. This band has almost no wear or fading.

I would appreciate any information that anybody could provide as to if the Brewers or their minor league affiliates made use of a black arm band similar to the one pictured.

Special thanks to Guy who alerted me to the Brewers wearing armbands in 1977 following the death of Danny Frisella. The attached baseball card of Sixto shows what I think these bands looked like, at least at the major league level. Unfortunately, not the same. No definitive word on if their minor league affiliates wore bands that year.

I would appreciate any assistance or knowledge people may have on the jersey.

Matt

[gwh11]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Matt, I'm still looking into this, but it appears that #16 was issued to Ron Theobald for '73 spring training.
Guy

[ironmanfan]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Another thought is perhaps that this was a recycled jersey used in Spring Training in 1977 and that is how the Brewers wore the memorial band at the time. Once the regular season started, they probaly used new jersey's and then applied a nicer, thicker band as showed on the card. Anyone have any '77 ST pictures of the Brewers?

[gwh11]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Matt,
Not sure about this picture, but take a look. The Brewers' Class-A affiliate Newark Co-Pilots used recycled Brewers jerseys in the mid-late '70s. Here's a 1977 card of Pablo Cavallo (they got the name misspelled). Most of the cards in the set show players wearing old Brewers jerseys. Does that look like he's sporting a black armband? Could he be wearing #16?
Guy

[gwh11]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Matt,
O.k., here's a theory:
In July of '76 a Newark Co-Pilots player by the name of Daniel Monson was shot to death. Monson, who was about the same age as Cavallo, was also from Puerto Rico. Could they have known each other? Looks like Cavallo wasn't on the roster w/him in '76, but who knows. Perhaps the black armband was a personal tribute on behalf of Cavallo?
Guy

[mattmueller]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Guy:

I can't really tell if there is an armband on the card/photo or not, looks like there very well could be. Heck, I missed it the first time I looked at the color picture provided me and even the first time I quickly handled the jersey. Anyhow, that sure is some great investigative work. I assume that there is no other photos of Co-Pilots that have an appearance of an armband?

As to the theory of personal arm band tribute, I guess that is not too far of a stretch. I will see if I can search any other things from those names as a starting point. Bottom line, would you be comfortable that is was a legit addition to the jersey?

As always, thank you for the knowledge, the amount you can learn from people on this site is amazing.

Matt

[gwh11]

Re: '70s Brewer Jersey Help

Matt,
I haven't seen any other pictures of Co-Pilots sporting anything looking like an armband.

I wonder if you could find someone who has a 1977 Newark program that lists the uniform numbers for the team.

From what I've seen so far, my guess is that the armband is not a team-instituted decoration.
Guy