Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

[sox83cubs84]

The jersey being highlighted is a fully legitimate 1991 Cardinals road jersey of pitcher Mark Clark. The jersey has the pre-1988 Rawlings tag in the tail (no flag tag, sometimes encountered in Cardinals gamers of the era). The Rawlings sleeve logo is on the navy stripe on the right sleeve tip, a location first used in 1988. The red Rawlings tag, though not in general usage in 1988, did appear on a few jerseys. Now, the fun part: Clark didn't pitch in the majors for the Cards until 1991. Despite the variant factors being inconsistent, it is still a perfectly fine game-worn jersey source originally from the team's fan convention.

Dave Miedema

[Birdbats]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

Dave, to add to the unusual nature of this jersey, the interior of the sleeve bands are red/white/navy. In my experience, 1986 should be the last year you'd see shells with that feature. Starting in 1987, the interior of the bands were solid navy. So, you have a jersey with sleeve bands from 1986, a jock tag from 1987, a word mark from 1988 worn by a guy in September 1991.

To me, the best explanation is that this is a 1986 shell and the Rawlings word mark was added to the navy band so that it would conform to the other jerseys (perhaps there was a contractual obligation?). I've asked my contact with the Cardinals about this jersey and he's skeptical the team would have gone to such lengths, but he can't rule it out. So, there's still more research to be done on this one.

[Birdbats]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

Dave, here are photos I use as a rule of thumb to identify jersey shells without year flags. We all know there are no absolutes when it comes to jerseys, but it's rare to find jerseys (like the one on eBay) that don't conform. Honestly, I'd like to see a few more '86 Cardinals exemplars to be certain, but I have (and have seen) plenty of exemplars from surrounding seasons.



One would think if any team would add a Rawlings work mark to the sleeve of an old shell, it would be the Cardinals since Rawlings is a St. Louis-based company. Not only is it a civic pride thing, but the team would have easy access to the manufacturer. And, again, it's possible the contract with Rawlings after 1986 required the logo/word mark to be visible on all uniforms.

[sox83cubs84]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

Dave, to add to the unusual nature of this jersey, the interior of the sleeve bands are red/white/navy. In my experience, 1986 should be the last year you'd see shells with that feature. Starting in 1987, the interior of the bands were solid navy. So, you have a jersey with sleeve bands from 1986, a jock tag from 1987, a word mark from 1988 worn by a guy in September 1991.

To me, the best explanation is that this is a 1986 shell and the Rawlings word mark was added to the navy band so that it would conform to the other jerseys (perhaps there was a contractual obligation?). I've asked my contact with the Cardinals about this jersey and he's skeptical the team would have gone to such lengths, but he can't rule it out. So, there's still more research to be done on this one.

That's a distinct possibility. With the signing of the uniform contract for MLB by Rawlings for 1987-91, that gave Rawlings the right to add the sleeve wordmarks. This would support your belief of consistency being sought.

Dave Miedema

[Birdbats]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

The owner of the jersey in question, who fortunately still has the jersey in his possession because it hasn't been paid for yet, was kind enough to send me a photo of the inside of the sleeve.



The fact the word mark is visible from the inside suggests it was added after the fact. If it had been included when the jersey was made, the back of the stitching almost certainly would have been concealed by the navy material that's folded under the sleeve and hemmed along the border with the white stripe.

I don't know if we can call this 100 percent proof, but it strongly supports the theory that this shell was made prior to 1987 and altered for use (by the team/manufacturer) in 1991.

[Birdbats]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

Just a quick postscript: The Cardinals adopted new uniforms in 1992 -- button ups (not pullovers) with no banding on the sleeves. When Mark Clark was called up in September 1991, the team almost surely knew it would be wearing a new style jersey the following season. There's a good chance the team was letting its blank inventory run low. So (my hunch), the September call ups arrive and there aren't enough 1988-91 blanks available for everyone. Would you spend $100-plus on a new shirt for a rookie for one month? Or, would you run down the street to Rawlings and ask them to add their word mark to the sleeve of a pre-1987 blank -- knowing any remaining blanks couldn't be used in '92 and would be completely wasted otherwise? This, to me, seems like an entirely reasonable explanation for the Clark jersey.

[sox83cubs84]

Re: Long Rawlings tag carryover on gaer

Just a quick postscript: The Cardinals adopted new uniforms in 1992 -- button ups (not pullovers) with no banding on the sleeves. When Mark Clark was called up in September 1991, the team almost surely knew it would be wearing a new style jersey the following season. There's a good chance the team was letting its blank inventory run low. So (my hunch), the September call ups arrive and there aren't enough 1988-91 blanks available for everyone. Would you spend $100-plus on a new shirt for a rookie for one month? Or, would you run down the street to Rawlings and ask them to add their word mark to the sleeve of a pre-1987 blank -- knowing any remaining blanks couldn't be used in '92 and would be completely wasted otherwise? This, to me, seems like an entirely reasonable explanation for the Clark jersey.

Sounds good to me,

Dave M.