Huggins & Scott: Roberto Alomar jersey

[kingjammy24]

while perusing the current Huggins & Scott auction, i noticed a lot that included a "game used Roberto Alomar jersey" - http://www.hugginsandscott.com/cgi-bin/showitem.pl?itemid=8399

long story short, it's not. i contacted Huggins & Scott and they quickly amended the description. no big deal. i'm posting because there may be some jays fans interested in what makes this jersey "not good".

in this particular jersey style, 1990 was the only year that wilson put the tag in the body. all other years it was in the collar. the tag in the collar confirms it's from 1990. the tag has the year only though indicating it was originally intended to be a spare jersey. jerseys made at the factory for specific players in mind had strip tags with the uniform number, year, and set number. alomar didn't play for the jays in 1990. his first year with them was 1991. it's not a 1991 jersey because it lacks the all-star game patch which the jays wore during all of 1991 as toronto hosted the all-star game that season. the other reason it's not from 1991-1993 is because the nob is the wrong font. it's too thick and the incorrect style is most pronounced in the "A". here's how the "A" should look:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/4690/alomarza2.jpg

it should be a flat-top "A". the auction jersey shows a sharp-top "A". the jays switched to the thick font and sharp-top "A" in mid-94. by 1995, all of their jerseys used the font seen in the auction jersey. however it's not a 1994 jersey because it lacks the MLB 125 patch. i have a very hard time believing that in 1995, the jays took a 5-year old spare and had it made into a jersey for their premier player who had been with them since 1991.

anyhoo...hoping that enlightened at least one person out there.

rudy.

[Dewey2007]

I think it's refreshing to read that an Auction House actually took the input you provided on the jersey and did the right thing and amended their listing.

Just reading posts over the 4-5 months I've been a member of the forum it seems that there are a number of Auctions Houses that probably would not have done this and told you to take a hike.

I have an item up for auction on Huggins & Scott and they have been great the whole way. I don't know how big of a player they are on the Sports Auction House scene but I don't see them mentioned on the boards much so maybe that's a good thing.

[kingjammy24]

forgot to add:

the jays spares during that time would be numbered and lettered locally, not at the wilson factory. often, the local shop made errors and one of the errors they'd often make was using a sharp-top "A" when the rest of the jerseys from wilson used flat-top "A's". jim yackel had a 1991 tom candiotti jays gamer that was tagged as a spare (appropriate as candiotti arrived mid-season in a trade) and had the sharp-top "A" (the local shop made their usual error). seeing as how alomar didn't play for the jays in 1990 and the jersey is missing the 1991 all-star patch, there's a remote chance the jays took a 1990 spare and had it lettered locally in 1992. however, i still think the font is too think (the thickness first changed in 1995) and i've spoken to the jays about carryovers and they indicated that very rarely they may have used a 1 year carryover. i can't see a 2 yr carryover for alomar specifically. plus the font's still too thick.

rudy.

[momen55]

hey king;
you say the jersey in the auction has the pointed top A; it is flat? i am confused on what you are saying here. the pic of alomar shows the flattop A like the auction piece. am i missing something?:confused:

[kingjammy24]

it's true they both technically have flat tops. i suppose i used the term "sharp top" to denote a sharper, but not totally pointed, top than the "flat top".

this issue of the tops of "A's" isn't just relevant to jays jerseys. in my experience, it's subtle and because of the sublety provides one excellent way of sussing out whether a nob is correct. i've seen many 90s era fakes from several teams get tripped up by the "A" issue. it seems many lettering shops aren't as accurate as they need to be.

anyway, here's a comparison of the two fonts. you can see the difference in the two "A's". as well, you can see how the 1995+ font is thicker. it's subtle but enough to reveal the truth about a jersey. the alomar jersey pictured below is not the one from the huggins & scott auction. it's a properly tagged 1995 alomar gamer.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/196/sillyzf5.jpg

the huggins & scott jersey has the 1995+ font even though it's a 1990 jersey. it should have the pre-95 font.

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5890/sillyrf7.jpg

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2548/silly2wr5.jpg

rudy.