1988 GU Auto's Straw on Ebay

[Mets05]

For the Mets fans out there, those of us that are left:D ...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370278436398&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Enjoy!!!

[Mets05]

Not sure I can edit thread titles but should say Auto'd...BOL

[flaco1801]

size 42 for the strawman?

[sox83cubs84]

size 42 for the strawman?
Not totally surprising...that was still the days when 42 was still a normal sized guy's size in MLB unies. Strawman was tall, but lean. These days, you have to be a shrimp to wear a 42...but not in the 1980s.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[TNTtoys]

Not totally surprising...that was still the days when 42 was still a normal sized guy's size in MLB unies. Strawman was tall, but lean. These days, you have to be a shrimp to wear a 42...but not in the 1980s.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Dave,

Size looks fine to me, and the autograph is perfect. There are however a few things alarming to me about the jersey --

1. Where is the extra length tag? Strawberry may have been skinny enough to fit into a size 42, but he was so tall he ordered his jerseys with extra length.

2. Why is the set flag tag partially covered in the photo? I have written to the seller asking for a better photo or even a description of what the tag reads. This was at 5 days ago. I have yet to receive a response.

3. The back #1 appears to be much larger than the back #8. Do you see what I mean? Almost like it's got an extra inch. I don't know what to make of this.

All along, I have been very interested in this jersey for my own collection, but I am having second thoughts now.

Nick

[flaco1801]

i have straws tides jersey and its a sandknit/mooneys extra large

[suave1477]

TnT as we have discussed and to help further educate the forum on the question marks with the Jersey.

1) Although it could be possible he wore a size 42, by 1988 he was most likely wearing a 44.
2) To add to this, this Jersey shows a tapered tag which I have never seen on a Strawberry Jersey.
3) Not to say this isn't possible but you add the 2 things together size 42 and Tapered = a very small tight fit Jersey even for Strawberry. Which basically makes it a 41 - 3 Sizes down from where he should be.
4) Strawberry has always had extra length added to his Jersey - which this one is missing.

[cbb5]

Check out the attached pic from the order for 1989! Straw still shows 42T! Interesting!

[TNTtoys]

Check out the attached pic from the order for 1989! Straw still shows 42T! Interesting!

Thanks for the information, it was quite interesting! Despite the information that he ordered 42Ts in 1989, the fact that there is a "T" tag on the 1988 shirt is still an issue. I do not believe that Rawlings was applying such a tag to those shirts at that time; case and point, I have Bil Robinson's 1989 set 1, and his jersey despite being a size 46 tapered does not have a T patch. I can only remember seeing these patches on the 90s and beyond. Where the player had also ordered "extra length" (which was the case with Strawberry), the "T" patch was not present, in light of the extra length tag in the same positioning. All Strawberry jerseys I have seen from this era have had the extra length tag; this one didn't.

[ironmanfan]

Thanks for the information, it was quite interesting! Despite the information that he ordered 42Ts in 1989, the fact that there is a "T" tag on the 1988 shirt is still an issue. I do not believe that Rawlings was applying such a tag to those shirts at that time;

I own two Cal Ripken Jr. 1988 GU jersey's and they both have the "T" tag

[TNTtoys]

I own two Cal Ripken Jr. 1988 GU jersey's and they both have the "T" tag

My mistake. They appear to be on 88s and beyond, not 90s and beyond. The differentiator is the "extra length" tag. When present, the "T" disappears, as is the case with the 2 '90 Strawberry tags below:

[CollectGU]

TnT as we have discussed and to help further educate the forum on the question marks with the Jersey.

1) Although it could be possible he wore a size 42, by 1988 he was most likely wearing a 44.
2) To add to this, this Jersey shows a tapered tag which I have never seen on a Strawberry Jersey.
3) Not to say this isn't possible but you add the 2 things together size 42 and Tapered = a very small tight fit Jersey even for Strawberry. Which basically makes it a 41 - 3 Sizes down from where he should be.
4) Strawberry has always had extra length added to his Jersey - which this one is missing.

Suave,

Did you see the order form, there goes points 1-3 down the toilet in your assesment. I'm serious when I ask this. What references are you guys using when comparing notes and making posts like above on the legitimacy of a jersey.

Thnaks,
Dave

[sox83cubs84]

The "T" tapered tags were definitely in use in 1989. I once viewed a legitimate 1989 Royals Bo Jackson ROAD jersey with one. Likely, the T tag would also be in his authentic game worn/issued home jerseys...something you do NOT see in the plethora of Score Board versions on the market.

Dave M.
Chicago area

[TNTtoys]

The "T" tapered tags were definitely in use in 1989. I once viewed a legitimate 1989 Royals Bo Jackson ROAD jersey with one. Likely, the T tag would also be in his authentic game worn/issued home jerseys...something you do NOT see in the plethora of Score Board versions on the market.

Dave M.
Chicago area

Dave,

The 1990 Jefferies Scoreboard had the "T" patch (I posted a photo of the tagging in another thread recently), whereas the 1990 Strawberry Scoreboard did not (instead, it had the 1" extra length tag in the same place). I am at a complete loss as to what science went into producing these jerseys, and there certainly is no consistency between them.

Somehow this thread has gone off on some parallel...

Nick

[cbb5]

Two examples of commons from the 1989 Mets with a T:
Kevin Tapani & Blaine Beatty

[kingjammy24]

1) i have in my photo library examples of rawlings common player gamers, from several teams, showing the Tapered tag throughout 1990 and 1991.

2) nick, i don't understand the correlation you're drawing between a jersey being tapered and it having extra length. the two are completely unrelated. a jersey can be tapered and have extra length added to it. tapering a shirt simply involves taking the sides in. it's meant to result in a "slimmer" (width wise) fit.

rudy.

[kingjammy24]

various common player gamers, from various AL teams, from 1989-1991 with Tapered tags and extra length tags.

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/3324/reggie.jpg

rudy.

[suave1477]

Suave,

Did you see the order form, there goes points 1-3 down the toilet in your assesment. I'm serious when I ask this. What references are you guys using when comparing notes and making posts like above on the legitimacy of a jersey.

Thnaks,
Dave

Dave did you read my points 1 through 3?

1) I said he could of worn 42 but mostlikely was wearing 44 (Never said anything was concrete)
2) I said the tapered tag I have never seen on a Strawberry Jersey (Self explanatory)
3) Said if it is a size 42 and tapered it would be very tight fitting (Stating the obvious not sure whats wrong with that)
4) Extra Length tag - I have always seen them on Strawberry Jerseys - never seen one with out (Again Self explanatory)

As far as what references im using is the numerous Strawberry jerseys I have handled. Jerseys from my own collection, Jerseys I have seen in auctions, Jerseys I have seen in others collections.

Again this is from what I have seen.
(Just for added reference to you Dave. I own estimated 20 game Used / Issued Strawberry jerseys - none of them have a tapered tag)

As this form that the other member produced is a defintie help in information, is it concrete in my mind NO. Because changes could of been added since this form was produced. Or this could be the form sent to make changes to the Jerseys.
I am not discrediting the form being shown at all just saying there can be many different angles to a Jersey.

[CollectGU]

Dave did you read my points 1 through 3?

1) I said he could of worn 42 but mostlikely was wearing 44 (Never said anything was concrete)
2) I said the tapered tag I have never seen on a Strawberry Jersey (Self explanatory)
3) Said if it is a size 42 and tapered it would be very tight fitting (Stating the obvious not sure whats wrong with that)
4) Extra Length tag - I have always seen them on Strawberry Jerseys - never seen one with out (Again Self explanatory)

As far as what references im using is the numerous Strawberry jerseys I have handled. Jerseys from my own collection, Jerseys I have seen in auctions, Jerseys I have seen in others collections.

Again this is from what I have seen.
(Just for added reference to you Dave. I own estimated 20 game Used / Issued Strawberry jerseys - none of them have a tapered tag)

As this form that the other member produced is a defintie help in information, is it concrete in my mind NO. Because changes could of been added since this form was produced. Or this could be the form sent to make changes to the Jerseys.
I am not discrediting the form being shown at all just saying there can be many different angles to a Jersey.


Suave,

Exactly which Strawberry jerseys do you have reference photos of from 86, 87, or 88 to make you feel it was most likely he was wearing 44 during 88?....

Thanks,
Dave

[TNTtoys]

nick, i don't understand the correlation you're drawing between a jersey being tapered and it having extra length. the two are completely unrelated. a jersey can be tapered and have extra length added to it. tapering a shirt simply involves taking the sides in. it's meant to result in a "slimmer" (width wise) fit.

Rudy,

Yes, the tapered tag has nothing to do with the added length; however, for whatever reason, I have seen many Strawberry jerseys from the 88-90 era that do not have the tapered tag; however, it is clear that from the order that the jerseys were in fact tapered. In comparison to other jerseys I have referenced, the extra length tag that appears on the Strawberry jerseys is in the same exact place that the tapered tag is on others.

Nick

[kingjammy24]

..however, for whatever reason, I have seen many Strawberry jerseys from the 88-90 era that do not have the tapered tag; however, it is clear that from the order that the jerseys were in fact tapered.

maybe it was too difficult for some to create a T tag? ;)

even without seeing any order forms or T tags, when you lay a jersey down flat, you can immediately tell if its been tapered. i'm assuming your previous idea was that, although they refer to 2 different aspects, the tags were applied on an "either or" basis by rawlings. its my experience that they were not. you had jerseys with both extra length tags and T tags from the late 80s to 1991.

re: the records posted in this thread
what exactly are those records? team records? mfr records? preliminary notes? final purchases? where are they from? how were they obtained?

if the records are found to be legit, complete, and accurate, then i'd think they trump whatever is seen on the market.

rudy.

[TNTtoys]

i'm assuming your previous idea was that, although they refer to 2 different aspects, the tags were applied on an "either or" basis by rawlings. its my experience that they were not.

re: the records posted in this thread
what exactly are those records? team records? mfr records? preliminary notes? final purchases? where are they from? how were they obtained?



1- It's been my experience that the "T" tag was in the same place as the extra length tag and that a jersey such as the 90 Strawberry that has been both tapered and had length added only exhibits one of the 2 tags. Whereas my examples demonstrate this, yours demonstrate otherwise. So... there is no concrete answer here. I guess it's a factory quality control issue.

2- Look back through this thread to see a photographed jersey order sheet from Charlie Samuels for the start of the 1989 season. That is the "record" I was referring to.

No biggie here. It's not really the original point of the thread.

Back to why we're here --

Apart from many points raised here, the most compelling argument against this jersey being good --

The letters and numbers are NOT machine cut letters; they are hand cut letters varying in size, and they never would have come out of the factory this way. I would be extremely wary spending my money on a jersey that might be a blank that was customized after the fact into the star player of the time. Letters and numbers alone will keep me away from the jersey.

[cbb5]

I don't know about dismissing this so fast. Check out the pictures on Getty from 1988 and the pinstripes look like they might match up. Kingjammy, can you employ your expert photomatch services on this one? Should be pretty fast I think!

[TNTtoys]

I don't know about dismissing this so fast. Check out the pictures on Getty from 1988 and the pinstripes look like they might match up. Kingjammy, can you employ your expert photomatch services on this one? Should be pretty fast I think!

It would be nice if there were a shot of him from behind. Like I said earlier, the single biggest deterrent for me was the fact that the numbers and letters were cut to varying sizes. A "back shot" would be a fantastic way to show such an anomaly.