Mid-late 80's Sand Knit tagging on NY Giants

[jakemrosen]

There is a 80s NY Giants Bavaro #89 jersey on ebay. I have some real interest in the jersey for my collection (have exchanged a variety of emails with the seller) but have not seen a similar jersey without specific year/ numerical sizing tags. This one is marked XL. It has a slew of game use markings, etc but before i buy it and attempt to authenticate, does anyone have pics or information that could help?

[BarryMeisel]

Hi Jake,

Barry Meisel from MeiGray here. We marketed the NY Giants jerseys from 1997-2002, and when we purchased their complete collection in 1997 we received jerseys back to the late '80s, and did extensive research on them.

Be very, very careful with the Bavaro on Ebay. From the pics I see, and I want to make it clear that it is not sufficient to do research simply from photos on Ebay, it does not appear that the name Bavaro is sewn onto a nameplate. I don't believe the Giants applied names directly to the jerseys in the mid to late '80s. That needs to be more extensively researched, because it appears as if this jersey has the name applied directly to the jersey.

I would also ask the seller where he got this jersey. Another Bavaro was recently on Ebay, also with the name sewn directly to the jersey. I don't know if it was the same jersey as this one, or the same seller, but in that description the seller said he got it from somebody who knew one of the Giants' minority owners.

That description raised my eyebrows, especially since I was a sportswriter who covered the Giants for the NY Daily News from 1990-96, and knew this much: The Giants have never had a minority owner. They have been owned by the Mara family since their inception in 1926, and in 1991 added Bob Tisch as a 50 percent owner.

Hope this helps,

Barry

[jakemrosen]

I am going to try to get some more pictures of the name. Do you think the tagging looks ok? I went through Getty yesterday to try to find a comparable picture and found a picture of Pepper Johnson from 1986 with his shirt untucked that had similar tagging but not exactly the same...it was tough to tell. If you find any examples or pictures that could help, i would appreciate it. Thanks for the post.

[CollectGU]

Hi,

Barry is correct. This is the same seller who stated that they received from "from a friends uncle who was a minority shareholder in the Giants." It has been relisted now three times since. Here is the original listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280045267327&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1
When I asked for 30 day money back guarantee to have the jersey inspected, the seller refused.

Regards,
Dave

[jakemrosen]

Some pictures of the name area and yoke that the seller took and just sent to me...it seems the consensus it that there are too many issues with this jersey...any think it has a chance to be legit?

[hesaidshesaid]

jersey is not real. I owned it, received it along with a game worn one which was a 48, 89' year tag and a cosby manufacturer tag. This jersey had no wear and the name was added after the fact. The tears and wear were not on the jersey when I sold it, I tried to tell the owner on ebay that I owned it at one point a few months back with no response. Flat fact is the Giants never had names directly onthe shirt. Some had cosby tags some didnt, all had year tags , and all had name plates.

[jakemrosen]

Thanks to everyone for the help...case closed. Seems like a sure fraud.