Will Clark Jersey Sizes

[jonschuette]

Does anyone have a line on the jersey sizes Will Clark used through out his career?

Thanks

[Robert Sanders]

Assuming my jersey is legitimate (and I do feel very confident about it), a size he wore in 1994 is 44.

Robert

[Marichal27]

I was talking to someone about this on Saturday. Clark wore a 44 in the first few weeks in 1986 (rookie year). It was too baggy, he was skin and bones then, and used a size 42 after the first few weeks, then a bit later on in his career, he started wearing a 44 when he started to put some meat on him.

[jonschuette]

Thanks for your input.
The rookie jersey I have of Will's is a 42, which I purchased from Dick Dobbins. He said that for the first few weeks, Will worn a size 42.

[lon lewis]

Jonscheutte,

Marichal 27 is correct. Will Clark did start the 1986 season wearing a Wilson size 44 for both the 1st road trip and the 1st homestand. He then switched to a size 42 for the remainder of the '86 season. His initial 42's were lettered and numbered locally and bore only the '86 year tag with the Wilson tag. These were used until the order for the smaller size was recieved. With the Giants switch to Rawlings in '87 Clark changed sizes to a 44 and to the best of my knowledge wore that size for the rest of his Giants career. I think you've got the Dobbins quote backwards as Dick was well aware of the Clark size switch in '86 as he was given both the road jersey used vs Houston in the Giants 1st game (in which he homered in his 1st AB vs Ryan) and the home jersey from the 1st home game of the season (in which he homered also). both jerseys were Wilson 44's and were noted in sharpie regarding their status as Clark's 1st regular season jerseys. hope this helps.

[jonschuette]

lon lewis,

I appreciate your response to this matter. In looking at my certificate of authenticity from Dick Dobbins on the Will Clark 1986 jersey, he stated at the bottom of the letter and I quote, "Special Note: This shirt was acquired from the Ass't Equipment Man of the 1986 Giants. Clark started the season wearing size 42, moving up to size 44 some six weeks into the season, so this is "early season" in Clark's rookie year. DD" I have attached a picture of the letter. The quality is not great, as it is a picture and not a scan but if you zoom in you might be able to make out the note.

Jon

[lon lewis]

jonschuette,

I can appreciate your dilema. since I am the individual noted in the letter I can assure you that for some reason Dick Dobbins got his info backwards. Clark did indeed start the season in a 44 and switched to a 42 after the 1st road trip and homestand Also, Dobbins recieved all of the Clark jerseys of which there were many, from me on behalf of the Giants both during and after the 1986 season. with the exception of the 1st game jerseys given to Dobbins for his personal collection that were discussed in my previous post, all of the subsequent Clark jerseys were a size 42 and that size was used after the 1st road trip and 1st homestand. I can't make out the letters on the document. If it was issued after 1986 Dick inadvertently switched the sequence. I do know that in 1986 due to the demand for Clark jerseys he was moving the Clark jerseys as fast as they were provided so you may not be the original owner if you purchased this jersey at a later date. In any case you appear to own one of Clarks "rookie" jerseys.

[jonschuette]

Thanks lon for your insight. I actually purchased this jersey directly from Dick and spoke with him on the phone about it back in 1994. I am just curious how Dick came up with the six weeks.
Do you remember what the tagging looked like? I have seen two different versions.
Do you have a collection?
Also, do you know who may have the two size 44 jerseys?

Thanks

Jon

[lon lewis]

jonschuette,

let's start with the tagging. there are indeed two versions. The original 44's of which there were 2 homes and 2 roads were tagged with the standard 22 86 below the wilson tag. the first 2 home and road size 42 jerseys had only the 2 digit year 86 tag below the wilson as these were blank jerseys that were lettered and numbered locally. You can also tell these jerseys were done locally as the people who did them had a different way of making the vertical arc lettering/ nameplates. these jerseys were used until the order from Wilson came in All of the in season size 42 jerseys ordered from Wilson carried a 22 86 strip tag below the Wilson tag. One note about the Wilson tag- the Giants had at the beginning of the season a mixture of the "old" Wilson tags used from 1980-85 and the "prestige" tags I can't recall with 100% certainty if Clarks early 44's and 42's had either one or both styles. I don't currently have a "collection" however when I did collect, my primary focus was the Giants in general and the knits from 72-76 being my "speciality" or main focus. I also collected 49ers during the day. As far as the original 44's are concerned I think they went to Lelands when Dobbins sold his personal collection (less PCL items) to them in 1992. Where they are now is anyones guess. If you picked up your jersey in 1994 that probably explains the discrepancy in the size switch due to the 8 year time lag.The only reason I still remember it is because I've been asked fairly frequently about it since the '86 season and for some reason I still have my notes and inventory sheets of jerseys that were sent to Dobbins to sell fromthat year. They note how many of each player, home or road and sizes among other things.

[jonschuette]

Thanks lon for your time in this matter. How many jerseys did Will Clark wear in 1986?
So the 1990 All-Star Will Clark game used Jersey for Marichal27 is legit?

Thanks again.

Jon

[lon lewis]

jonschuette,

I'd be happy to address the Clark questions for you but let's do it off of the forum as this thread is probably getting boring for the others and many explanations are way too long for this area. If this is acceptable, email me at shadowsdad@worldnet.att.net