Gerald Laird 2003 Spring Training Used jersey?

[dwolfe12345]

I purchased a Spring Training used jersey from Gerald Laird on Ebay. After getting it, I had a few questions about it. I did not think I would have a hard time finding pictures of Gerald at Spring Training 03, but boy was I wrong. The main concerns I have about the jersey are:
1. It's a "Majestic Authentic Collection" jersey with the size 48 tag attached. It looks to have been washed a few time, but has the number 56 written on it. Gerald is number 51 and that is the number on the back of the jersey. Do they use these more than once?
2. The back of the jersey does not have the MLB logo above the number. It does have the velcro strap inside the logo.

The guy says he purchased 200 Rangers ST jerseys. his Ebay id is yourhockeystore I believe. Maybe someone can give me info on him or his jerseys.

Here are some pics of the jersey I purchased

[kingjammy24]

not sure why you believe your jersey is a 2003 ST jersey.
the style of jersey you have was used 2001-2002. in 2003, the rangers bp shirts underwent a redesign. here is a pic of laird in 2003 spring training. note the different jersey style:

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3455/lairdci3.jpg

i know the seller you're referring to and i believe he acquired a huge lot of ranger bp shirts from spring training. from what i recall, he frequently misidentified the years on his shirts. i think he gave his best shot but just didn't know enough to get it right.

here are the rangers in spring training 2001:

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/1948/stkg7.jpg

i'm not sure why your bp shirt doesn't have the mlb logo on the neck or the texas flag patch on the sleeve.

lairds first year with the rangers was 2003.

personally, i feel there's an inherant issue with collecting bp shirts and the issue is that it's sometimes impossible to discern major league and minor league bp shirts. that is, many minor league teams share the same team name as their major league parent clubs and as such, they often use bp shirts that are identical to the parent teams'. sometimes these bp shirts are recycled from the parent team to the minors. other times, there is no such recycling and the minor league teams shirts were used solely at the minor league level even though they look identical to the those worn by the major league parent team. the shirts look identical and there's no way of knowing whether they were recycled (and thus incurred major league use) or whether they were made up strictly for the minor league team (and thus incurred no major league use). for this reason, i'd only purchase bp shirts directly from a team or player. without that sort of provenance, you have little way of knowing whether it's a major league shirt or minor league shirt. i encountered this problem when searching for early 90s toronto blue jays bp gamers. i noticed that the dunedin blue jays wore bp shirts that were identical to the ones worn by the toronto blue jays. even the same manufacturer. perhaps they were recycled and perhaps they weren't. i had no way of knowing. without team/player provenance, i had no way of knowing whether that #12 bp shirt was worn by roberto alomar or by some scrub on the dunedin blue jays.

i notice that in 2001, the texas rangers had 3 minor league teams that also shared the same team name: the charlotte rangers, gcl rangers, and the pulaski rangers. could this shirt be from one these minor league teams? it's possible. this might explain why there's no mlb logo, no texas sleeve patch, and why there's a different number written on the tag.

rudy.

[dwolfe12345]

Thanks for all the info! He described it as a Laird 03 BP jersey. He also claims to have a Laird 02 jersey as well. I believe Laird's first spring training was in 02 not 03. I think he made the team in 03, but was only invited to ST in 02.

If you go to his ebay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/YourHockeyStore_Baseball-memorabilia_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ3595530QQftidZ2 QQtZkm

You will notice that all of his 03 jerseys look like the one I purchased. Do the Rangers have game jerseys and BP jerseys for spring training?

I asked him the same question about the patches on the sleeve and the MLB logos after I had already purchased the jersey. He sent a photo copy of a letter the Texas Rangers had sent him saying that the jerseys were worn by players during ST. He also maintains that he will offer a 100% money back guarantee.

If you notice on his auctions some of the 03 jerseys have the MLB logo and others do not. Also some of the front of the jerseys look different.

IN your opinion should I get my money back or take it to Gerald Larid next week at the game and ask him?

[dwolfe12345]

After taking your advise about it possibly being an 01-02 jersey, I believe it may be a Juan Alvarez jersey from 02. I contacted the seller about it. I will be very cautious and do my research ahead of time before purchasing another game used jersey.

[kingjammy24]

re: some more info on the issue i referred to earlier about it sometimes being very difficult to tell between a minor league shirt and major league shirt:

here is a pic of kevin mench playing for the 1999 pulaski rangers and mark texeira with the 2001/02 charlotte rangers. both are wearing 1994-2000 style texas rangers bp shirts:

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6025/rangae9.jpg

here's juan gonzalez on the cover of a 1998 texas rangers guide wearing the identical style jersey:

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/935/ranghm8.jpg

now were the pulaski/charlotte shirts once used by the texas rangers and then recycled down to the minors or did pulaski and charlotte receive their identical shirts directly from the manufacturer?

re: your laird jersey

it all depends on what you're looking for specifically; a texas rangers bp gamer or a laird bp gamer. if you're looking for a legit texas rangers bp gamer, then i'd have a look on www.meigray.com (http://www.meigray.com). they still have a ton left from 2000. if you're specifically looking for a laird bp gamer, here is what i would do:

it's tough to get complete lists of every player who showed up in a specific spring training. laird was traded from oakland to texas on jan 14, 2002 so it's possible that he was at spring training in 2002. we do know that he was at 2003 spring training though. as i showed, 2003 was the first year of a rangers bp redesign. their new bp jerseys had the "T" on right breast. the 2001-02 jersey were the ones that said "rangers" on the front. the pictures clearly show this. therefore, if you want a 2003 laird bp gamer, it's got to be the 2003-04 style. (their bp jerseys were redesigned again in 2005). just as the picture shows, it should have an mlb logo on the back collar and should be made by majestic. here is another photo of laird in 2003 spring training:

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/4870/1067148587040292226S425x425Q85.jpg

notice the arm gussets! the jersey you have has no arm gussets.

in short, the seller is wrong. it's not an '03. the jersey he sold you is a 2001-02 style. furthermore, it's a mystery why it lacks the mlb logo and the texas patch. here's some proof of the sellers confusion:

he lists this as a "2003 van poppel" (it's a 2001-2002 style):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140048270164

he also lists this as a "2003 blalock" (it's a 1994-2000 style):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140069048084

they're two completely different styles! even the manufacturers tags are different styles! yet they were both worn in 2003 huh? nonsense. in terms of dating these jerseys, the seller is off his completely off his rocker. 2 jerseys have different styles of the SAME manufacturer tag yet they're both from the same year?! nonsense. to be honest, i believe the sellers stock is legit, i just think he's completely mixed up on the years and players. i think the rangers gave him a whole pile of whatever they had lying around and he simply wasn't able to sort it all out properly. to date these jerseys properly you need to know the chronology of rangers bp style changes (which he doesn't) and the chronology of manufacturer tag styles (which he also doesn't). combine those two and you'll probably be +/- 1 year of when the jersey was really used.

so if i were you, i'd probably get my money back. there are just too many question marks to feel confident about it. it's a 2001-02 style jersey that lacks the mlb logo AND the sleeve patch AND it has some other number written on the tag. what you're looking for is a 2003-04 style WITH the mlb logo. i don't believe the 03-04 style had the texas patch. for an 03-04 bp, here is what it should look like:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/3046/rangtw1.jpg

here is a chronology of majestic tagging on bp jerseys and the respective corresponding years for each style of tag:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/662/rangtv9.jpg

rudy.

[bigtime59]

What kind of mesh fabric is this jersey?

[dwolfe12345]

Well the jersey is 100% nylon and is the thicker mesh material not like the newer Majestic jerseys.

I was looking at some of his other auctions and I think he knows what he is doing. He has 2 01 Mike Young jerseys that are the exact same style and color but are 150 different in price. Could that be because they are 2 different sizes and in 00 Carl Everet wore the same number Young did in 01? I think he knew 1 was a Young and the other was not but is trying to make extra on both. I think he knew no one would want a Juan Alvarez jersey so he called it a Laird because Gerald is currently on the team and someone might have interest in it!

Also I noticed he had a Hank Blalock jersey listed with the number 6. blalock has never worn the number 6. He did switch numbers but has only worn 9,11,12.

One of the few jerseys that I can tell is 100% is the Coco Cordero. I looked back and no one wore the #31 from 99-01 when Coco came to the Rangers. It also has the MLB logo on it.

I'm right along with you kingjammy, I think they are real, but I think he is labeling them wrong to make extra cash on them.

[dwolfe12345]

Nope, take that back about the Coco jersey! It has the 98-99 tagging. That guy is crooked, and I would suggest that if anyone purchased anything from him to take a look at the item again. I know he sales a ton of hockey game used items from some of the biggest names in hockey.