Supply and Demand???

[MVP]

As a collector of game worn jerseys I find it to be an interesting time to collect. I never collected jerseys for their resale value just for collecting sake and owning a piece of the game. About 10 years ago I paid around $150-$200 for scrub players. Now you can pick up a scrub major league player on ebay for $50-$100 on ebay etc. However I have noticed the surplus of jersey from various teams. I guess the teams have figured out they can start making a few extra bucks on selling the jerseys. I even heard that the 2005 Toronto Blue Jays jerseys go up to Set 12... (36 jerseys per player).... Blue Jays jerseys were once GOLD, now with 12 jerseys per style that means the players probably only wore each jersey about 3-4 times if at all ( since they have 3 styles) ...WOW....My question is are these jerseys from the various teams really being used, or are the teams just selling them as being used. A lot of the modern jerseys post 2000 that I have picked up show very little use. I liked when the teams were cheap and re-used their jerseys and recycled them to the minors. I have a few great 1999-2000 Red Sox jerseys ( unbelievable use) that were used during the 1999 season with the All Star patch, then re-used in Spring Trainning of 2000 ( they added the MLB patch to the back neck area and kept the All Star patch on sleeve) I guess this practice no longer exists or does it? After all that, my question is...Which teams are cheap and still only issue 2 jerseys per style to each player throughout the season? Or are there any?

thanks, Henry

[Swoboda4]

The big markets teams are issued more sets ,and as I was told,they are for the purpose of gifts by the respected player(Charities,friends,etc). It's to the point now that the Mets make additional sets without being asked,even more to star players. This year will see more sets per player as more teams have their own game used store. Like I've said before the golden years for G/U jersey's(Like you referred to)-pre 2001 is similar to baseballcards being of less value after 1983.
You're also right about being able to buy good jerseys for about $300-400 a few years ago. I still think about the Andy Van Slyke jersey that was sold on E-Bay from Rod Woodson's bar and grill-$320. Don't remind me.

[kingjammy24]

Henry,

While I'm not 100% positive, I think you've got things in reverse.
It's not the teams ordering all of these extra sets of jerseys nor are teams telling players how many times to wear a certain jersey.
It's the player who make these decisions. Players decide how many sets of jerseys they want and players decide which jerseys to wear and when.
I don't believe that the Jays, for example, secretly order 12 sets of Roy Halladay jerseys and give him 2 or 3 and sell the others. Nor do I believe that they give him 12 sets and instruct him to only wear each one 3 times. Roy orders how ever many Roy wants and he decides how many times he's going to wear each one. Ever notice how there are a ton of Manny Ramirez jerseys constantly available? That's Manny's doing, not the Red Sox. I can't speak for any other teams, but I know the Jays don't intentionally sell unworn jerseys as worn. In fact, their equipment manager is one of the few I know of who marks up each jersey to denote if it was actually used or not. Additionally, the guy who handles their sales does his best to look at their jerseys and try to spot wear. If he doesn't see wear, he sells them as "Game Ready". If he spots obvious wear, he sells them as "Game Worn". You asked if there are any 'cheap' teams which still only issue 2 sets per style. The team will issue however many sets the player requests. The reason I believe it was different "in the old days" is because far fewer players were making money from the hobby. Griffey was at it from day one, but for the most part players back then weren't ordering 12 sets because they simply weren't as involved in the market as they are now. Mike Greenwell didn't think of starting www.mikegreenwell.com (http://www.mikegreenwell.com) and selling his jerseys for $2000 a pop like Manny Ramirez does. And I don't recall anything like "Jose Canseco Authenticated" like exists with ARod, Sheffield, or Bonds today.

Rudy.

[trsent]

Mike Greenwell didn't think of starting www.mikegreenwell.com (http://www.mikegreenwell.com) and selling his jerseys for $2000 a pop like Manny Ramirez does.

Ok, I was the first sucker to go to mikegreenwell.com just to find that it doesn't exist! Oh well, does mikepagliarulo.com exist?

[MVP]

Rudy:

Good points. I just posted that example because I had not heard of a jerseys tagged as high as set 12 before. Actually , I have never seen a jersey that was higher than Set 4 or 5. However, I have seen multiples of the Same set.... ( example (2) Set #1 for a particular player, etc..).

-Henry

[BaseballGM]

Henry,

While I'm not 100% positive, I think you've got things in reverse.
It's not the teams ordering all of these extra sets of jerseys nor are teams telling players how many times to wear a certain jersey.
It's the player who make these decisions. Players decide how many sets of jerseys they want and players decide which jerseys to wear and when.
I don't believe that the Jays, for example, secretly order 12 sets of Roy Halladay jerseys and give him 2 or 3 and sell the others. Nor do I believe that they give him 12 sets and instruct him to only wear each one 3 times. Roy orders how ever many Roy wants and he decides how many times he's going to wear each one. Ever notice how there are a ton of Manny Ramirez jerseys constantly available? That's Manny's doing, not the Red Sox. I can't speak for any other teams, but I know the Jays don't intentionally sell unworn jerseys as worn. In fact, their equipment manager is one of the few I know of who marks up each jersey to denote if it was actually used or not. Additionally, the guy who handles their sales does his best to look at their jerseys and try to spot wear. If he doesn't see wear, he sells them as "Game Ready". If he spots obvious wear, he sells them as "Game Worn". You asked if there are any 'cheap' teams which still only issue 2 sets per style. The team will issue however many sets the player requests. The reason I believe it was different "in the old days" is because far fewer players were making money from the hobby. Griffey was at it from day one, but for the most part players back then weren't ordering 12 sets because they simply weren't as involved in the market as they are now. Mike Greenwell didn't think of starting www.mikegreenwell.com (http://www.mikegreenwell.com) and selling his jerseys for $2000 a pop like Manny Ramirez does. And I don't recall anything like "Jose Canseco Authenticated" like exists with ARod, Sheffield, or Bonds today.

Rudy.
Rudy- I bought a 1994 Alomar home jersey back in '94. It has the square year only patch in the collar. I contacted the equipment manager at the time and he explained to me that only the first two sets of jerseys had "set" designations. After that, (#3 and on), the jersey would only have the year tag.

[kingjammy24]

baseballgm:

interesting. i didn't know the jays were selling their jerseys back as early as 94? i remember they had a team store downtown and it had a 'unadvertised' list for game used bats. you basically called up and put your name on a list for a certain player and as soon as that player cracked a bat, the next person on their list would be contacted. regardless of player, the bats were $50. ahh the days of a $50 rickey henderson or roberto alomar gameused bat straight from the team. at any rate, i was told by the jays that the 'year only' tags were typically applied to spares. that is, a spare would be ordered and be tagged with only the year. this spare might then be given to a player later on. i don't think this necessarily goes against what you were told though. to use your 94 alomar as an example:
the jays typically issued 2 road and 2 home. they'd then order spares for call-ups, trades, etc. so i imagine they gave alomar his 2 road and his 2 home, thus accounting for set 1 and set 2. for whatever reason, he required a third jersey, so they gave him one of the spares which was year-tagged only. this third jersey would essentially be the "set 3", except all it would have is the year tag. i've seen a few of the 'year tag only' jays jerseys and always wondered why they were different. now i know!

Rudy.

[BaseballGM]

Rudy:
I should have been more clear when I wrote "bought." I was the high bidder of the item at Kirby Puckett's 8 Ball Charity Tournament/Auction in November 1994. At that time, Blue Jays jerseys were just about impossible to find and definitely weren't being sold directly to the public.

Kevin