Hidden Gem On Ebay

[G1X]

As some of you know, the New England Patriots Pro Shop places various game-used jerseys on eBay. An auction ended a few minutes ago of a circa 1972 durene jersey worn by #35-Henry Matthews. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Henry-M...YAAOSwEzxYScwY

I collect durene jerseys, so the listing caught my attention. The jersey shows nice game use and has numerous repairs throughout the jersey. Matthews was a running back from Michigan State who played with the Patriots for only 3 games in 1972, and only one of those games was a home game where the Patriots wore their red durene jerseys (12/3 vs Miami). Matthews returned two kickoffs in the game and had no carries from scrimmage or receptions. That's a lot of wear, even if he wore the jersey in three of their 6 preseason games (and that's making the huge assumption that they wore durene in the preseason as the Pats were wearing mesh jerseys in the early part of the year).

It usually takes heavy pounding for the very durable durene jerseys to show good game use like the one in the auction. So it begs the question - why would a jersey that was worn probably no more than once by a player who saw very little action show so much game use? Perhaps because Patriot legend Jim Nance wore the jersey in 1970 and/or 1971! For those not familiar with Nance, he is in the Patriots Hall of Fame, was the AFL MVP in 1966, holds several AFL records including the two highest rushing yardage seasons (no one is close to his 1,458 yards in 1966), and for those of us who are fans of the defunct World Football League (1974 and '75), he is the WFL's all-time leading rusher.

I was hoping that no one would notice, but evidenced by the winning bid of $2,275, other collectors must have come to the same conclusion as me. (I was out of the running for this one as it surpassed my budget before the final day). There is always the possibility that the jersey was used in practice in subsequent seasons, but it would be strange to leave the Matthews plate on the back of a jersey being used in practice by another player. (I have no idea what the Pats were wearing in practice during that era other than it appears they were wearing solid-color mesh jerseys in preseason practice in 1973.)

Finding photo matches of jerseys worn in that era can be very difficult due to the limited number of photos that are easily available. I have numerous photo reference sources from that era, but I could not find a definitive match to the repairs on this jersey. I would love to inspect the jersey as something tells me that there might be signs that another plate was on the back. Regardless, I would bet the farm that Nance wore this jersey.

A nice pickup, and a great example of hidden gems that are occasionally right in front of us if we do a bit of digging.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

[TigersCubs84]

Thanks for this backstory. Interesting info. I know nothing about jersey's. How much you guys know is incredible.

[perlman9]

I was totally bummed as an MSU collector, thought I could land a cool jersey but yea, bidding got crazy!

[Samets]

I think the price wasn't that bad to be honest. I can only speak for Bears jerseys but a durene from even the 70's will now fetch over $1,000. Dick Evey from late 1960's just brought in $1,300 at Grey Flannel and he was just an OT with nothing special about his career...

[sox83cubs84]

As some of you know, the New England Patriots Pro Shop places various game-used jerseys on eBay. An auction ended a few minutes ago of a circa 1972 durene jersey worn by #35-Henry Matthews. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Henry-M...YAAOSwEzxYScwY

I collect durene jerseys, so the listing caught my attention. The jersey shows nice game use and has numerous repairs throughout the jersey. Matthews was a running back from Michigan State who played with the Patriots for only 3 games in 1972, and only one of those games was a home game where the Patriots wore their red durene jerseys (12/3 vs Miami). Matthews returned two kickoffs in the game and had no carries from scrimmage or receptions. That's a lot of wear, even if he wore the jersey in three of their 6 preseason games (and that's making the huge assumption that they wore durene in the preseason as the Pats were wearing mesh jerseys in the early part of the year).

It usually takes heavy pounding for the very durable durene jerseys to show good game use like the one in the auction. So it begs the question - why would a jersey that was worn probably no more than once by a player who saw very little action show so much game use? Perhaps because Patriot legend Jim Nance wore the jersey in 1970 and/or 1971! For those not familiar with Nance, he is in the Patriots Hall of Fame, was the AFL MVP in 1966, holds several AFL records including the two highest rushing yardage seasons (no one is close to his 1,458 yards in 1966), and for those of us who are fans of the defunct World Football League (1974 and '75), he is the WFL's all-time leading rusher.

I was hoping that no one would notice, but evidenced by the winning bid of $2,275, other collectors must have come to the same conclusion as me. (I was out of the running for this one as it surpassed my budget before the final day). There is always the possibility that the jersey was used in practice in subsequent seasons, but it would be strange to leave the Matthews plate on the back of a jersey being used in practice by another player. (I have no idea what the Pats were wearing in practice during that era other than it appears they were wearing solid-color mesh jerseys in preseason practice in 1973.)

Finding photo matches of jerseys worn in that era can be very difficult due to the limited number of photos that are easily available. I have numerous photo reference sources from that era, but I could not find a definitive match to the repairs on this jersey. I would love to inspect the jersey as something tells me that there might be signs that another plate was on the back. Regardless, I would bet the farm that Nance wore this jersey.

A nice pickup, and a great example of hidden gems that are occasionally right in front of us if we do a bit of digging.

Mark Hayne
Gridiron Exchange
gixc@verizon.net

I agree with you Mark. The Rawlings tag design on this jersey was the normal design for 1970-71.

Dave Miedema