MARK McGWIRE '99 ALL STAR JERSEY????

[hblakewolf]

Current offering in Hunt's auction, "1999 game worn McGwire All star jersey":

Lot Number: 332

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR AN ENLARGED PHOTO

Lot 332

Description: 1999 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals professional model road jersey from the 1999 All-Star game. Road grey knit shirt features embroidered Cardinals lettering on front with player #25 on left breast and on back. McGwire's name is stitched on nameplate on back. Embroidered 1999 All-Star game patch appears on left sleeve. Rawlings tagging appears stitched inside the front tail with adjacent flag tags noting size "52" and "2 inch shorter length". Custom stitching appears on the front tail reading "Mark McGwire 1999 All Star Game Fenway Park July 13, 1999". McGwire has signed the jersey above the number on back in black sharpie with his added notation "70" marking his record home run total of the previous season. Shirt exhibits light to moderate usage wear and retains superb display quality. Completely original and unaltered. Includes LOAs from Hunt Auctions (jersey), JSA (auto.) and an additional LOA from BAT (Baseball Assistance Team). Following the 1999 All-Star game most of the uniforms from the game were signed and donated to BAT: EX-MT
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Note the placement of the sleeve patch on the offered jersey-left sleeve.

Every photo I've located from this game shows McGwire wearing a jersey with the patch on the right sleeve:





Rudy has written a few previous threads about issues surrounding these jerseys and possibly he or another Forum reader can comment. Especially odd is that this has a LOA directly from BAT (see description).

This information has been forwarded to Hunt's and possibly they can shed some insight on this.

Howard Wolf
hblakewolf@comcast.net

[allstarsplus]

I think each player brought 2 jerseys to that All Star game so one could be given to BAT.

Could it be they knew the backup would go to BAT so they sewed the All Star patch to the opposite sleeve?

The Mac sig sure looks legit.

What always makes me uneasy with LOAs like the BAT LOA is that it doesn't guarantee that it is for that particular jersey once it has changed hands. Anybody can photocopy a letter and place it with another jersey so hopefully Hunt has done due dilligence with that in mind.

Hunt also has many years of experience auctioning BAT charity All Star jerseys so hopefully they have a logical explanation.

[nogloss]

I am a little confused. The jersey's description states "1999 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals professional model road jersey from the 1999 All-Star game". Later in the description it states "Shirt exhibits light to moderate usage wear and retains superb display quality". http://www.huntauctions.com/LIVE/ima...=332&lot_qual=

No where does it state the jersey was game worn. Is it possible the jersey was issued for the game but not worn? Maybe its my lack of understanding Hunt's terminology.

[sportscentury]

I am a little confused. The jersey's description states "1999 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals professional model road jersey from the 1999 All-Star game". Later in the description it states "Shirt exhibits light to moderate usage wear and retains superb display quality". http://www.huntauctions.com/LIVE/ima...=332&lot_qual=

No where does it state the jersey was game worn. Is it possible the jersey was issued for the game but not worn? Maybe its my lack of understanding Hunt's terminology.

The Hunt terminology can be pretty confusing. There was an entire thread about this recently (do a GUU search for Hunt and you will easily find it). They use different terms to describe very similar (in terms of game issued/game used status) items. As you point out, just because they don't use the words "game used" in item title, doesn't mean that they aren't suggesting that the item was indeed game used.

[mr.miracle]

I am a little confused. The jersey's description states "1999 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals professional model road jersey from the 1999 All-Star game". Later in the description it states "Shirt exhibits light to moderate usage wear and retains superb display quality". http://www.huntauctions.com/LIVE/ima...=332&lot_qual=

No where does it state the jersey was game worn. Is it possible the jersey was issued for the game but not worn? Maybe its my lack of understanding Hunt's terminology.

Hunt lists all of their auctions to my knowledge as professional model jersey's whether they show light to no use, moderate use, heavy use etc. The question is, if this is a game issued jersey then how the heck does this or any show "light to moderate usage wear"?

[Birdbats]

I, too, sent Hunt an e-mail last night sharing the same concerns. I also gave them a half-dozen reasons why I think the 2001 Pujols jersey is not up to snuff. If they'd just put the 2001 side-by-side with the legit 2009 shirt they also are auctioning, the differences in the fonts, number/name (plate) placement and custom hem should jump out at them. They really shouldn't have to look any further than the 5 on front to know their jersey doesn't measure up.

[sportscentury]

If they are bad, I certainly hope they remove them. Winning bidders may have a tough time returning them after the fact, even if they have proof that they are bad. I bought a 1977 Carlton road jersey from Hunt once. It was sold as game worn, all original, unaltered. Well, Howard Wolf quickly demonstrated that the nameplate was restored (if memory serves me, I think Howard distinctly pointed out 6 or 7 things wrong with it, not the least of which was extra pin-holes!). I drove to Hunt's office to show them the proof, but David Hunt still insisted that it was all original, unaltered, including the nameplate. This was back when Hunt was using MEARS, so I contacted Dave Bushing and Dan Knoll. They reviewed the jersey again, and each individually called me to apologize for the mistake, which I very much appreciated. Bushing and Knoll quickly agreed that it was restored. Still, Hunt insisted it was all original, unaltered. I did get my money back, but it was only because of MEARS' buyback guarantee. I have not bid on a Hunt Auction item since. I don't even get their catalogs any longer. The jersey was over 7 grand ... I mean, who needs that kind of upset or hassle? They do offer some great items, and I don't have anything against the auction house ... but I just decided it was too risky to bid any longer. I thought about trying them out again when they offered Kobe's Christmas shoes earlier this year, but I couldn't match them with any photos.

[nogloss]

It's funny you mention the Pujols jersey, because its one of the few jerseys in this auction that they label "game used". There exact terminology is "2009 Albert Pujols autographed game worn St. Louis Cardinals home jersey". It makes me nervous when some of the jerseys have the "game used" moniker, while most do not. Does this mean that a jersey with "light use" is realy game issued?

[sportscentury]

It's funny you mention the Pujols jersey, because its one of the few jerseys in this auction that they label "game used". There exact terminology is "2009 Albert Pujols autographed game worn St. Louis Cardinals home jersey". It makes me nervous when some of the jerseys have the "game used" moniker, while most do not. Does this mean that a jersey with "light use" is realy game issued?

Again, you need to read the other thread that already covered this. Since you didn't want to take five seconds to search for it, here it is:

http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ad.php?t=25636

[Birdbats]

It's funny you mention the Pujols jersey, because its one of the few jerseys in this auction that they label "game used". There exact terminology is "2009 Albert Pujols autographed game worn St. Louis Cardinals home jersey". It makes me nervous when some of the jerseys have the "game used" moniker, while most do not. Does this mean that a jersey with "light use" is realy game issued?

Don't confuse the Pujols jerseys. The 2009 is game used. It's the 2001 jersey that has multiple inconsistencies.