Mets Sid Fernandez & Agbayani Jerseys

[Zeenuts]

I have an opportunity to purchase some Hawaii-related Mets player jerseys. However, being relative new to this collecting arena, I am looking for information to verify the authenticity of the Sid Fernandez and Benny Agbayani jerseys which have become available.

Unfortunately, I do not know how to scan items to share with a posting. Consequently, the best I can do is provide a brief description and ask some questions which GUU members may be able to answer for me.

The first is a 1993 Sid Fernandez Mets road jersey. The manufacturer is Russell Athletic and there is a cloth wash tag and a Diamond Collection logo with size 52. Is Russell Athletic the correct manufacturer? There also appears to be the remnants of a white plastic-like tag under the maufacturer's wash tag, but it appears that what was originally not under the cloth tag was clipped so no information is available. I have seen other Russell Athletic wash tags, but they tended to have the white plastic-like tag which indicated 100% polyester or some information like that. There is no other tagging to indicate uniform number, size, year, and set #, which I believed the Mets used to do in the mid 1980's. The New York is in blue/orange/white script with a blue/orange/white bar below the city name. The blue in the middle of the New York is dark blue with no texture to the material. There is a velcro strip on the inside of the button line on the front in place of a button. There is a round Mets ball/skyline logo on the left sleeve which seems to be authentic. There is no neck-to-sleeve trim running along the shoulder down to the arms as other Mets uniforms may have had. There is an embroidered blue R on the right sleeve and the number 50 on the back with no other number shown on the front. Are there any other characteristics I should check out?

The second is purported to be a 1998 Mets white home jersey. The manufacturer is Russell Athletic and there is a cloth wash tag and a Diamond Collection logo with size 52 and a white plastic-like tag attached and showing below the cloth tag which reads 100% Polyester. The number 39 appears on the left front breast and on the back, unlike the more customary number 50 used for most of Agbayani's career. Benny may have also worn this jersey in 1999, but it appears more likely that this was a 1998 issue. Both the New York and number on the front and Agbayani and the number on the back are blue/orange/black with the blue portion having a diamond shaped ribbing texture like in 1999. The Mets in front is in blue/orange/black script with no line below the team name. There is a velcro strip on the inside of the button line on the front in place of a button. There is a round Mets ball/skyline logo on the left sleeve which seems to be authentic, including the trademark R in a circle near the 4 o'clock position of the sphere. There is no neck-to-sleeve trim running along the shoulder down to the arms. There is an embroidered blue R on the right sleeve. Are there any other characteristics I should check out?

The third is another Agbayani jersey which I believe is a 1999 Mets alternate road black knit Benny Agbayani jersey. The manufacturer is Russell Athletic and there is a cloth wash tag and a Diamond Collection logo with size 52 and a white plastic-like tag attached and showing below the cloth tag which reads 100% Polyester. Is Russell Athletic the correct manufacturer? The number 50 appears on the left front breast and on the back. Both the New York and number on the front and Agbayani and the number on the back are blue/white/orange with the blue portion having a diamond shaped ribbing texture. The New York is in an old style lettering and not in script. There is a velcro strip on the inside of the button line on the front in place of a button. There is a round Mets ball/skyline logo on the left sleeve and the skyline is in black, rather than the usual blue. However, there also is no trademark R in a circle around 4 o'clock in the white field of the sphere as it is in most of the logo patches I have seen. There is no neck-to-sleeve trim running along the shoulder down to the arms as other Mets uniforms may have had. There is an embroidered blue R on the right sleeve. Are there any other characteristics I should check out?

Again, I apologize for not having a photo scan, but I think my descriptions are pretty thorough. I would appreciate anyone's insight into what I am looking at. I am primarily interested in knowing if these jerseys are authentic team-issued items by the manufacturer. I don't really care if they happen to be game-used or not at it would be difficult to authentic that aspect of the jerseys. Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

Please contact Zeenuts@hawaii.rr.com if you can be of assistance. Thank you.

[TNTtoys]

Please send photos of all three jerseys to me at TNT_Toys@yahoo.com and I will be happy to authenticate each and every one of them for you. Mets jerseys are my expertise.
I really would like to see the jerseys instead of read a description of them though.

[Zeenuts]

Thank you for the offer, but I don't even have a cell phone with a camera. I'm from the post-60 year old generation and today's technology is beyond me.

[TNTtoys]

I'll do the best that I can based on your descriptions when I have a break later today.

[Zeenuts]

Thank you. Take your time. I would really appreciate any information you can provide as I am not as familiar with NY Mets jerseys. I'm slowly learning more about jerseys, but there are so many nuances to each manufacturer's way of tagging and because of the possibly annual variations in uniform designs, I can't stay abreast of every jersey modification. Overall, the jerseys appear to look all right, but I don't want to find out later that there might be something that I should have checked out. I am relying on other GUU members who are more familiar with specific organization's items to help me. In that way GUU provides a valuable service for the more serious collector which I hope to become one day.

As a Mets collector, I would also be very interested if you ever come across or know of a 1982 Carlos Diaz (a Hawaii-related player) jersey #32 or #48 or a 1983 #48 jersey. In a strange twist of fate, Diaz was traded by the Mets to the Dodgers for another Hawaii-related player, Sid Fernandez before the 1984 season.

I look forward to hearing your opinion on the Agbayani and Fernandez jerseys. Also, please let me know if you need more information regarding the jersey characteristics.

[TNTtoys]

My synopsis on the Sid jersey...others to follow.

The first is a 1993 Sid Fernandez Mets road jersey.
Year is fine; 1993 was Sid’s last year in New York

The manufacturer is Russell Athletic
That’s correct for 1993; Russell was the exclusive manufacturer of all Mets jerseys from 1992-1994

and there is a cloth wash tag and a Diamond Collection logo with size 52
Sounds ok but I cannot tell without seeing the tag. Not sure if Sid ever wore a jersey this large either. I have one of his earlier jerseys and it is much smaller.

There also appears to be the remnants of a white plastic-like tag under the maufacturer's wash tag, but it appears that what was originally not under the cloth tag was clipped so no information is available.
Again, sounds like what should be there; however, I have handled a lot of these jerseys and have never seen one with a clipped tag

There is no other tagging to indicate uniform number, size, year, and set #
This is correct for these jerseys; specifically Mets Russells from 1993 and 1994

The New York is in blue/orange/white script with a blue/orange/white bar below the city name.
Correct logo

The blue in the middle of the New York is dark blue with no texture to the material.
Correct

There is a velcro strip on the inside of the button line on the front in place of a button.
Correct

There is a round Mets ball/skyline logo on the left sleeve which seems to be authentic.
Sounds ok but I cannot vouch without seeing the patch; there have been several variations depending on years

There is no neck-to-sleeve trim running along the shoulder down to the arms as other Mets uniforms may have had.
This trim ceased in 1992, so correct

There is an embroidered blue R on the right sleeve and the number 50 on the back with no other number shown on the front.
Sounds good

Are there any other characteristics I should check out?
Is there blue and orange trim on the jersey? Specifically on the sleeve endings?
Name on back in correct font and size?

[TNTtoys]

As a Mets collector, I would also be very interested if you ever come across or know of a 1982 Carlos Diaz (a Hawaii-related player) jersey #32 or #48 or a 1983 #48 jersey. In a strange twist of fate, Diaz was traded by the Mets to the Dodgers for another Hawaii-related player, Sid Fernandez before the 1984 season.

Carlos Diaz wore #32 for the Mets in both 1982 and 1983. He never wore #48 as a Met. I just checked his history, and he only wore #48 as an Atlanta Brave in 1982 before coming to the Mets.

I in fact have a Carlos Diaz jersey (#32) from 1983, but I am not prepared to part with it at this point. I am a "1 of every style" Mets jersey collector, and my Diaz jersey is the only one of a specific style that I have. It is the "road BP" from 1983 with the interlocking silver NY logo on the left front of the jersey. If I were able to acquire another of this style jersey, I will have no problem parting with the Diaz.

[joelsabi]

Is Russell Athletic the correct manufacturer? There also appears to be the remnants of a white plastic-like tag under the maufacturer's wash tag, but it appears that what was originally not under the cloth tag was clipped so no information is available. I have seen other Russell Athletic wash tags, but they tended to have the white plastic-like tag which indicated 100% polyester or some information like that. .

I found an alleged 1993 Mets Home jersey Ebay listing. It is a Russell.
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=270513534868
photo attached. Maybe Nick can tell if the listing is legit and then you can compare your jersey with the one listed, even though one is a road and other is a home jersey.

As far as the tagging, look at this thread by Rudy on Russell Tagging. The example of the tag in the thread would date the Stephenson jersey to earlier than 1993.

Does your washing tag have four lines or five lines of instruction? It should be 4 lines on yours. Also notice the Diamond logo needs to be slanted in an angle instead of straight to be in the 1993-1995 tagging period.

Patches on the jersey may narrow it to 1993 but that’s not my expertise on knowing Mets patches from these periods.

Russell tag reference: http://www.gameuseduniverse.com/vb_f...ead.php?t=1050

Another fact that would be helpful on your 1993 jersey is if name is on a nameplate or not. This would be helpful to Nick as well without photos.

[metsbats]

Here'a a photo my 1993 Jeff Kent gamer. TNTToys help authenticate this jersey for me before I made the decision to buy. He's currently one of the most knowledgable guys on these jerseys.

Is your 93 Fernandez similar?

[metsbats]

The 1992 style Russell tagging can show up in the 1993 jerseys according to Rudy (carryovers) and I believe he does have an example of this in the photo of a 1993 tagged "93-.." at the bottom.