bill,

there are a few possibilities here.

one possibility is that orioles received a blank spare in 1976 and didn't use it until 1977 when they had it numbered and lettered. in this case, the jersey would be labeled as a 1976 and martinez's name and 1977 number 30 would all be original, unaltered with no ghost stitching. i've seen clubs order spares and not use them until the following year.

the second possibility is, according to ami, that the jersey was carried over from 1976 to 1977. this implies that the jersey was first worn by either holtzman or pagan in 1976 and then given to martinez in 1977. i believe the lack of a nameplate may indicate that, during 1976/77, the orioles weren't fond of re-using jerseys as the lack of a nameplate makes it substantially more difficult to remove nobs. if re-using jerseys was their common practice, then you'd think they'd order jerseys with nameplates.

for the purposes of this discussion, let's assume the orioles re-used jerseys during those years. if the jersey was carried over from holtzman or pagan to martinez, then you'd have to see evidence of a name change. it would be very unlikely to strip off a directly sewn name like holtzman and then affix d.martinez and not be able to see evidence of the prior name. you said that the original seller indicated it was all original and unaltered. if that's the case, then how was the jersey carried over from holtzman/pagan? secondly, the ami description makes no mention of evidence of a name change.

if everything is original and unaltered, then a carryover seems impossible. i think a far more likely explanation is that the jersey was a 1976 blank spare that was lettered and numbered in 1977 when martinez joined the team. that would explain the tag, the number 30, and the fact that everything is original and unaltered.

p.s. i don't think it's realistic to expect kieta to have done this legwork. her "vast hollywood connections" probably keep her overwhelmingly busy.
you don't get an impressive imdb profile like this http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0452662/ by sitting around researching 1976 orioles jerseys.


rudy.