Don’t be misled by the less than perfect, extremely high grade of A9. This jersey is truly as good as it gets. The very minor deductions are a function of an objective evaluation and should in no way detract from the historical significance of this rare and important offering that is supported by testimony from Mr. October himself. Reggie Jackson went into the Hall of Fame in 1993 as a New York Yankee, and Reggie went into his first season with the Bronx Bombers in this jersey. This jersey is not simply a first year Yankees jersey, but as you can see, one of the very first ordered for Jackson. Not only does the jersey and contemporary newspaper accounts speak well of the offering, but so does the letter from “Mr. October” himself and his inscription boldly inscribed across the front… “First Yankee Jersey-Reggie Jackson, 44”
Player Attribution and Dating: The jersey is attributed to Reggie Jackson by the presence of the supplemental player and year identification (Jackson 77-2) embroidered on a cotton/knit swatch sewn through the first fold of the collar fabric. This manner of supplemental player, year/set identification is consistent with a 1977 New York Yankees Home Jersey in my exemplar library. The exemplar has had the player name removed for extended organizational use. Both the exemplar and the offered jersey are both tagged as being size 44 products (and measure as such) and feature a style of Wilson manufacturers label typically found during the period of c 1974-1978. A size 44 jersey is considered to be appropriate for Jackson at this point in his career. (PLATE I)
The jersey features the # 44 on the back, although the signs that the #20 was first applied is rather obvious based on the residue left by the adhesive used to affix the numerals prior to stitching. This same trait can be seen in on hand Yankee products from the same period that have had team number changes (1976-1978 home jerseys). This actually bodes very well for the jersey since period newspaper accounts will confirm that Reggie Jackson wore # 20 in spring training for the New York Yankees in 1977. Since at the least the initial regular season uniform orders are placed during spring training, the number Jackson was wearing at the time would reasonably be the number ordered for him. The jersey can further be dated to at least some portion of the 1979 by the presence of the black armband wore after the untimely death of Yankee team captain Thurman Munson. As such, it appears that the jersey saw organizational use with Reggie Jackson during the period of 1977-1979. (PLATES II-III)
Construction: The jersey is constructed of a period appropriate knit fabric and features Raglan style sleeves. The jersey is a button down variant which is also team/period appropriate. Period mages can be used to confirm various physical characteristics of the jersey to include sleeve and collar trim, alpha-numeric font styles, and absence of player name to the back of the jersey. (PLATES IV-V)
Use and Wear: The jersey features signs of moderate to heavy use and wear with even and consistent surface wear to all fabrics. The wear and fade to the navy blue twill fabric used for the NY crest and the rear numerals is even and consistent leading me to conclude they have in fact been on the jersey for the same relative amount of time. There is some light soiling and staining on the left rear shoulder/neck area as well. All seven (7) buttons remain firmly affixed to the jersey. The jersey features an autograph on the front in black sharpie that reads “First Yankee Jersey-Reggie Jackson- 44”. Other than this autograph, the jersey contains no other writing or inscribed marks or annotations.
Opinion: This jersey possess all of the characteristics that I would expect to find in a Wilson product provided for use and wear by Reggie Jackson in 1977 and retained for his use through 1979. The MEARS grading criteria for pre-1988 jerseys begins with a base grade of 10 and five categories for deductions. I found these reasons to deduct points from this jersey.
Category III: -.5 Team Number Change. Although the MEARS worksheet calls for a -2 deduction in these instances, the purpose for this is to account for number changes intended to enable the jersey to be used at an organizational level for players other than the one it was originally sewn for. This is clearly not the case since the number change from #20 to #44 was performed for Reggie Jackson. The fact that he wore #20 also identifies this jersey and part of the initial order of 1977 Yankee uniforms, thus making it one of the earliest regular season uniforms worn by Jackson. To deduct the full two points would not be consistent with the intent of the grading metric. We are still left with a visible team number change (residue outline) and that has to be accounted for. The presence of this outline does not hurt the jersey as much as it helps place to both the player and a specific time frame.
Category IV: -0. Use for more than one season. No points were deducted because the language reads “Use by more than one player or worn more than one season by another player.” While evidence clearly indicates multiple season use (1979 armband), the use and wear for the jersey is not attributed to any player other than Reggie Jackson.
Category V: -5. Soiling and staining. Only .5 was deducted for the soiling/staining to the left shoulder arm area based on the location and the very minimal impact it has on the display of the jersey.
As such, the final grade assigned to this jersey bearing MEARS hologram # 311473 is A9.
(JSA Auction Letter)