This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/3/2013
While various baseball exhibitions had been held during the Summer Olympics dating back as far as 1904, the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles were the first to feature the sport in a tournament format with teams from 8 countries competing for the "gold", though no actual medal was awarded given the sport's status as an exhibition event. While the USA team took home the "silver" following a 6-3 loss to Japan in the Championship Game the inclusion of baseball in the Olympic program helped to further spread the international growth of the game which can easily be seen in the current incarnation of MLB which features players from 18 countries spread across 5 continents.
Our consignor worked for Georgia Southern University Athletics, whose head baseball coach Jack Stallings had served as the hitting coach for the 1984 USA Olympic baseball team. Stallings brought these jerseys back to GSU, along with blue and white ones. The blue and white jerseys would have the "USA" removed and replaced with "GSU", but as red was the color of the rival University of Georgia Bulldogs they could not be recycled in this manner. While these jerseys are not from the Olympic Games they were available to the team for any number of exhibitions, practices and promotional team activities prior to.
This knit pullover Team USA baseball jersey was donned by hurler Kevin Renz, who despite not making the final cut would go on to be a 2nd round pick of the Chicago White Sox and play for 5 seasons in the minor leagues. Rawlings size 38 tag sewn to tail while "USA" and number 4 are sewn to the jersey in white on blue double tackle twill. GE USA patch found on the left sleeve while the right sleeve features a USA Baseball patch and Rawlings tag. (A0306)
(MEARS Auction LOA)