This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/29/2013
The following lot is the finest Nolan Ryan Astros ensemble ever publicly offered, originating from the personal collection of a Nike sales representative.
Nolan Ryan is one of those special players that all fans have to love and respect. With a resume spanning 27 seasons, Ryan finished as the greatest pitcher ever. He is the Strikeout king with 5,714, pitched 7 no-hitters, appeared in 8 All Star games, and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 98% of the vote.
Any living fan will vividly recall his dominance during the 1970, 1980s, and early 1990s. He remains a class act, a player to be emulated. For this lot, one collector has the chance to own a very special jersey of the game’s greatest living ambassador.
Ryan continued with his work horse reputation during the 1982 season, appearing in 35 games and posting a 16-12 record. The 16 season victories were numbers #190-#205, and added to his career total of 324 wins. He also added 245 strikeouts, adding to his career total of 5,714, the most of any pitcher to have played the game.
Voted by one website as the “Ugliest Uniform of All Time”, the Houston Astros jersey has remained one of the most distinct designs ever worn on the diamond. The history of the jersey began before the 1975 season when the advertising firm of McCann and Erickson was hired to re-brand the Astros. Their creation combined a futuristic use of eye-catching color and a touch of early-century lettering that was outrageous to baseball traditionalists.
The "rainbow" uniforms made their debut in April 1975 and they took some getting used to, even for those wearing them. "We had all heard that we were going to get new uniforms for the start of the season," Metzger said, "and the word had gotten around that they were kind of flashy. But the first day we saw them, I think there were three or four of us looked at each other and wondered if they were really serious."
"We thought it was just one of the Judge's promotions, like the cowboy suits he had us wear," said pitching coach Cot Deal, alluding to the 1962 effort to dress all the Colt .45s in cowboy duds for road trips - an idea that was ridiculed by the players and eventually dropped.
"(The rainbows) were a little bit radical but I got used to them," added play-by-play broadcaster Gene Elston.
The prominent focus of the jerseys were a bright cascading series of orange, yellow, red and even hot pink stripes with a large navy star covering the midsection. The stripes were described as representing the comet trails in the prior Astro uniforms taken to a much greater scale. The name "Astros" was positioned in navy above the stripes, over the heart.
On the field, players resembled large orange popsicles and they received a great deal of heckling and criticism from fans and the media. Fortunately for Rader, he was traded midway through the 1975 season, although one can debate if the mustard and brown uniforms of the San Diego Padres were that much less sartorially offensive. So dramatically different were the rainbow jerseys (as they were often described) that the Astros wore the same uniforms on the road that they did at home. After all, who was going to confuse these players with anyone else? (expert from the work titled, “From Pistols to Pinstripes by Bob Hulsey”)
This designed was threatened with extinction since their inception during the 1975 season. It was aggressively challenged during the 1982 season when a white home version was introduced, but fans had become accustomed to the “rainbow” and it survived as a jersey choice through 1986.
Issued by Sand Knit (1982 style tag, per MEARS tagging database), MEARS verified that Sand Knit was the correct supplier of Astros jerseys during the 1982 season. Other examples used for comparison include:
1982 Ruhle
1982 Moss
1982 Bert Roberge
On the outer tail is the strip tag, “82 (year) and 44 (size). Per comparison to Ryan jersey that has entered the hobby from the same relative time span, size 44 is correct for Ryan. Examples used for comparison include:
1981 Road (size 44)
1986 Home (size 44
1988 Home (size 44)
Review of the actual jersey also confirms that the tagged size matches actual size. The chest measurement (22”) and torso measurement (31”) are correct for a size 44 Sand Knit tagged size 44 product.
The jersey is a standard Sand Knit style body shell with set in sleeves. The front Star is white on blue applique. “ASTROS” , “34”, and “RYAN” on nameplate are sewn with blue tackle twill.
The jersey shows moderate game wear which would be consistent with a team utilizing three different styles of jerseys during the course of the season, and for a pitcher with 35 appearances.
Final Grade (MEARS A10). After review of the 5 categories utilized for the process of grading, MEARS awarded this jersey 10 base grade points. No reasons were warranted for a point deduction, so the jersey received a perfect A10 grade.
Additionally, included is a pair of game worn Nolan Ryan Nike Cleats. When our consignor contacted us, he was told that these shoes were worn by Nolan Ryan on September 26th, 1981, when he pitched his 5th No Hitter. MEARS reviewed available images, and we were able to confirm that Ryan did indeed wear this exact style of white leather Nike cleat with dark trim. Unfortunately, available images did not allow for an exact match for the game. Therefore, we are offering these shoes as part of this lot, and identifying them as,
“1981-82 circa Nolan Ryan Houston Astros Game Worn Nike Cleats”.
They also originated from the collection of the same Nike shoe sales representative. Both shoes exhibit optimal, heavy game wear. The right shoe has a reinforced toe plate. #34 appears on both outer tinges. The shoes show many signs of the red clay associated with the diamond of the Astrodome.
Upon review, this is the finest Nolan Ryan Astros jersey ever examined by the staff of MEARS Auctions and a centerpiece of any knit jersey collection. LOA Troy R. Kinunen / MEARS Auctions
(54H0271)
(MEARS Auction LOA)