With period offerings from the St. Louis Browns jerseys commanding over $5000, this is a wonderful chance to acquire a beautiful and rare high grade offering honoring their one and only World Series appearance in 1944.
Player Attribution and Dating: The jersey is attributed to Red Hayworth by means of the supplemental player identification sewn into the lower left tail of the jersey. Dating the jersey is confirmed by the presence the supplemental year identification “64” chain stitched into the tail along with the Set 1 1964 flag tag affixed next to the laundry instructions. 1964 marked the 20th Anniversary of the St. Louis Browns and Cardinals meeting in the World Series. Period newspapers confirm that a reunion and Old Timers Game was held in St. Louis on 9 August 1964. As a catcher for the Browns in 1944 and 1945, Hayworth wore # 9 during both seasons and this is the same number found on the back of this jersey. As a player, Hayworth was listed at 6’, 1”; 200 lbs. With the passing of some 20 years, I would consider this jersey tagged and measuring as a size 46 to be an appropriate size for him in 1964. (PLATE I)
Construction: The jersey is constructed of a high quality, but slightly less than professional grade flannel; sleeve cut is Raglan. The button line features a wide band of brown twill fabric with orange soutache centered. This is the same manner of adornment along the shoulder/arm areas. The lettering and numbering is done in heavy felt (stiff backing) of brown over orange, off set to create a three dimensional effect. The jersey does not feature a war time “Stars and Stripes” patch that would have been worn on the original 1944 offerings. There is no sign that a patch was ever present on this uniform and I have no reason to think there might have been. Images of the 1944 period show both a zipper and button down front for Browns jerseys, this is the zipper closure variety and the zipper remains fully functional. (PLATE II-III)
Use and Wear: The jersey features signs of minimal use and wear as should be expected. There are a couple of very small fabric tears/ moth holes that do not affect the display of the jersey, but are noted for accuracy. There is a brown “water type” stain in the lower left tail, both front and back, but most noticeable on the back. The jersey is in otherwise almost new condition.
Opinion: This jersey possess all of the characteristics that I would expect to find in a Rawlings product provided for such a commemorative event and is assessed as being in all original condition. The MEARS grading criteria for pre-1988 jerseys begins with a base grade of 10 and five categories for deductions. I found this reason to deduct points from this jersey:
Category 5: -1. Water staining in the tail
No points were deducted for the small holes since they do not affect the display or structure of the jersey. As such the final grade for this 1964 Red Hayworth St. Louis Browns Home 1944 World Series Reunion Jersey with cert # 311407 is A9.
Dave Grob
MEARS
Enclosures: PLATES I-III