Pre-1950 flannels become tougher and tougher to acquire with each passing year. Certain teams’ offerings are almost impossible to find in any condition and Washington is for once at close to the top of the standings in this respect. Finding and adding an original war time Stars & Stripes patch would not be difficult in order to leave you with a style that epitomized World War II ear baseball in America.
Player Attribution: The name “Candini 20” is chain stitched in red thread to a wool flannel swatch in the rear collar of the jersey. Page 557 of Baseball by the Numbers shows #20 and #13 was issued to both of these players in 1947:
Milo Candini, 6’, 187 lbs
Sid Hudson, 6’, 4”, 180 lbs
The jersey also features the name “HUDSON” written in vintage laundry pen in the left rear collar. As such, the jersey cannot be attributed to a single player or even limited to Candini and Hudson since the rear number change appears to have been one to accommodate extended organizational use. The jersey is tagged as size 44 and this is the true measured size of the garment.
Construction: The jersey is constructed of professional grade 6 oz wool flannel and it features the MacGregor Goldsmith appropriate 2 hole convex buttons. Sleeve cut is Set-In which also appears to be team/period appropriate. Black soutache trims the collar and button line and this too is team/period appropriate. Lettering and numbering on the jersey is done in black wool felt. All of these materials appear to period appropriate. The “W” on the left front of the jersey is affixed with a zig-zag stitch. This is the same sewing pattern found on the rear numeral “0”. The rear numeral “4” is affixed with a straight stitch pattern and but was done in a brown thread. This manner of number change and variations in the manner in which they have been affixed to the jersey leads me to conclude the changes were made for extend organizational wear and that the change did not occur at the same time for both numerals. The numerals are also of varying size with the “4” being 6 ¼” and the “0” being 7”. The jersey also shows signs that the war time “Stars and Stripes” patch was affixed to the left shoulder. This becomes most noticeable when the area is viewed under UV lighting or the image is enhanced to show the difference in surface fabric wear to the wool flannel that would have been beneath the patch. (PLATES I-III)
Manufacturer: The manufacturer of this jersey was MacGregor Goldsmith and this can be seen by the period appropriate (c1945-1952) manufacturers label sewn in the collar. The style of tag, supplemental player identification and supplemental set/year identification are also consistent with other MacGregor Goldsmith products from 1947 as well. This was seen when the offered jersey was compared to a 1947 NY Giants MacGregor Goldsmith home jersey in my on-hand exemplar library. (PLATE IV)
Use and Wear: The jersey features signs of heavy use and wear. The jersey features numerous small holes and fabric tears, the largest of which are along the front button line. The black soutache is frayed in places and is all but missing along a 5 ½ section in the rear collar. Soiling and staining is light to moderate throughout the jersey, most notable on the back as opposed to the front. There are small “moth type” holes on the rear numeral “4” and larger ones present on the “0”. The front “W” features only a couple of small holes of this variety and the anchor stitching is broken along a base of the right leg of the “W”.
Opinion: The jersey possess all of the characteristics that I would expect to find in a 1947 Washington Senators’ road jersey, to include the fact that a war time “Stars and Stripes” patch was affixed at one time. 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 I: -.5 for missing bottom button
Category II: -1 for missing war time “Stars & Stripes Patch”
Category III: -2 for team number change
Category V: - 3.5 for combination of player attribution, worn/missing soutache, holes/tears, and broken anchor stitching. Although the grading sheet calls for a deduction of 2-4 points for player attribution, I only deducted one point since I felt a higher deduction is already accounted for in the team number change since we have player identification for both Candini and Hudson.
As such, the final grade for this 1947 Washington Senators Road Jersey with Cert #311409 is A 3.0
Dave Grob
MEARS
Enclosures: PLATES I-IV