Opening Day Auction 2014
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/26/2014
During the waning days of the 1969 season, Dodgers bat boy Rich Raya approached his friend, Dodgers ace Don Drysdale in the team's locker room. After 14 years in the majors, the big righty was calling it quits: 209 wins, 3 World Series rings and a lifetime 2.95 ERA, all accomplished while wearing Dodger Blue. Over the years Raya had run many an errand for Drysdale, carting around his golf clubs, grabbing drinks from the lunch room, and this time it was he who asked for a favor: could he have his jersey? Drysdale grabbed one of his home white jerseys, quickly glanced around the clubhouse and silently handed it to Raya. This is that jersey. The size 46 home white McAuliffe jersey can be dated to the 1967-69 seasons, with its use most likely being from 1967. The front carries the timeless "Dodgers" script across the chest with Drysdale's number "53 in red below. The McAuliffe label is affixed to the lower left front tail with added "67" and "46" tagging added. "Drysdale" is embroidered on a white strip and sewn below the tagging. A number "2" has been hand written in black pen above the McAuliffe label. The back boasts Drysdale's number "53" in Dodger Blue. The left sleeve has the 100th Anniversary of Major League Baseball patch worn during the 1969 season and added sometime after this jersey's original 1967 issue. The jersey is in beautiful condition, the blue and red lettering remaining clean and bright and the white flannel aged to a warm soft hue. The minor stains that are visible do not distract at all from this gorgeous flannel. Accompanied by a Letter of Authenticity from MEARS who have graded this majestic flannel A7(10 base grade, and an overly harsh 3 points deducted for what they perceived as light use) and a letter of provenance from Dodgers bat boy Rich Raya and letter of authenticity from jersey expert Dan Knoll. The jersey is a true gem with pristine provenance from a legendary Hall of Fame pitcher.
While grading of jerseys is always somewhat subjective, we feel that the three-point deduction for light use by MEARS is overly harsh since in arriving at the deduction MEARS evaluated its usage based on what a jersey used for three years (1967-69) should look like. They state in their analysis that the jersey was “in the team inventory for three full seasons. Since the provenance states this and it appears to be reasonable and verifiable, then the jersey has to be graded against this three year/three season use metric.” However, the Dodgers were issued new home jerseys for both the 1968 and 1969 seasons, and in all likelihood, this jersey was simply held by the team as a back-up for Drysdale. Evaluating it as if it was intended to be used for three full seasons, and then penalizing it three points for having light use (even though appropriate for a pitcher’s use for one season), seems to us to be an excessive deduction.