Game Worn (allegedly) Dodgers 2015 Memorial Day Jersey

I picked up this jersey from the MLB Auctions site.  This is Tim Wallach's "game worn" jersey from the Dodgers 6-3 win over the Braves on Memorial Day this year, May 25, 2015.  I'm not a huge fan of these "special" jersey's MLB seems to trot out for more and more occasions.  In fact I find it to be a bit of a vulgar marketing gimmick and affront to the integrity of many of the traditional teams' uniforms.  The Yankees, Dodgers, and other non-Marlin and Rays type franchises should not be degrading their uniforms in this manner.  Yet MLB knows suckers like me will open up their wallets for this stuff.  Granted, I'm a very high end sucker, and wouldn't shell out for a mere hat from the souvenir stand.  I go for the game worn stuff.

All self-important sanctimonious griping aside, this jersey is actually very nice looking in person.   It looks much better in hand than it does on t.v., the Dodger blue nicely compliments the camouflage (at least I think it's called camouflage, I'm not a big military surplus store shopper).

I'm also not sure it's fair to call this "game worn."  For one coaches don't "play" in the game.  That's a distinction that I'm willing to over look.  They're involved in the game, much more so than say a pitcher out in the bullpen who doesn't see any action, and far more than a paying spectator.  So that's not really my issue.  My issue is, that I don't think Tim Wallach ever wore this jersey.  From what I've seen this year, Wallach typically goes with a blue long sleeve coolbase Dodgers undershirt with the short sleeve Dodgers windbreaker on top.  Maybe he wears a jersey under it, but I kind of doubt it.  I mean, that seems warm enough, and who's going to know?  It's not like he's going to have to pinch hit.  Below all the jersey pictures, I've included some pictures from the Memorial Day game that these were worn.  The photos are from Jon SooHoo's Dodger Photo Blog.  I'm not sure if  I'm allowed to use them, but I didn't see anything that said I couldn't either.  So I'll leave them up until someone complains.

2014 Dodgers Post Season Game Worn Road Jersey

Last week I posted about the game worn 2014 Dodgers Post Season home jersey I picked up from MLB.com.  I did a little more damage than that.  I also bought Wallach's 2014 Dodgers Post Season road jersey.  Like the home jersey, this appeared on the MLB.com auction page (I was tipped off to both listings by a reader).  And the like the home jersey, I opted not to bid on the jersey, deciding it would be irresponsible and a bit frivoulous to blow money on a jersey I don't really need (I'm a card collector after all).

But after this listing (like the listing for the home jersey) ended without anyone placing a bid, and I had a couple of days to dwell on it, "Want" won out over "Need" and when I contacted MLB I inquired if I could buy both jersey's.  They were willing to take my money.

This one was actually a little bit cheaper.  I presume that's because it lacks the "Post Season" patch on the sleeve.  Which begs two questions, (1) did all the Dodgers road jersey's lack the "Post Season" patch, and (2) was this the jersey Wallach wore during the regular season as well?  I can't imagine he went through too many jersey's as bench coach, and if MLB wasn't going to add the patch, why incur the expense of a whole new jersey?  In any event, it's a very nice jersey (the cool base thing is no gimmick, it's awesome material) and one I plan to wear on the rare occasion I wear a jersey.

Here are some more pictures of the jersey:

UPDATE

I snooped around a little bit about the missing "Post Season" patch on the sleeve, and feel confident in the information that has been provided to me.  It's rare but by no means unheard of.  Here's a link to the answer provided to me on the subject.

Also below is a picture of Clayton Kershaw in the road jersey with the patch clearly visible on the sleeve.

2014 Dodgers Post Season Game Worn Home Jersey

This is Tim Wallach's jersey from the 2014 National League Divisional Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.  I picked it up from MLB.com auctions.  Sort of.  I actually didn't bid on it.  I deemed the opening bid to be too much.  Apparantly everyone else did too, because nobody bid on.  But after about a day of making rationalizations in my head after the auction ended, I emailed MLB.com to see if they would still sell it to me.  Obviously they did, and that's it above.

The reasoning that finally won over my frugal hesitations was that I don't have a #29 Wallach Dodgers jersey.  I have a home and away #26, but not #29.  This jersey was actually cheaper than buying an authentic one off of the MLB.com shop.  Assuming of course, they would even allow me to custom order one, which they don't.  When one tries to do so, they are met with a message about former players not being available for purchase due to a contract of some sort.  I feel like coaches should be in the drop down bar the way current players are on the MLB Shop, but rather than argue this point I just went ahead an purchased this one.

The big revelation for me with this jersey is the tagging MLB uses in the neck now.  It's one of those square bar codes with the the players name, number, size, and the year printed on it as well.  I much prefer the old method of the stiching a mini name-plate in the neck.  When you scan the bar code you get a very generic message.  I included a screen shot below.  If it linked to something a little more exciting, I might be more accepting of this new modern tagging.  But it doesn't, and I'm not.

In all likely hood, this will be a walking around jersey for me.  I know collector's of game used stuff see this as some sort of unforgivable sin, to which I have a couple of retorts.  I need, or least want, a #29 Wallach Dodger jersey to wear to games and the like, and MLB won't sell me one.  Framing is wildly expensive, and I have a finite number of walls in my house.  And finally, shut up.  If I want to wear it to a ball game, I'm going to wear it.  Were not talking about Abner Doubleday's first ball being used for a game of beer pong at a undergrad rugby social.  We're talking about a jersey worn but a bench coach for two games nearly two decades after he last played in a Major League game.  It's not like I'm defacing centuries old priceless art (no disrespect to Coach Wallach).

If anyone has any photo matches from the series with the Cardinals last year, please share them.

Here are some more pictures of the jersey:

CCM Expos Jersey

This was the first Wallach jersey I ever owned (and last one I have left to post, at least for now).  It wasn't something I had as a kid in the 80's, in fact I don't think I knew a single kid who had a jersey growing up.  I had Expos hats, and briefly a t-shirt featuring Snoopy wearing an Expos hat and shirt, but never a jersey.  I'm not sure when they became so prevalent.

I picked this jersey up on ebay around 2001 when I was in college.  I was pretty excited, until it arrived, and I found it was two sizes too small.  It's got a decent amount of wear and tear and isn't of the best material.  Far from what you would describe as "authentic."  All of which would have been fine with me at the time had it fit. 

I know nothing about it, as far as where it came from, how old it is, if it was homemade, what the retail price was.  CCM was/is a hockey company.  My first "new" pair of hockey skates were CCM.  Previously all my skates came from "Play it Again Sam's," a used sporting goods store.  CCM is a more than respectable hockey company, I have no idea what their reputation is as far as baseball jerseys.  Judging from this, I'd guess, not that great.

The logo and numbers are all sewn on, as is the nameplate on the back.  However the letters on the name plate appear to be silk screen.  The jersey material leaves a little bit to be desired, but isn't horrible, at least not for it's age.  I'd guess it's from 1990 or so.  Feel free to fill me in with any details you might have on it.

1980's Montreal Expos Home Jersey

 

This has been my go to Wallach jersey for about three and half years now.  I bought it after my previous one was signed by Mr. Wallach at a Spring Training game.  It didn't occur to me to post it as part of my collection at the time.  But a few things have changed my thinking on jerseys as collectibles.  For one, I have more of them now.  And as I've acquired more, I've decided that I like them, and want more .  Also perhaps more importantly (for my interests anyways) is the subtle differences between them.

I'm not expert on jerseys and game worn/used items.  So maybe these little nuances I find so interesting aren't anything to get excited about, but I'm ok with being less than informed when it comes to this stuff.  Each of the Expos jerseys I have sew the logo and "expos" lettering onto the front differently.  And the material of the logo is different.  At the bottom of this post, below the pictures of this jersey, I break down the differences.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the way this jersey does the "expos" and logo on the front.  On this jersey, it's all one giant patch sewn onto the jersey.  I don't know if the Expos ever did their jerseys this way, or if it's just the result of this jersey being a cheap knock-off, or "replica" as I've seen them described.  It's better than the screen printed stuff I've seen, but I still don't really care for it.

On the "1982 Home Jersey," The logo and letters are sewn on separately.  Also, the logo itself is made out of some sort of felt material.  This jersey is easily my favorite of the ones I have.  Unfortunately the company I bought it from no longer carries it.  The tagging was different as well, specifically labeling it a "1982" style/design.

On the road Expos Jersey I just picked up, the letters and logo are sewn on separately, but the logo isn't the same fuzzy one as the '82 above.

Then finally there is the game worn 1988 road jersey.  It's nearly identical to the one above, but the material is clearly of a higher quality, and even more so in person than the pictures suggest.

1980's Expos Road Jersey

This just arrived in my mailbox.  It's my first road Expos jersey I've ever bought to wear around.  Arguably the Holy Grail of my Wallach collection is his actual 1988 road Expos jersey, but I'm not about to wear that to the Home Depot on Saturdays when I pick up weed killer and pet stain remover. 

This one looks to be in the same style as the '88 Expos jerseys, and not the 1982 Home Jersey (my '82 is also just a custom job I ordered online).  The only way to tell the difference is the Expos logo on the front.  On the '82 it is almost a varsity letter type felt material.  Not as puffy as a varsity letter, but not the smooth material the logo on this one and the '88 game worn are made out of.  I have no idea when they changed it.  This jersey would be changed once more in '89 or '90, as the Expos would had a blue outline to the number on the front and the name and number on the back (this card shows it pretty well).  I believe they left the home jerseys the same.  In any event, I don't have one of those jersey's yet, and am more inclined to track down the '93 road and the '93 home Expos jerseys (even though they are criminally ugly) first.

My first impression of things like these jerseys often ends up not being my lasting impression, but this one made a very good first impression.  It's likely going to be my go to Dodger Spring Training game jersey, replacing the home white I've been going with the last few seasons.  Here some more pictures of the jersey:

I wore it last night hoping it would bring some luck to the Dodgers, but it came up a little short.  In fairness to the jersey, I foolishly took it off around the 6th inning to avoid staining it when my daughter got a little rowdy with her desert covered fingers.  I'll give it a full nine innings this afternoon and evening.  Between the jersey and Kershaw, I like the Dodgers chances.