A golden opportunity to pick up a high grade offering of a Gold Glove Hall of Famer from the prime of his career. Not only that, but this jersey dates to the magical season of 1966 when the Baltimore Orioles swept the mighty west coast LA Dodgers in four straight to win the World Series. Enough of the hype, let’s get to this 1966 Luis Aparicio Baltimore Orioles Road Jersey (A8) and let the bidding begin.
SIZE: Jersey is tagged as and measures as a size 40 Jersey. The size tagging is on a felt swatch sewn through only one fold of the collar material. This area was inspected with both UV lighting and with a digital microscope to confirm that the collar area was not opened up post manufacturer to accommodate its placement. The size tagging is assessed as being original to the jersey.
The 1966 Street and Smith Yearbook lists Aparicio as being 5’, 8”; 155 lbs. Other period Aparicio Orioles uniforms in the MEARS data base show:
1964; Orioles Road, Spalding: Size 40
As such, this jersey is considered to be an appropriate sized uniform for Aparicio in 1966.
MANUFACTURER: Jersey is identified as a Spalding product by the c 1957-1970 Spalding manufacturer’s tag in the outer front tail. Spalding is a known and confirmed supplier of jerseys to the Orioles at this time. The supplemental tagging for year/set (1966; set 1) as well as laundry instructions are also period appropriate by both team and manufacturer.
CONSTRUCTION: The jersey is constructed of professional quality flannel and is consistent with other period Spalding professional/major league products in on my on-hand exemplar library. The jersey features a button down front and raglan sleeves. The cut of these sleeves is shorter than typically found (2 ¾”) and this is consistent with images of Appracio from the 1966 World Series (PLATE I). The jersey is also without any sort of sleeve patch and this too is year appropriate (PLATE II). The jersey originally had the name APARICIO arched across the upper back of the jersey above the numbers, but this has been removed.
USE/WEAR: The jersey shows signs of moderate to heavy use and wear. The backing to the felt used for the lettering and numbering (all original) has aged and cracked in an appropriate manner. All anchor stitching used in the construction of the body of garment remains strong and intact. The black soutache along the collar and placket remain firmly affixed, and unfrayed and unbroken throughout. All seven (7) original buttons remain firmly affixed with only the second button from the top missing a portion of the outer shell. Although the name is missing from the back of the jersey, the outline of the name APARICIO is clear and clean and can be seen as such when either viewed on a light table or held up to natural light. Remnants of the original black thread used to affix the lettering of the name remain in place. This suggests to me that APARICIO was the only name ever applied to or removed from this jersey. The only writing on the jersey is in the form of a blue sharpie autograph in the collar. There is a small 15mm light blue ink stain in the front tail along the placket between the sixth and seventh button holes. There is also light soiling and staining along the front bottom of the tail; both left and right of the button line.
GRADE: Base Grade of 10 with deductions for:
Category I: -.5 for chipped button
Category II: Name missing on back but outline remains strong.
Category V: -.5 for light staining.
Final Grade for MEARS CERT # 311646 is A8