OT: Is Anyone Here Good At Vintage Jersey Authentication/Identification?

[jerseygary]

I'm currently away on a business trip so don't have access to my library, but how about these 3 options:

1. Newark was supposed to play in the 1916 Federal League. Could this be an unused uniform for 1916? Chances are probably not. The FL was in bad financial straits so the teams probably did not order any uniforms. It is definitly not a 1915 uniform since it does not match what they wore at home.

2. Newark minor league team? Newark Indians played until 1916 then were named the Bears after that. If I had my books I could see if this matches any of their uniforms but off-hand I don't recall anything similar. If someone has old Spalding or Reach guides they might have team pictures in them. The rub is pro team usually didn't have their city names on home jerseys.

3. A semi-pro or school team? Since the jersey is a white pinstripe with the city name on it, this makes me think it is not FL or Minor League since very rarely did teams put the city name on their home jerseys. Semi-pro and school teams did more often than pro teams. So this might be your answer.

Also, you can throw the Newark Eagles or Newark Dodgers out of the running, both Negro League teams are well documented and none had jerseys close to this.

If you want to go deep, the Newark Star-Ledger is still in existance and should have a good archive to go through. The jersey style should help you narrow down the timeframe and if there is labels inside that would help even more. The Newark historical society would be a great place to look as well as some of those photo books about the old days in Newark. There is even one on Newark Baseball, which I have but like I said I am away from home. If it doesn't get sorted out I'll look in a few weeks for you.

Good, luck, it sure is a nice jersey, what ever it is from.

[JollyElm]

I know you're worried about the vertical positioning of the "NEWARK" letters on your uniform, but if you look at the black and white photos you included, the one at top has a letter positioning much higher than the others shown. It is quite close to what your uniform shows. So there's obviously a disparity in letter positioning across some of these uniforms.