HELP PLEASE - Mark Grace 1992 MLB All-Stars Tour of Japan Jersey

[Big Six]

For what it's worth, I suggest you have Grace sign the picture of the team and NOT the Jersey...great find...no comment though on authenticity though I can't imagine them not being the real deal...Grace himself should be able to answer your questions for you, though...

[whitehse]

There is a HUGE Grace collector...he might even be THE Grace collector and he doesnt live too far from me. I suggest you might want to reach out to him for assistance.

Check out his web site http://www.markgrace.com/

[gracecollector]

Hi - I'm the Grace Collector whitehse mentioned above. Very cool items - what a score! Let me check them out in depth and get back to you. Grace was MVP of the 1992 Japan Tour. Grace was in Japan for 2000 Cubs/Mets season opening series too. Looks like you already know Grace will be at the Sun-Times show in November. Last time he was at a Sun-Times show, I took a gamer hat - and after inspecting it, he was cool with inscribing it with "Game Used" for me.




I live in Huntley, west of Chicago.

[twarman17]

Originally Posted by gracecollector

Hi - I'm the Grace Collector whitehse mentioned above. Very cool items - what a score! Let me check them out in depth and get back to you. Grace was MVP of the 1992 Japan Tour. Grace was in Japan for 2000 Cubs/Mets season opening series too. Looks like you already know Grace will be at the Sun-Times show in November. Last time he was at a Sun-Times show, I took a gamer hat - and after inspecting it, he was cool with inscribing it with "Game Used" for me.




I live in Huntley, west of Chicago.

Excellent, thank you for the help! Any information you can provide would be excellent since the 1992 Japan Tour jersey is such a unique item. I was about to email you through your website.

I have a friend that works at Mounted Memories so I am trying to get a chance to meet him backstage as well at which time he could inspect the items. I also acquired his 1997 All Star warm-up jersey and locker nameplate. This jersey was mounted and framed. I removed the frame for purposes of this picture. Not sure whether I should get these jerseys signed (the 1997 AS jersey can easily be dismounted from the cardboard backing - the tape running down the center of the jersey is on the cardboard only and does not attach to the jersey). Thought you would like to see this jersey as well.

[gracecollector]

Some initial notes -

Jersey - The patch identifies it as 1992 Japan Tour. Grace did wear a size 46 for most of his career, towards the end went to 48. Does it have "GRACE" nameplate on back?

Glove - doesn't look game used, probably more accurate to describe it as game-issued. It's the model he used. Japan here only refers to where the glove was made, not that it was issued for the 92 tour. Here's another game-issued Grace that matches yours and was sold in a 2011 Lelands auction.



BTW - Japan Tour items are very rarely seen. The tour didn't get a lot of publicity in the US - so photo matches are tough.

[twarman17]

Originally Posted by gracecollector

Some initial notes -

Jersey - The patch identifies it as 1992 Japan Tour. Grace did wear a size 46 for most of his career, towards the end went to 48. Does it have "GRACE" nameplate on back?

Glove - doesn't look game used, probably more accurate to describe it as game-issued. It's the model he used. Japan here only refers to where the glove was made, not that it was issued for the 92 tour. Here's another game-issued Grace that matches yours and was sold in a 2011 Lelands auction.



BTW - Japan Tour items are very rarely seen. The tour didn't get a lot of publicity in the US - so photo matches are tough.

The 1992 Tour of Japan Jersey does not have Grace's name on the back. Only the number 17.

[twarman17]

The 1992 model Cubs jerseys do not appear to have included names on the back - see this Trachsel without his name on the back. But, the auction below shows that Russell Athletic was the manufacturer in 1992. The Japan Tour jersey was manufactured by Rawlings.

http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co...entoryid=65621


Rawlings was the manufacturer of Cubs jerseys for 1991 (as shown in auction below), but the Rawlings tags on the 1992 tour of japan jersey are different with the tag on the 1992 tour of japan jersey located at the front right bottom and no neck tagging.

http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co...entoryid=43755

[twarman17]

I found this piece of information online that may explain why Rawlings did the 1992 Tour of Japan jersey even though Rawlings did not do the 1992 Cubs MLB jerseys:

"A recent auction allowed me to learn something about Rawlings advertising logos on MLB game uniforms. While the 1987 contract was the first widespread use of the manufacturer name on the jersey sleeve, there was at least one occasion upon which a Rawlings emblem was worn on an MLB uniform before that. In this case, it was the 1978 Reds Tour of Japan uniforms. While the grey roads during the season were Wilson products, the Reds went to Rawlings for the traveling grays worn in the postseason Japanese exhibition tour."

http://www.mearsonline.com/index.php...t01returnid=98

[twarman17]

Originally Posted by Big Six

For what it's worth, I suggest you have Grace sign the picture of the team and NOT the Jersey...great find...no comment though on authenticity though I can't imagine them not being the real deal...Grace himself should be able to answer your questions for you, though...

Would the concern be that the autograph will fade over time? Or, that the signature would actually de-value the jersey?

Also, if Grace confirmed it was his game used Tour of Japan jersey but I was not going to get it signed, how would you recommend getting it authenticated as game used?