Soaring Value of Vintage Jerseys

A 1927 road jersey worn by New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig recently sold for $363,000, a record for baseball memorabilia other than a baseball card.

Buyers previously had paid $220,000 for road jerseys worn by Gehrig in 1938 and Hall of Famer Jimmy Foxx in 1942 and plunked down more than $100,000 each for several other shirts.

Like copies of jerseys from bygone eras, uniforms worn by baseball stars grow more and more popular, say sports memorabilia dealers. Naturally, the prices are escalating.

“People who previously invested in the art market . . . have decided that . . . there are other items which can give them the same aesthetic quality,” says Jerry Zuckerman, president of Sports Heroes, Inc., a New Jersey firm that markets sports memorabilia.

“People can put uniforms or bats on the wall and there’s more of an emotional attachment. They remember seeing the players. It’s a return to one’s childhood.”

Expensive, older uniforms are normally sold at auction or through private parties. “It’s not an impulse type of buy and when they’re sold in stores you have problems with insurance and potential theft,” says Zuckerman.

Lower-priced jerseys of recent or less successful players can be purchased in stores, among them the Sports Alley in Whittier and California Numismatic Investments in Inglewood.

“The Yankees have perhaps been the No. 1 desired jersey among collectors, perhaps because it’s a beautiful home uniform with traditional pin stripes,” says Scott Welkowsky, manager of California Numismatic’s sports department. “They’ve been around forever and are pretty much America’s team, even though they haven’t done much recently.

“Members of the Hall of Fame are popular. Any player who has hit 500 home runs or achieved 3,000 hits. . . . For example, I have a 1985 Mike Schmidt home Philadelphia Phillies jersey that is selling for $3,750.”

A jersey from a less well known player could run $1,500 to $2,500.