Game-Worn jersey
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Game-Worn jersey
Game-Used XFL Jersey of Nate “Big Nate” Miller
It’s been awhile since I’ve landed a game-used jersey, but I got back on the big board with this XFL gamer of Nate “Big Nate” Miller.
Miller played football at LSU and spent a few seasons as an offensive lineman in the NFL, seeing some playing time with the Falcons in 1997. After NFL teams stopped calling, Miller resurfaced in the XFL with the Los Angeles Xtreme. I photomatched this jersey to the 2001 XFL “Million Dollar Game”, making it the second game-worn jersey I own from the league’s lone championship game and my third LA Xtreme jersey. This would be the last jersey Miller ever wore in a pro football game.
According to his XFL player bio, “Big Nate” is an avid comic book collector. Maybe he’ll show up here one of these days?
2004 Chiefs Derrick Blaylock Game-Used Jersey (career game!)
It’s been a minute since I acquired a game-used football jersey but last week I nailed a special one.
I stumbled across this 2004 Kansas City Chiefs jersey of running back Derrick Blaylock on eBay and saw that the seller wisely (and accurately!) advertised it as photomatched to a Week 13 game against the Raiders in which Blaylock put up 74 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown. As many of you know, I don’t collect jerseys of big names—I collect jerseys of big moments—but I’ve yet to nab a game-used NFL jersey that’s seen the end zone. Factor in that the jersey was riddled with repairs and paint transfers, and I needed to have it.
The question was how much I was willing to pay—and if someone would be willing to pay more. From my experience, skill player jerseys from 1995-2005 that feature significant usage go for hefty sums. In the past year I’ve seen a 2005 Lamont Warren Raiders jersey go for $500, a 1997 Charles Way Giants jersey go for $800, and a 1999 Greg Hill Lions jersey go for $400, so I was ready to be priced out. The one thing working in my favor was that the seller set the auction to end at 12:15pm EST on a Saturday afternoon during March Madness, which is a time when bid snipers would be busy hanging with friends or running errands.
The seller made an even bigger error: He didn’t attempt to photomatch the jersey to additional games. Fellow Mantel users, if you learn one thing from me, please let it be: A jersey with repairs has been used in more than one game.
After I checked a Chiefs uniform history site and verified that the team wore white jerseys for all their away games in 2004, I pulled up Blaylock’s game log from that season and analyzed his road game stats. In the away game previous to the positive photomatch, a Week 10 showdown in New Orleans, Blaylock tallied 224 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown. Not only that, but it was his first career start and his career best game in terms of total output. I spent a couple hours searching for photos online and watched the game on YouTube, and although I couldn’t definitively photomatch from those sources, I knew that a jersey with this much damage was indicative of a game in which the player carried the ball 36 times.
I set a reminder, threw out a healthy bid with 1 minute remaining before auction close, and waited depressingly to see that dreaded sniper bid…and I won. But not only did I win—I ended up paying the least I’ve ever spent on a game-used NFL jersey. The football gods were smiling upon me.
After I received it through the mail, I had the opportunity to examine the jersey up close and saw the details that the seller’s photos didn’t disclose. Guess what? I was able to use the NFL broadcast of his monster game to photomatch the jersey thanks to multiple paint transfer markings that were a dead-on match. Not only that, but I also photomatched it to a Week 4 game against the Ravens (Getty Image 1266303497). Although I’ve verified he didn’t wear the jersey in the final game of 2004, I can prove he wore it for 3 (and almost certainly 5) games across the season. Here’s the statistical breakdown from those games:
Carries: 52
Rushing Yards: 252
Receptions: 8
Receiving Yards: 88
Total Touchdowns: 2
Tackled By: Champ Bailey, Ray Lewis, Charles Woodson, Ray Buchanan, Ted Washington
Number of Times Featured in an NFL Primetime Highlight: 1
Dion Lewis NFL Debut Game-Used Jersey
I scored a game-used jersey of my biggest name yet in this Dion Lewis 2011 Eagles jersey.
The jersey was advertised as being game-used from Dion’s rookie year and the seller’s photos showed that it had tons of damage. I pulled up Dion’s 2011 statistical game log and fired up some image searches. Boom! A photo from Dion’s NFL debut against the Rams shows a large, distinct gouge on the back number 2 that was a perfect match to the jersey in the seller’s photo. Dion had a fruitful career - 100 games across 8 seasons, 5,000 all-purpose yards, and a Super Bowl ring - so I had to jump on it. I paid a little more for this one than the average jersey in my collection but I still got it at a discount.
The jersey has 6 repairs, including one that’s several inches long and another that’s a repair of a patch. Being a kick returner will cause your jersey to suffer that kind of punishment. I spent several hours combing through photos to compare jersey details like sweat holes and stitch patterns, and I can say with 100% confidence that Dion wore this jersey in all 6 games in 2011 in which the Eagles wore this variation. Total stat count is below along with a photomatch record.
Rushes: 8
Yards: 29
Receptions: 1
Yards: -3
Kick Returns: 15
Kick Return Yards: 329
Tackled by: James Laurinaitis, Brian Orakpo, London Fletcher, Osi Umenyiora, Jason Pierre-Paul, Earl Thomas
Week 1 (9/11/11) at St Louis
Getty Image 125234242
Week 2 (9/18/11) at Atlanta
Getty Image 126059869
Week 5 (10/9/11) at Buffalo
No photomatch, but low odds he would’ve worn a different jersey this week
Week 6 (10/16/24) at Washington
Getty Image 129383605
Week 11 (11/20/11) at NYG
AP Image 11112016048
Week 13 (12/1/11) at Seattle
Getty Image 137370185
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Frankfurt Galaxy World Bowl Game-Used Jersey
I’m so excited to present the latest addition to my game-used jersey collection. I recently purchased this NFL Europe Frankfurt Galaxy jersey worn in World Bowl XII by linebacker Asa Francis.
I love this jersey for so many reasons:
* It’s an NFL Europe jersey, which was an NFL developmental league that existed from 1991-2007, and it’s difficult to find memorabilia (especially game-used) stateside.
* It was used in a World Bowl, which was the league’s championship game.
* Patches! It includes patches for World Bowl XII, the Frankfurt Galaxy, a couple corporate sponsors, and the Buffalo Bills. NFL Europe players whose rights were owned by an NFL team wore their team’s patch on their jerseys, and not every player in the league was affiliated with an NFL team.
* The jersey has three repairs and tons of dings and stains around the shoulders, demonstrating incredible use. It’s almost certain this jersey was worn in other games during the 2004 season.
Asa Francis was recruited to play at Auburn in 1997 but was dismissed from the team before playing a down. He transferred to the New Mexico Military Institute and wreaked havoc at the linebacker position, which ultimately led to a couple years in the Arena Football League. After leading the AF2 in sacks, the Bills signed Francis to their 80-man roster in 2004, subsequently sending him to Frankfurt before cutting him later that year.
Now to photo-matching. There are hardly any images online from World Bowl XII, but by some kind of miracle, one of the few photos that exists is Getty Image 52558487, which shows Francis trying to bring down a Berlin Thunder running back. In the photo, which again is miraculously positioned, you can see the white ding above the S on the back of the jersey along with a telltale loose thread in the Skoda Auto patch. I watched World Bowl XII on YouTube and Francis played a decent number of downs during the game.
For those of you wondering what a jersey like this costs, I got it on eBay for $178 total. That’s not nothing, but it shows that you can find some pretty incredible items even on a small budget.
