Offered here is a very nice early 1950's Cubbies home jersey game-worn by Hal Jeffcoat, a Purple Heart recipient for his WWII service who spent his first eight MLB seasons in the Windy City. If you look up Jeffcoat's career stats, you may notice that he started out as an everyday outfielder in 1948, predominantly in center, and then somehow was able to convert to an effective big league pitcher in 1954. Talk about reinventing yourself! Hal sported this heavy shirt in 1951 when he batted .273 with four homers, eight steals, 20 doubles and 44 runs scored in 113 games.
The off-white flannel shirt has a Wilson size 44 tag and washing instructions on the front left tail. Additonal player number, year and set ("4 1951-1") labeling is chain-stitched on a strip inside the collar. The zipper-up front has the iconic Cubs "C" emblem patch is embroidered on the left chest. Sewn on the left sleeve is the National League 75th anniversary patch. Both of these patches have been restored, a common trait for gamers from this era when team budgets were so low. The felt blue number "4" on the back, however, is original to the jersey and remains in excellent shape. The shirt displays a ton of wear, with multiple team repairs including a large fix job at the upper neck/shoulder area. There are some tears in the fabric (most severe on the left sleeve) and a few brown spots on the back.
MEARS has graded it very harshly, in our opinion, taking off three points for the tearing, one point for the restored Cubs patch and another 1/2 point for the period NL 75th patch. So if not for the 3-4 rips in the fabric, it would have received an A8.5 grade. Includes LOA from MEARS (A5.5).