This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/18/2014
In the legion of fans of defunct or departed Major League Baseball teams, the St. Louis Browns faithful can take great pride in boasting an allegiance unsurpassed by any of their rivals, and it is this dedicated group that will doubtless be enticed by this remarkable team jacket. Tracing its roots to the 1940's, it lays claim to a heritage from arguably the team's finest era, or at least the era that included the club's only pennant in 1944. No sizing tag exists on the jacket but appears to be extra large. It has a blue King Sportswear Company tag on the back of the collar; the wool and leather jacket is in truly remarkable condition, with nary a problem to be found in the brown wool body and only the slightest whiff of wear to some of the brown piping around the pockets. The famed St.L Browns logo is simply stunning, with the boisterous orange chenille atop the cream-colored felt background; the brown, orange and white knitted cuffs, waist and collar are no less impressive, still displaying the original elasticity. As might be expected, the condition-sensitive tan leather sleeves tend to show wear and bit more prominently; the left sleeve down close to the knitted area of the cuffs reveals that two or three lettered patch elements had been removed, leaving behind one tiny hole and the stitching patterns of letters and numbers. This is truly a remarkable period piece from a popular franchise, a long-lost team made even more beloved by the realization that when the end came and the team drearily packed up and headed east to Baltimore, the team unceremoniously ditched the team nickname, consigning Brownies to the annals of the MLB archives and presumably making it more difficult (impossible?) for forsaken fans to take up rooting interests in their former heroes now decked out as Orioles.