Antiques Roadshow

GUEST

My oldest brother coached Little League up in Connecticut about 30 years ago, and one of the kids on his team, his father was the public relations director for "Sports Illustrated." Well, around that time, my brother opened up a sporting goods store, and the kid's father, out of appreciation for my brother's coaching efforts with his son, gave my brother a bunch of sports memorabilia to hang on the walls of the sporting goods store. The sporting goods store didn't last but a few years, and when my brother moved down south, he brought all the sports memorabilia with him. And I've been a lifelong Chicago Bears fan, so he gave me the jersey that we have here.

APPRAISER

And this jersey belonged to Gale Sayers.

GUEST

Gale Sayers. And it was one of his away game jerseys. And Gale Sayers was one of my heroes when I was a little boy.

APPRAISER

The Kansas Comet.

GUEST

That's right.

APPRAISER

One of the greatest and most exciting players of all time in NFL history.

GUEST

He was.

APPRAISER

and one of the most tragic careers, cut short by a knee injury.

GUEST

Yeah, he did.

APPRAISER

And actually, he was the youngest man ever elected to the Hall of Fame.

GUEST

Oh, wow.

APPRAISER

Here we have this jersey. It's been in your possession for over 30 years.

GUEST

Over, over 30 years, yes.

APPRAISER

What have you been doing with it?

GUEST

(laughs) It's been folded up inside a box in, in my closet at my parents' house. When I opened it up and my wife saw it, she was, like, "Is that your high school football jersey?" And I of course told her no, and she was, like, "We just need to turn that into a rag and, uh, use it to wipe down some of the furniture." But I persisted and told her, "No, no, no, it's a famous football player's jersey." And, uh, she just was kind of, like, "Yeah, whatever." (laughs) And then I put it back in the box and it's been probably sitting in that box now, well, about 16 years.

APPRAISER

16 years. I'm glad she didn't turn it into a rag, you know.

GUEST

(laughs) It's... I am, too.

APPRAISER

What you have here is, is, as you said, it's a Chicago Bears jersey. It's from around 1969, 1970.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Which were prime years for Gale Sayers.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

It's picture-perfect as far as tagging. Tagging is very important when you're identifying jerseys and authenticating jerseys.

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

Right down here, we have "King O'Shea." This was the manufacturer.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

And King O'Shea manufactured the Jerseys for the Chicago Bears during that time period. You also have the size, 46. That was Gale Sayers' size.

GUEST

Wow.

APPRAISER

Now, another thing. You look to see how much use a jersey has. Now, as you can see, this jersey's pretty dirty.

GUEST

Right

APPRAISER

There's a lot of sweat. There's a lot of blood. There's a lot of repairs.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

Team repairs. This jersey's been torn apart.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

It's been through war.

GUEST

(laughs)

APPRAISER

Battles-- more than one.

GUEST

Sure.

APPRAISER

This jersey's gone through game after game after game.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

It's not like today, where a football player gets a new jersey every game. Let me show you another one back here.

GUEST

Big patch on the back.

APPRAISER

You can see. Look at this-- that... Somebody tore that.

GUEST

Right. (both laughing)

APPRAISER

I mean, this has just been torn apart and fixed.

GUEST

Right.

APPRAISER

And he wore it again.

GUEST

Sure.

APPRAISER

And again and again and again. Now, it does have some issues, okay? The zero on this sleeve right here is missing, okay?

GUEST

Okay.

APPRAISER

That probably got torn off, too. But that makes it better. All these tears and rips and blood and sweat. That's what collectors want.

That's what everybody wants.

GUEST

Yeah?

APPRAISER

That's the history.

GUEST

That's the NFL, it's all those...

APPRAISER

That's the NFL. That's it.

GUEST

That's it.

APPRAISER

And it's all here.

GUEST

Wow. (chuckling)

APPRAISER

(laughing): I mean, when you pulled this out, I almost lost it!

GUEST

(chuckles)

APPRAISER

Now, the fact that you have the provenance you do, this jersey, I would estimate at at least $20,000 to $30,000, Roger.

GUEST

(laughing): Oh, my-- oh, my gosh! I'm glad my wife didn't turn it into a rag.

APPRAISER

(laughing) Us, too, man!

GUEST

Man

APPRAISER

It's amazing! It's awesome.

GUEST

Oh, wow! (laughing): Oh, wow! (laughing) Wow. (laughs) $20,000 to $30,000.

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

Is that at auction or is that...

APPRAISER

Yeah.

GUEST

Man...