Edmonton Oilers Auction 2005
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/16/2005
"Can the Kid Excel in the NHL?" was the front page question posed by one well known hockey publication back in the fall of 1979. That was the million dollar question many posed a year prior when a young 17 year-old kid from Brantford arrived in Edmonton following a short stint with the defunct Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association. Surely, after racking up a successful 43-goal and 104-point campaign during his first year of pro hockey with the WHA Oilers, even his biggest of critics should have given the kid some credit. In true "Great Gretzky" fashion, young number ninety-nine shattered all doubts on his ability by picking up 51 goals, 86 assists for 137 points finishing the 1979-80 season tied with Marcel Dionne for the NHL scoring lead. In doing so, Gretzky became the youngest player ever to score 50 goals in a single season and was rewarded with the first of his nine Hart trophies as the leagues most valuable player. No rookie had produced these numbers before and we will likely never see another player come along that will touch Wayne Gretzky in terms of his single season and career numbers. We are extremely proud to offer the most important hockey jersey in the history of the game and arguably the most significant jersey worn by the "Great One" during his outstanding twenty-one year career... Wayne Gretzky's 1979-80 NHL Edmonton Oilers white game worn rookie jersey. This battered white knit jersey was worn by Wayne Gretzky during the first half of his rookie season with the Edmonton Oilers in 1979-80. Wayne wore two white uniforms during the team's inaugural year and there is ample photo evidence to back up this fact. The embroidered oil drop logo sits on the chest and the famous number "99" can be found on the back and again on each arm. The commemorative patch celebrating Edmonton's 75th anniversary sits up on the right shoulder. A well-washed Maska Superfil tag is there in the neck and although there is no size label, this shirt measures out to size 46. The embroidered blue Maska logo can be found on the outer rear hem and there is a thin loop-style fight strap in the tail. The game wear on this jersey is outstanding! We count seven stitched team repairs on the left arm with dozens of stick marks, slashes and a few unrepaired holes. The opposite sleeve is a mess with thirteen repairs including one large white circular repair in the blue stripe (to be discussed below) and more marks, burns and cuts. The belly of the sweater sports about a dozen material runs, one of which has been repaired, with three dozen stick marks and slashes, eight smaller holes and one more team repair. Another handful of marks and slashes can be found on the back below the numbers This important uniform was worn by Wayne during his first NHL season and action photographs from that time showing Gretzky wearing this exact jersey serve as definitive proof of its authenticity. An action photo of Wayne scoring against the Colorado Rockies in Edmonton during the regular season (first home game against Colorado was in late December) gives us a great view of his right elbow. Clearly, you can see a line of white coming down into the bottom blue stripe and a circular white patch a few inches over on the same blue stripe. This perfectly matches two repairs on the right sleeve of this jersey including the uncommon use of white to make a repair in blue material. Another shot, also included in the lot, pictures Wayne wearing the shirt in almost new condition. A sewing glitch down on the lower left side seam can be seen where the lines do not perfectly meet along the top of the top blue stripe, causing a "step" effect of the blue color at the seam. Although this problem is seemingly insignificant, it does not appear elsewhere on the shirt, nor on two other game worn examples from this set, nor on ten other team issued 1979-80 Maska jerseys we examined. The glitch in the photograph does, however, perfectly match the seam flaw on this jersey, and provides additional photo match evidence. Both photos will be included with the lot. The jersey does exhibit a couple of issues. The numbers are done in two-tone tackle twill and although they are original to this jersey, they have been removed and re-stitched back on by the team. Shrinking was a problem with these first year Maska uniforms. The jersey material and the material used to make the numbers did not shrink at the same rate. This caused the numbers to shrink and pull at the uniform material causing unattractive puckering. We have examined a number of shirts from this set and a few showed extensive puckering at the numbers with obvious material "waves" showing on the inside under the numbers. To relieve this, the team removed the crinkled, shrunken numbers, laid them flat against the jersey and re-stitched them back on (a practice common at the time in many sports and seen often on Bruins uniforms from the Seventies). All six number nines on this jersey display an extra row of stitch marks from where they had been removed. Also, the jersey itself shows evidence of the placement of the numbers before shrinking with the ghostly outlines of the identically-shaped nines. When you see photos of Wayne wearing this jersey, early in the year, the numbers on the sleeves almost touch the top shoulder trim and run down to almost touch the top arm stripe. You can see the former stitch marks on this shirt that prove these numbers were once larger and did match the original placement. At no time did this jersey ever have numbers other than these original number nines. The nameplate is an original Edmonton Oilers nameplate but it has also been removed and reattached. The "R" in Gretzky is shaped differently from that on his second white rookie jersey but the material and the heat-pressed letters are identical. We have found five examples of Oilers uniforms from the previous year with the same "R" (straight foot on the letter, as opposed to an angled foot). At the time of the catalog production, we have not yet found an action photo showing the back of this uniform to determine if this nameplate is original to this jersey but we hope to have more information on this issue before the end of the auction. This jersey was obtained back in 1980 by longtime Oilers employee and visiting team stick man, Rick "The Stick" Elaschuk. It was given to Rick at that time in its current condition and he has made no alterations of any kind. Rick saved and carefully preserved this gem from that time until the day he offered it for sale in this groundbreaking auction by the Edmonton Oilers. A significant portion of the proceeds of this historic uniform will be donated directly to the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation to benefit local charity. To now, the highest price ever paid for a game worn jersey has been the $135,000 USD winning bid on the photo matched early-Seventies Bobby Orr Boston Bruins uniform sold at auction by Classic Collectibles last year. We certainly expect this incredible Wayne Gretzky rookie jersey to topple the current sales record and this is your chance to break that record and own the most expensive and important game worn hockey jersey of all time. From the personal collection of Rick "The Stick" Elaschuk with his signed letter of provenance.
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