1981 Game Worn Cal Ripken Jr. Jersey with Museum LOA, Auction Ends Sept 12th

One of the oldest and first ever Cal RIpken Jr. game worn professional Jerseys.  This could genuinely be the first major league jersey issued to Cal and has been ina private collection since 1983. August 10th, 1981 was Cal's major league debut against KC at home. This jersey was first worn on August 19th, 1981 against the California Angels, his first road game.   Cal had 39 at-bats in 23 games in 1981.

When Cal was called up, Topps took his picture for the 1982 traded set of baseball cards and this jersey was the choice for that photo. If you look closely, you can see the slight skewing of the number "8" on the back of the jersey in the card.
This skew is addressed in one of the letters that accompany this jersey.

This jersey came from a bundle of jerseys sold by the Baltimore Orioles in 1983. The letters contain very interesting information about this jersey. The first letter is from the assistant equipment manager of the Orioles in 1981. The second letter is from the curator of the Ripken Museum in Aberdeen, MD at the time the jersey was on display in the museum.

This is the first time this Jersey has run in auction in a long, long time. It was intially not intended for sale howver, the seller is now willing to part with one of his prized possessions for a starting price of only $25,000.

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