Jersey features No. 35, which Berra wore before donning his famed No. 8
It’s hard to imagine these days, when jerseys worn by sports' biggest stars can be worth more than the average house, but in the old days, players, teams and fans alike gave little thought to game-worn equipment after it was no longer of use on the field.
Back in the 1940s and 1950s in New York, many jerseys from the Yankees, Giants and Dodgers players were given away to neighborhood kids, often through the Boys and Girls Club.
One day, Ron Marino’s older cousin, Sonny, was at the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem when he came across a box of jerseys. He was told he could stick his hand in and grab one.
He did, eventually gifting the jersey to Marino a few years later. “This is Yogi Berra’s jersey,” he told his cousin. “I want you to have it.”
But there was one problem: Yogi Berra wore No. 8. This jersey said No. 35 on the back.
Despite the discrepancy — the name Berra was embroidered in the collar of the jersey — it still became a treasured keepsake.
Marino hung the jersey on his wall for years. Later, it sat in his parents house in the Bronx for decades.
Eventually, as Marino's son, Matt, reached his college years and the internet entered the picture, the younger Marino started to do research on the jersey.
“That’s when I was able to figure out that when Berra came up as a rookie, they gave him number 35,” Matt told cllct.
In fact, Berra wasn’t the only Yankee who wore No. 35 during 1946 and 1947 (he played just seven games in 1946). Baseball Reference also lists Aaron Robinson as having worn it at some point that season. Berra is also listed as having worn No. 38, along with Frank Hiller and Mel Queen. Bill Dickey, who would retire after the 1946 season, wore No. 8.
Around 2009, now confident they owned an authentic rookie-year Berra jersey, Rob and Matt went out to Long Island, where Berra, then 84, was doing an autograph signing. When they showed Berra the jersey he was gobsmacked.
“Where did you guys pull this out of? I haven’t seen this in like 60 years,” Marino recalled Berra saying, with tears in his eyes. Berra signed the jersey just below the Yankees logo.
The two eventually got in touch with Lindsay Berra, Yogi’s granddaughter, and placed what is possibly the earliest Berra Yankees jersey in history on display in the Yogi Berra Museum.
“I never really thought about what the value of the Berra jersey could be until I really saw the surge [in the memorabilia market] in 2020 … I always though the most interesting part of it was that it was 35,” Matt said.
Now selling the jersey via Grey Flannel Auctions, the jersey has been photo-matched by Sports Investors Authentication to an April game at Yankee Stadium against the Athletics.
Sonny later told Rob he saw jerseys bearing the names of players such as Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Satchel Paige also in the box all those years ago in Harlem. After realizing the value of the Berra jersey, Rob called up his cousin Sonny to tell him, “You should have stuck your hand back in that box three or four more times!”
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible content.
Category: General Sports
