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Mesh jerseys in the NFL


slats7

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I'm guessing this varies by team, but does anyone know when they were first introduced? It's my understanding that most teams went with solid "durene" jerseys right through the 1960s, although I do have a press photo of Sonny Jurgensen wearing a mesh jersey in 1969.

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Last year, Grey Flannel tried to pass off a mesh jersey as belonging to Don Meredith in 1966, but as far as I can tell, the Cowboys didn't start wearing mesh until 1972. Also, the TV numbers on the alleged Meredith jersey were situated next to the sleeve stripes, which again indicates early 1970s and not when Meredith played.

http://catalog.greyflannelauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=24471

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I'm thinking it was 1969 also - seems like a bunch of NFL teams wore plain mesh jerseys at the start of the season (warm months of September and maybe early October) but switched back to their durene jerseys as the weather got colder.

I've seen photos of the Redskins, Jets, Vikings, Bears, Lions and a few others in that circa 1969-1971 era with the stripeless jerseys. I'm not sure if the Dolphins stripeless jerseys date to 1969 or 1970, but they wore them through the 1972 season. Oddly enough the Saints had mesh jerseys in 1969 with sleeve stripes - but the stripes were not the wide stripes they had worn in 1967 and 1968 but smaller stripes more like the Packers wore at the time (and what the Redskins would eventually start wearing when they switched to their durene jerseys).

I don't think any teams were using these in 1968, but I could be wrong on that.

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1968 looks to be the year.

Vikings at New Orleans 10/13/1968 in purple.

Lions, 3 times:

at Dallas 9/15

hosting Bears 9/22

at Los Angeles 11/3

all in (darker) honolulu blue.

Falcons also wore a short sleeved specific jersey for a few games,

likely at Minnesota in white 9/14 (Saturday night)

hosting Colts in white 9/22

also hosting Packers in black 10/6

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