Sittler’s 10-point sweater found
Collector estimates jersey worth as much as $500,000
After 42 years, on the exact anniversary of his record-setting 10-point game, Darryl Sittler finally knows where his Toronto Maple Leafs sweater from that magical night ended up.
“A warehouse in New Jersey,” the surprised Sittler said Wednesday.
He had just been filled in about the story from TSN’s Frank Seravalli regarding the home white jersey’s fate. Expert Barry Meisel went public after purchasing it from an unidentified collector, one of four or five collectors who owned it since Sittler recorded six goals and four assists against the Boston Bruins.
Meisel’s estimate, based on the US$1.27 million paid a few years ago for Paul Henderson’s Team Canada sweater from the Summit Series, is that Sittler’s will fetch between $350,000 and $500,000.
Not really thinking of the value of such artifacts, as few players did at that time, Sittler didn’t ask to keep it after the game.
His stick from that evening also vanished, supposedly in a garage fire while in the possession of a former Leafs trainer. Sittler was given a custom VHS of the game’s highlights that was never reproduced, which he deeply regretted losing during a house cleaning many years ago.
“Back then, you were only given about two sweaters a season and they had to last you,” Sittler, 67, said. “Today in the NHL, guys might wear a special one just for warm-up and never again.
“We played the next night after the 10 points, but I really had no idea if I had the same sweater on or if it was already taken.”
The TSN story said Leafs owner Harold Ballard gifted it to a friend, which Sittler says is plausible, but doesn’t remember being informed.
Meisel, who keeps about 10,000 game-worn jerseys in his warehouse, received a call one day about his interest in purchasing about 90 vintage sweaters. When he heard one was Sittler’s, he gave it special attention.
“We knew it was a ’75-76, knew it was game worn,” Meisel said. “Needles in the haystack are fine, but when you see the needle’s made of gold and all you have to do is dive into the stack, it makes it very exciting.”
Meisel came to the Hockey Hall of Fame’s resource centre in Toronto to see what it had in terms of photographs and other images of the game. Meisel and Hall staff carefully examined each one, noticing the stem on the Ballard-era Leafs crest was crooked and a white thread was dangling from one of the shoulder numbers.
“And there was one beautiful (picture), perfectly positioned, of his arm where the blue stripe had a unique white blemish,” Meisel said. “Same shape, same place, same size. That gave us three points of absolute uniqueness. We knew we’d found it.”
Meisel’s inclination would be sell to the highest bidder, but hopes it will be to a person or institution that would put the sweater on public display. Sittler, who does not seem keen on bidding himself, shares that sentiment.
“He authenticated it and if he wants to (keep it public), that’s great,” Sittler said. “... Really, who’d have thought they ’d find it after all this time?”
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