96-99 Nike Airknits - Intro of the Black Alt
96-97 Eddie Belfour, 97-98 Reid Simpson, 96-97 Chris Chelios game worn jerseys
Brand:: Nike
Material: Airknit
Hem: Nike swoosh embroidered on right rear hem with the NHL Shield next to it. 96-97 had a trademark symbol next to the shield.
Set Tagging: See table below, intro of the price tag
Patches: None
Sets: Two regular season sets for red/white, additional playoff set in 97. Seems that there was one set of alts per season, but the previous year’s set was carried over for the first half of the next season. 98-99 SOTB set.
Notes:
Material: Airknit
Hem: Nike swoosh embroidered on right rear hem with the NHL Shield next to it. 96-97 had a trademark symbol next to the shield.
Set Tagging: See table below, intro of the price tag
Patches: None
Sets: Two regular season sets for red/white, additional playoff set in 97. Seems that there was one set of alts per season, but the previous year’s set was carried over for the first half of the next season. 98-99 SOTB set.
Notes:
- Nike took over the Hawks jersey contract for the three seasons from 96-97 to 98-99.
- Note the unique Nike larger crest with the brown outside of the outline of the Indian Head. They were also slightly tilted when sewn on the jersey.
- The 96-97 sets had a small trademark symbol sewn next to the NHL shield. A few of these also appeared in 97-98.
- Most 98-99 jerseys had the front and back of the necks reinforced. It looks like a fight abuse repair, however, nearly everyone had the reinforcements.
- The black alternate jersey was introduced on 24JAN97 vs Toronto and was worn 10 games that season, including game 5 of the playoffs vs Colorado
- The black alternate was worn for 14 games in 97-98 and 15 games in 98-99.
- It is believed the initial set of alternate jerseys worn in 96-97 was used again in 97-98. When the team switched the normal colored sets, they also switched to a new set of black alts. This may have also occurred in 98-99.
- Tagging on the inside-neck of these gamers was similar to retail authentics sold, causing some to doubt authenticity in some cases as the game worms included Center Ice authentic tagging. Two different versions appear, the 2nd may just be on 98-99 jerseys which includes a screened on NHL Player logo and circular Center Ice tagging.
- Two additional hip tags also appear inside the Nike jerseys on the left hip, one a small size flag and another larger tag with jersey details.
- LOA’s were issued and these were sold out of Hawkquarters.
- Starting in 92-93 and continuing to 02-03, the Hawks LOA's contained the phrasing "This letter certifies that your jersey is an authentic game jersey issued to...". This phrasing has caused quite a bit of confusion to collectors as a Game Issued jersey is considered to be a jersey made up by the team, but not worn by the player. In this case, the Blackhawks are not using this phrasing in that manner, they are simply stating this is the jersey they gave to the player to use. The term Game Issued was likely not even known to whomever wrote the letter template. All the letters in this era contained this phrasing, so a 30+ repair jersey had it as well as a light wear jersey worn once.
- 98-99 was the first time that the ‘price tags’ appeared on the inside of the jerseys. These tags, looking like an old price gun sticker, were taped in the jerseys behind the rear numbers. The tags were placed there by the team’s letterer, City Sports Lettering. On them is a numberic code that helps to identify what the jersey is. For instance code “24989912” translates to 24 (jersey number) 9899 (98-99 season) 1 (1=white, 2=red, 3=alt) 2 (set 2). These tags sometimes fell out of the jerseys due to washing, or in some instances cut out by the team with a razor blade. In either case, the square piece of tape remains with a price sticker-sized hole in the middle.
- 98-99 is the first season a Shirt Off Their Back Night (SOTB) or Fan Appreciation Night jersey was given out to ‘random’ attendees of the last home game of the season. This practice continued until the early 2010’s. In some years, the jersey contained special tagging, but the 98-99 jerseys had no special tagging. In all letters that have surfaced that came with these jerseys, they are worded “Congratulations on winning…” rather than “Congratulations on purchasing…”. The Hawks typically wore a new set of jerseys for the SOTB promotions, although there may have been a season or two where they were worn longer.
- Behind the NHL shield, the training staff marked a code for the year and set in black marker. There are some anomalies, 97 2 is an unknown as to when it was worn (have seen 2 of them) and an X on the shield accompanied by one of the usual set markings. A theory that it was an extra Jersey is somewhat disproved as I have seen 2 separate Chelios black Alts each with 98 2 but no X. Here’s the set breakdown:
Examples of all the Nike sets.
A few 97 2 and shields with an X have also surfaced. Unsure when the 97 2 was used or what the X meant.
A ‘price tag’ example. 2989912 = 2 (player number - Brad Brown) 9899 (year) 1 (1=white 2 = red 3 = black) and 2 (2nd set).
A 90’ss CCM crest next to the Nike crest.
Rear hem comparison. Note the trademark symbol on the bottom jersey from 96-97.
Nike neck tagging, showing both variations and the hip tagging.
Examples of the 98-99 neck reinforcements.