Rod Gilbert - Cosby Durene, size 48. Cosby tag in the collar Athletic Outfitters & co. 3 Pennsylvania Plaza. New York, N.Y. 10001. Madison Square Garden.  Size tag reads 44 but the jersey clearly measures a size 48. 

Provenance - This is the first NY Rangers road jersey I have seen ever from the 1976-77 season set.  Where did they all go and why did this one survive? The provenance  on this jersey is great, the owner of this jersey worked for a big record company through the 60's and 70's and toured with many big recording stars. In Chicago his touring group played the night before the NY Rangers vs. Chicago, after the game the Rangers were invited to the hotel were the recording stars were staying and Rod Gilbert showed up and gave this jersey to the owner. It has been in his collection ever since until now.

Research - In researching this jersey I have found that for at least the first part of 76-77 the road jerseys did not have names on the back, and I believe this was true all the way until the end of the 76-77 season, but this is still in research. But I do have photo evidence that they did have road jerseys with no names on the back.  The home jerseys did have names on the back and in the 77-78 season the Rangers also put names on the backs of the roads as well. In the photo to the right you can see #5 with no name on the back. See how high the #5 is on the back, the original placement of the numbers were high but then later lowered. The original placement was 3" from the bottom of the red shoulder stripe, it was then lowered to 5" from the red shoulder strip giving a more centered placement on the back.  You can clearly see the outline of were the old placement was.  The sleeve numbers stayed the same.  Although the Size tag reads 44 its measures to a size 48. This did happen often were the wrong size tags were put on jerseys.  The jersey shows fantastic game use. With Rod Gilbert being 5'9" and 175 this size 48 was probably too big on him. The jersey was hemmed in from the waste all the way to the sleeve cuffs giving it a true size 46. It was hemmed in an inch on both sides trimming the jersey to a 46. I believe this customization was done by the team but not before Gilbert wore it as a size 48 for a hand full of games, because there is a team repair on the hemmed part of the seem that was repaired before the customization and now that repair is tucked into that customization and can only be seen from the inside of the jersey.  I believe this jersey was worn for most of the entire 76-77 season.

The jersey shows fantastic game use inside and out.

Game Wear: