I still have some catalogs from when I was a kid, which allows me to present to you a fairly comprehensive look at the retail authentic MLB jersey market in the years 1990-1994. I'm sorry some of the scans aren't perfect, as I took these to school, read them as I went to sleep, and ate my breakfast cereal flippng through the pages.

1990 is a fantastic place to start, lots of interesting things going on. One is, it's $20 extra for size 52 and 56, which in todays sizing, is a pretty standard size that usually doesn't require extra payment. Funny how things can change in just 19 years. Also of note is that four teams were going to cost you an additional $20: the Cards, Jays, M's, and Braves. The Cardinals were understandable, with their fancy chain stitch embroidery across the front. The Jays as well, with all their intricate stitching for the lettering. With the Braves, was it because of the fancy logo work on front? The really mysterious one is why do the Mariners cost more? I wouldn't exactly call their design fancy or labor intensive, so if anyone knows why theirs was more expensise, post it in the comments please! So, your final tally when buying in 1990 can end up like this: if you were in shape, of small to average build, and wanted an Expos jersey, it was $79, while your tubby buddy who wants a Blue Jays jersey is gonna pay $79 + $20 + $20. Oof. One last tidbit: for some reason the Yankees home jersey is not available for purchase, only road.

Moving on to 1991, the base price went up $10. Now that Jays jersey for your big friend is up to $129.95. Check out the Boston road jersey, it loses the plaket trim, and gains it on the sleeves. Teams gaining a button front include the Mets and Pirates, and the White Sox and Padres received redesigns. On batting jerseys, in 1990 you were buying Rawlings made jerseys, while in 1991, you would buy Majestic. Also, in 1990 you would buy your jersey in numbered sizes, while in 1991, Majestic did it in the S, M, L, XL sizes. Also of note, the Braves, Mets road, and Tigers road would cost you an additional $10 for some reason. But, the base price of the batting jersey went from $59 to $49, a rare price drop.

In 1992, the batting jerseys switched to a Russell Athletic exclusive. Prices stayed the same from the previous year, with the base price jersey staying at $49.95 (note that you could buy 1991 Majestics at a discounted $29.95). There doesn't seem to be any price surcharges for certain teams, looks like they're all the same for 1992. In the authentic gamers, those also switched to Russell, and the price held the same. 1992 saw the addition of a White Sox black jersey, O's orange jersey, and Reds red jersey. The teams on the "more expensive" roster changed from 1991: Toronto, Atlanta, and St. Louis are still expensive, while the Phillies get added due to what I assume is their higher labor cost chain stitch embroidery. Also added is Montreal, for reasons I'm not quite sure. Montreal shouldn't be higher just because of an update, because other teams didn't switch to the higher rate when they updated. The M's are dropped from the higher cost teams for again, mysterious reasons. The REALLY big news is, you could finally buy a home Yankees jersey. By the way, you could buy 1991 Rawlings jerseys for $59.95 (while supplies last).

Late in 1992 a few products were added in time for Christmas. You can now get Marlins and Rockies jerseys, which were both added to the "expensive teams" list. The Mariners are added to the "expensive teams" list again, maybe they were just left off by accident at the beginning of 1992. Also of note, both expansion teams introduced alternate jerseys right off the bat, Colorado in black, and Florida in sleeveless. In the batting jerseys, you can get both expansion teams, but they'll cost you $10 more than the rest of major league baseball.

Price goes up a bit, base authentic price goes up to $94.95. However, the "expensive teams" no longer cost an additional $20, they're now just an additional $15. So those "expensive teams" prices essentially stayed the same at $109.95. Cincinnati no longer has a red Reds jersey with their uni redesign. The Angels and Mariners also received a uni update. In the batting jerseys, there's an expanded "expensive teams" list: Rockies and Marlins as before, with the addition of the Phillies, Braves, and Angels.

In 1994, the batting jerseys underwent quite a change. Early on in 1994 you could buy a lightweight Majestic for $49.99, or a heavyweight Russell for $79.99. As 1994 goes on Russell changes things up, check out that fourth pic. They lower the price of the heavyweight jersey to $74.99, while raising the price to $114.99 for ten teams called "button down teams". Interesting huh? On the authentics front, all jerseys went up to $114.99, while sleeveless vests go to $94.99. The extra cost for bigger sizes has finally disappeared. Alternate jerseys are beginning to make their splash on the scene, ten teams have alternate jerseys available for purchase. By the way, the undershirt worn underneath the vest jerseys were available at $24.99 apiece ($5 additional for XXL).

Two little bonuses here from the era. Did you know you could buy authentic AAA and NCAA jerseys? They were made by Wilson and eight teams were available for AAA and NCAA teams. Prices for either the NCAA or AAA authentic sure wasn't cheap either, these are late 1992 prices printed on the pictures.