Sun Sentinel July 1992 (2)

Carl Barger is fussy about his appearance. He gets a spot on his tie, he doesn`t feel like the same person.

It`s important to look good, even if you`re not good-looking, the Marlins president said. That goes for him, and it goes for his baseball team.

"People say we`re going to lose 100 games next year," he said Wednesday, "but I still don`t want us to look like a softball team."

Not to worry. With three uniform ensembles and an equal number of caps, with pinstripes and old-fashioned vests and flying fish jumping off teal-colored sleeves and scripted letters, the Marlins will look major league.

Better, certainly, than the deep purple Rockies of Colorado, Barger said at the unveiling of the Marlins` uniforms Wednesday afternoon at Joe Robbie Stadium.

"I`m prejudiced, of course," he said, "but in my mind I give us a very large W."

For Marlins fans, there`s a corollary to looking better than the Rockies, as subjective as that may be. They`ll have to pay more, too.

Fans ordering authentic copies of Marlins jerseys from the team`s newly published merchandise catalog will pay $10 more than fans buying Rockies jerseys at the souvenir outlet store in downtown Denver.

Marlins jerseys list for $139.95. The Rockies jerseys sell for $129.95, according to Steve Tomlinson, manager of the Colorado Rockies Dugout Store. They`ll be available by catalog in the fall, he said, for $130.

Extra-large Marlins fans -- size 52 -- will be charged $149.95. Extra-large Rockies fans will pay the same as anyone else, according to Tomlinson.

"I take the wholesale price for the smaller sizes and the extra- large and average them," Tomlinson said.

Dolphins jerseys, if ordered through NFL Properties catalogs, go for about $80, one price for all sizes. "You mean fat people will pay more for Marlins stuff?" asked one incredulous NFL official.

According to Tomlinson, the $149.95 price is the highest of any team in baseball, higher even than the $142-plus charged by the Montreal Expos (when converted from Canadian to U.S. dollars). The Rockies` research showed, Tomlinson said, that the average price of a jersey was around $120, with the St. Louis Cardinals at the high end with $139.95.

According to Yolanda, an employee of the Los Angeles Dodgers` merchandising department who gave only her first name, authentic Dodger jerseys sell for $100. "Last year we charged $150," she said, "but this season, we dropped the price."

Mark Shatraw, a manager at R&M Sporting Goods in the Galleria mall, said top-of-the-line Yankee and White Sox jerseys sell there for $110. Told that the Marlin jerseys are being sold for $30 more, he said: "I wouldn`t doubt that. And people will pay it, too."

The authentic jersey for hockey`s San Jose Sharks, an expansion team in the NHL last season, was advertised for $142 in one hockey publication.

The Marlins and Rockies caps are priced the same, at $19.95, though Tomlinson advises that retail outlets may charge as much as $5 more.

The Marlins say one million copies of the catalog -- cover by artist LeRoy Neiman -- are available. One hundred Marlins-related items are listed, including boxer shorts ($12.95), zipper gripper ($4.95), crystal bat ($79.95), necktie ($19.95), hairbow ($6.95), and 14-karat gold ring ($799.95).

Tomlinson said that since the Rockies unveiled their uniforms Saturday, business has been steady at his store. "The last two days, we`ve sold about 40 of the uniform jerseys."

Barger, the former Pirates president, has 22 Pittsburgh jerseys in his closet and now a personalized vested Marlins uniform, No. 8 on the back. "I wanted No. 5, for DiMaggio," he said.

He predicts that the Marlins jerseys, designed to be cool, will be a "hot item." And while the vested look is just an alternative look for now -- Sundays only -- Barger says the team will gauge how the players and fans react to it and perhaps use it more.

"I wouldn`t be surprised if we wore it half the time, and it could possibly be our dominant look," he said.

If it does, figure to pay more for the copy: The matching teal T- shirts worn underneath won`t be available till the fall. And no price is listed.