For the past several months, we have been rehabbing, rebranding, repainting, and reorganizing our little neighborhood sports shop on 13th and Walnut, and now we're ready to celebrate. We hope you'll join us.
We are extremely excited about the Shibe Grand Opening Weekend, June 20th-22nd. The fun will begin on Friday at 6 p.m., as Shawn Murray (left) will be talking about some of his grandfather's amazing photos of the 1920s A's and Yankees. Bruce Murray was a sports photographer for the Philadelphia Bulletin in the 1920s and there is no other way to say it: his photographs are spectacular. His best known one is of Babe Ruth at his last game (which took place at Shibe Park), and Shawn will be showing not only that one but several more of his grandfather's remarkable photos, which we will have for sale at the store for the next few months. We're really excited to have these incredible works of art in the store.
After Shawn, we'll learn about the history of Phillies jerseys from Peter Capolino. Peter was the former owner of Mitchell and Ness, with a passion for sports history and jersey history. He's going to talk about the different jerseys and patches the Phils have worn through the years, why they suffered in wool unis during the summers, and why they changed their colors to blue and yellow in 1938. This is an incredible presentation that Phillies fans are going to love.
On Saturday, we've got some more action for Philly sports history buffs. At 6 p.m., Penn history professor Bruce Kuklick is going to talk about his award-winning book, To Every Thing a Season, which tells the history of Shibe Park and the evolution of its surrounding neighborhood through the years of its existence, from 1909-1976. At 6:30, Drexel prof Dick Rosen, co-author of The Philadelphia Phillies, will be doing a Powerpoint presentation on the early history of the Phillies and the A's.
At both events, we will have liquid refreshment provided by our friends at Ommegang, who just recently released Cooperstown Ale, a beer inspired by the Baseball Hall of Fame! They are honestly one of my favorite breweries, and when I saw they had an ale honoring the sport of baseball, I knew we had to have it for the event. Drinks and snacks will be provided complimentary to all who attend Friday and Saturday's events.
On Sunday, we'll wrap it up with a USA-Portugal viewing party on the 10' big screen TV at Milkboy, the terrific bar just a couple of blocks away from us. We'll have a Chinese auction during the game as well, with numerous prizes from our store to give away, including t-shirts, hats, and even a Chase Utley jersey. We're also gonna get some unique vintage USA soccer shirts made for the event.
In addition to all of these great events, we'll be running sales all weekend, having customers shoot hoops for savings, and playing games and doing giveaways all weekend long. So we hope you'll swing by and check us out. The fun starts at 5 p.m. on Friday. Hope to see you there!
