Editor’s Note: Sports apparel “Guru” Ray Jannelli, the president of PLA, has some thoughts this week on his days as the former manager, buyer and sales trainer at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness.)
By Ray Jannelli
This past winter at the NHL Winter Classic Game PLA supplied Hip-Hop R&B Rap artists The Roots (Jimmy Fallon's House Band) with Philadelphia Flyers jerseys and gear for the band’s Winter Classic concert. That sport/celebrity/entertainment connection was always a part of my tenure at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness. When we had started designing and manufacturing vintage baseball jackets in 1988, one of my first customers was actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Ms. Curtis purchased a 1950 Phillies wool with leather sleeve jacket for her husband Christopher Guest.
In the early '90's I was having Roman Pro Cap Co. manufacture forgotten vintage Phillies caps from the '20's,'30's and '40's. One cap in particular that I researched and designed was the 1941 Phillies cap, navy crown, navy brim, navy button, with a scarlet felt plain block "P". A costume designer had come into my retail store and purchased this cap for a movie that was being filmed in Philly. The movie was called “Philadelphia”, it starred Tom Hanks, and yes, that was the cap he wore in the movie.
In the early 2000's, when Mitchell & Ness was gaining notoriety, I like to think that Christian Meoli (Without a Trace, Cold Case, The Pretender, Martial Law) started it all. He was a local Philadelphia actor who wore our 1967 SF Warriors Rick Barry jersey in an episode of Nash Bridges starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin. Another famous actor, James Belushi really appreciated the Chicago Black Hawks 1970's style warm-up I sent him, even wore it in an episode of According to Jim.
Authentic Store Buzz: Last week, Pro League Authentics held the Left Field Cards event. Artist Amelie Mancini brought her prints from Brooklyn to Philadelphia for a night, showing off her new presidential collection. He baseball oriented artistic prints are incredibly creative. Her collections include Bizzarre injuries, Edible All-Stars, and Marvelous Mustaches. Now she adds the presidential series to the bunch. The event was a great success. In addition, Ms. Mancini created an exclusive Greg Luzinski print just for the event.
The MLB division series are underway. The Reds and the Giants move their series back to Cincinnati, while the Orioles win last night tied the series with the Yankees at 1 heading back now for three games in the Bronx. The Tigers are 2-0 heading to Oakland, and the Cardinals big win yesterday ties their series at 1 as the two teams travel to our nation's capitol for the first playoff game in D.C. since before World War II. To help you support your favorite playoff team, PLA continues to offer 25% off on all MLB jerseys, just use the code "MLB" when purchasing.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: In the fictional movie "For Love of The Game", against which team does Billy Chapel throw his perfect game? Answer to come tomorrow.
Thursday’s answer: Earl Whithill was credited with the Senators win in game 3 of the 1933 World Series vs. the NY Giants while reliever Ryan Mattheus earned the win for the Nats on Sunday night.
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