The Shibe Vintage Sports History Blog

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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For the first time in years, Notre Dame Football is relevant. The team went into this Saturday’s match up with the Miami Hurricanes as the 10th ranked college football team in the Bowl Championship Series. They are known best for their astounding defense that held the Hurricanes to fewer than 10 points. With the win, the Irish moved to 7th in the BCS Top 25.

The team also debuted new helmets and jerseys as part of their Shamrock Series. The usual Notre Dame uniform includes a blue jersey and a gold helmet. It’s as simple as that. These Shamrock Series uniforms were not a disgrace to the decades of tradition that the name “Notre Dame” invokes every time it is uttered in a football context. The helmets they wore did look odd, in comparison to the very plain all gold helmets that usually adorn the domes of the Fighting Irish, but overall they were nothing like the Oregon Ducks. The Helmets had two colors, blue and gold, with about 75% of the helmet in traditional gold and the other quarter in blue. The two colors were demonstrably separated by a white stripe. In addition, a white leprechaun could be found lurking on the side of the helmet covered in blue paint. These helmets are part of a series that involves adding a new look in one home game that is played at a neutral site every season. 

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 and Yankees play game two in Baltimore before heading back to New York. The Tigers are 2-0 heading to Oakland while the Nationals play one more in St. Louis before hosting the first playoff game in D.C. in since the early part of the 20th century. 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:  Which pitcher won the last playoff game ever for the Washington senators, and which pitcher got the win on Sunday's Washington Nationals win this postseason? Answer to come tomorrow.

Wednesday’s answer:  Orlando Cepeda led the NL in home runs and runs batted in in 1961. He hit 46 home runs and knocked in 142.

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The MLB playoffs may be underway, but for 20 teams the season is over and preparation for next season has begun. That includes the 55-win Houston Astros. The Astros plan to move from the National League Central to the American League West. In confluence with this move, head brass have decided to rebrand themselves in order to shrug off the 200 + losses their fans have endured over the last two seasons.

A new logo, uniform, and mascot will be revealed on November 2^nd, in an attempt to rid themselves of the association between Astros and the old Astrodome. In a recent commercial teaser for the November 2^nd event, the Astros mistakenly or possibly on purpose, showed bits of their new uniforms and hats. The jerseys had the word “Astros” appearing across the front instead of the previously used “Houston”. In addition, the word is done in navy and orange block lettering. The hats seem to show a reach back to the old 1980’s logo with an orange “H” in the center surrounded by a blue block.

It’s possible the Astros slipped up in this case, but what seems more likely is that in order to get fans excited about the changes, they had to come as close to showing them the new designs as possible, without revealing everything. 

Authentic Store Buzz: This past 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.   

Last night the Cardinals beat the Braves in the first ever National League Wild Card one-game series, and the Orioles defeated the Rangers in the American League Wild Card game. Both games were exciting and fun to watch. Tonight the Division Series get underway with the Detroit Tigers taking on the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants taking on the Cincinnati Reds. 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 1961 Roger Marris broke Babe Ruth's single season home run record by belting 61 home runs in a season. Who hit the most home runs in the National League that year, and how many did he hit? Answer to come Monday.

Wednesday’s answer:  Foxx managed for the Fort Wayne Daisies following his playing career. The Daisies played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

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