MLB and the Mets unveiled the 2013 All Star Game logo Tuesday, and we’re still waiting to see which one is used as the on-field patch. There’s a version that has a Mets logo and a design with no logo at all (other than “2013 ALL STAR GAME”) across the city skyline part of the design. We’re guessing if there’s no “MLB” on the patch then they’ll use the one with the Mets logo.
Since the 2005 game in Detroit, the words “Major League Baseball,” or more commonly the initials “MLB,” have been on every All Star Game patch.
In 2011, the Diamondbacks wore the ASG patch with their team logo on it all season, but for the game itself, the players, including the hometown Dbacks, wore the version with “MLB” on it.
All in all, we like the logo concept, as the patch-happy Mets will have another one to wear next year.
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Authentic Store Buzz: As you might imagine based in Philly, the focus is starting to shift from the Phillies to football’s Eagles who open up pre-season play Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field against the Steelers, with sadness still surrounding the franchise in the wake of the death of head coach Andy Reid’s son Garrett on Sunday at age 29.
There will be a moment of silence in memory of Garrett Reid Thursday prior to kickoff, and the Eagles will wear a black circular decal on their helmets with the initials "GR" for the rest of the season.
The 2012 official New Era 5950 Eagles on-field sideline hat is in store (pictured above, left).
Not coincidentally with the NFL in dress rehearsal mode, Nike NFL Elite Jerseys have been quite popular. Next week, Nike ‘Dri Fit’ training shirts that Pro League Authentics is designing for the Eagles strength and conditioning coaches to give to team members, are expected to arrive. The shirt will feature the PLA logo.
Also new in store, Philadelphia Firebirds NAHL T-shirts (picture above, right).
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: What years did Notre Dame’s football team wear a Shamrock on its helmets? Answer on Friday.
Wednesday’s answer: The original Los Angeles Angels (1961-65) then California Angels (1966-1997) wore halos on their hats and helmets between the 1961-70 seasons.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
The 1994 Major League Baseball season will forever be known as the strike-shortened season, the year in which the Fall Classic was not played.
Lost amidst the lost season was the fact that MLB celebrated its 125th anniversary with a sleeve patch that all teams save the Reds wore that season. Less known was the New Era pin of the logo that was able to be attached on the back of the cap placed over the MLB logo.
New Era, in its first season as the exclusive MLB on-field hat supplier, officially named the item, “Back of the Cap Commemorative Medallion.”
Players started wearing them early in the ’94 season, then complaints that they came loose too easily and slowly but surely the pins faded away from game-used to novelty.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: In which seasons did the Angels franchise (Los Angeles, California, Anaheim, back to Los Angeles) wear a halo on its cap and batting helmets? Answer on Thursday.
Tuesday’s answer: The New Orleans Saints first added black pants to their wardrobe for the 1976 season.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
(Editor’s Note: Former manager, buyer and sales trainer at the " Original" Mitchell & Ness , sports apparel "Guru" Ray Jannelli offers some thoughts on Independent Specialty Retailer Pro League Authentics, LLC, located in Mid-Town Village Philadelphia (13th and Walnut).
By Ray Jannelli
When fans are going to the game they "gotta have the gear, the right gear, authentic gear".
That was the impetus that began the concept of Pro League Authentics. Our customer/friend wants to purchase THE Pro Cap that their favorite baseball player wears on field. A PLA consultant helps with the customer's selection of the right cap and makes sure the PLA customer/friend chooses the right size. It’s all about customer service.
The PLA staff member genuinely wants to make sure that the customer is ecstatic with their purchase. Sports are fun; shopping for sports apparel should to be fun as well.
With a combination of 60 years in the sporting goods business, the PLA crew hand-picks the best sports apparel products from the greatest sports apparel manufacturers. PLA researches and develops products of its own as well, like t-shirts, caps and jerseys for the World Hockey Association and various defunct leagues.
Sometimes yours truly will drive by the old Centrum in Cherry Hill (originally Cherry Hill Arena renamed Centrum in 1975) on Brace Road, to be exact, to see if the Jersey Knights might be coming back. Good luck with that!
That manufacturer plus retailer mindset is carried over from our years at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness, when we were on Walnut St. We were part of the original think tank of throwback products. I believe the "right" hemisphere.
It is great to see many of our former M&N customers frequent our PLA store; it's like a reunion of sorts. A club, if you will.
We carry mostly current authentic sports apparel, but don't be surprised to see a Bob Rigby Atoms jersey, or a Rejean Lemelin Firebirds sweater.
Nike, New Era, Majestic, Puma, 47 Brand, Junkfood, Reebok, Zephyr, Philly Xpress, Ruberti Lettering, American Needle, Wright & Ditson, Russell Athletic, etc.
Quite simply, we carry the best. “The #1 Authority in Sports Apparel” has to.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: What year did the New Orleans Saints adopt black pants as part of their standard uniform? Answer on Wednesday.
Monday’s answer: The Brewers after 21 seasons of play (one as the Pilots in 1969), put names on the back of their road jerseys only in 1990, and finally placed them on their home uniforms as well in 1994, a year they made a major change from Royal blue and gold to Navy blue, gold and green trim.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
The three previously-scheduled MLB throwback games this past weekend started off on a great note Friday night at Petco Park with the Padres and Mets going back to 1989.
For the Mets, the ’89 season was the middle of three wearing the gray jersey with block lettering and racing stripes made by Rawlings. The Padres were in the second-to-last season of a six-year stretch in which brown and orange were the dominate colors. They also wore a Rawlings jersey that season.
It was also great to see the looser-fitting than the real ’89 versions jersey pants being hiked to allow use of full hosiery and “sanis.”
The Mets did get the Gary Carter “KID 8” patch on the right sleeve, the fifth different jersey the patch has appeared on this season.
Saturday night in St. Louis, the Cardinals and Brewers were supposed to replicate a 1982 World Series game at (the previous) Busch Stadium as the Cards welcomed back a host of members from the World Series championship team for a 30th anniversary celebration.
However, for some bizarre reason while the Cardinals wore the proper belt-less (Rawlings) home white uniform, they had a “1982 World Series Champions” patch stitched on the right sleeve which; a) of course wasn’t worn in that World Series, and, (b) most importantly, THE PATCH DIDN’T EVEN EXIST IN 1982!
We’ll give the Cards credit for the Ken Boyer memorial armband which was worn by the team from Sept. 7, 1982 through the end of the season including the World Series, but the patch looked way out of place.
The Brewers also declined to replicate their ’82 road cap which included a gold front panel, opting for their current model throwback hat worn once a month at Miller Park.
In the series finale Sunday night an unusual sight: The Cardinals wore the ’82 Columbia blue road uniforms at home. We can’t ever remember the Redbirds wearing their road uniform at home, and maybe that’s the genesis of a new promotion: One home series a year a team wears its road uniform.
That’s the ticket.
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Authentic
Store Buzz: A couple of new Eagles T’s, for men and
women (pictured above l to r), just as the NFL pre-season began Sunday
night with New Orleans topping Arizona 17-10 in the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.
The Eagles host the Steelers on Thursday in their first tune-up amidst the sad news surrounding the death of head coach Andy Reid's son Garrett on Sunday at age 29.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: How many years into their existence in Milwaukee, after moving from Seattle after the 1969 season, did it take for the Brewers to finally add names on the back of their team uniforms? Answer on Tuesday.
Friday’s answer: The Phillies wore this hat during the 1946 season. It was tweaked for ’47.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
(Editor's Note: Philadelphia area sports writer Ben Horrow contributes weekly to Authentically Speaking.)
By Ben Horrow
The opening ceremony for the 2012 London Summer Olympics was spectacular to say the least. Great Britain did its best to top the opening ceremony at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Directed by Danny Boyle, the ceremony consisted of Mary Poppins, James Bond, and of course, the Queen.
The United States showed up wearing very preppy looking uniforms made, once again, by Ralph Lauren. The uniforms consisted of sports jackets and ties with blue berets, white pants for gentlemen, white skirts for ladies, and white shoes for both men and women. These uniforms are similar to those worn by USA participants in the 2008 Summer Olympics, also designed by Ralph Lauren.
Interestingly, the Gap/Old Navy franchise has received rights and thus pushed forward with a retro set of Olympics clothing. The clothing, mostly shirts referring to past Olympics, is dubbed “Olympic Vintage T’s” and can be found at your local Gap retailer.
The Olympic committee strongly prohibits the use of its symbols or property, without express consent from the IOC. The rules regarding clothing worn during Olympic events is monitored very closely both for possibilities of advantages gained due to certain apparel, such as the swimsuits worn in the 2004 Olympics when multiple record were broken in the same games.
In addition, the women in beach volleyball are allowed to wear clothing other than their scantily clad bikinis if the temperatures fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Another note, the female Saudi Arabian contestant was granted special permission by the IOC to wear a headscarf during competition, a garb not usually allowed during competition.
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Authentic Store Buzz: A couple of new Phillies and Eagles hats in the store (pictured above), including “The Tymes” Phillies vintage style hat from American Needle, featuring a leather sweatband and back-strap with a brass buckle.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: Speaking of Phillies hats, what year did the team wear this model? Answer on Monday.
Thursday’s answer: The Chicago Bears first placed the famous wishbone “C” on their helmets in 1962. They then added orange to the “C” for the 1973 season.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
We know the NBA is seriously contemplating crossing the line in two seasons by adding advertising patches to its jerseys, but the NFL has had its teams sell sponsorship patches on its practice jerseys for three years now, and although it’s a bit more innocuous because it’s not the spotlight of Game Day, it’s still a foreign sight to these eyes connected anywhere to the field of play.
(The Tennessee Titans have won an ad patch since 2005, but the NFL had no official rule until 2009.)
The patches can’t be bigger than 3 ½ by 4 ½ inches, and usually the sponsor is tied into a much bigger six or even seven figure financial relationship with the team, the advertising patch just one of the line items in a package, so it can be had to always say exactly how much revenue the patch alone is bringing to a club.
There’s no patches allowed for alcohol products, and a team can even sell rights to its post-season practice jerseys to a different sponsor than the regular season, if it makes the playoffs.
Unlike the NBA, let’s hope the NFL stops at practice jerseys.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: What year did the Chicago Bears add the famous white wishbone “C” to their helmets, and in what season did they add orange to that “C”? Answers on Friday.
Wednesday’s answer: Penn State wore numbers on its helmets between the 1968-74 seasons.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
(Editor’s Note: Authentically Speaking welcomes writer and longtime sports apparel industry researcher and developer Jared Wheeler to our lineup. Based out of suburban Philadelphia, Jared will provide his unique take and insight on the world of sports, uniforms, and associated lifestyle elements.)
By Jared Wheeler
In the Harlem section of New York City, bounded within a chain linked fence, sits the hallowed concrete court of Rucker Park.
The court loudly echoes the evolution of the game of basketball, serving as the backdrop to the play of some of the game’s best. It is stages like Rucker Park, which are scattered throughout the five borrows of New York City, where the game of pick up basketball is played out.
Since the 1950’s players have been showcasing their skills on the pick up basketball courts of New York City. Bobbito Garcia and Kevin Couliau capture the historic, cultural and social importance of pick-up basketball in NYC in their documentary Doin It In the Park.
Doin’ It In the Park was featured in Philadelphia in late July at the AWESOME FEST Outdoor Summer Series on Race and Columbus Blvd. It will be playing throughout the summer on concrete venues in cities as far away as Cape Town, South Africa. It is a must see for anyone who loves the game.
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Authentic Store Buzz: The new Nike Eagles “T” among the products arriving for the start of football season along with the Jets Darrelle Revis jersey (pictured above).
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: With talk of a new uniform making its debut September 1 for Penn State, between what years did the Nittany Lions wear numbers on their helmets? Answer on Thursday.
Tuesday’s answer: The three teams who have worn white jerseys at home only twice in their history: The Detroit Lions in 1961 (Green Bay) and 1970 (Oakland, Green Bay in 1989 (Tampa Bay and New Orleans) and Oakland 2008 and 2009 (San Diego) with the latter game an AFL white throwback jersey worn by the Raiders.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
(Editor’s Note: Besides being the Buyer/Manager for 20 years at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods, Ray Jannelli (President of PLA) , designed the Official Tri-State Wrestling Alliance Logo and apparel line for the first extreme professional wrestling organization in North America, in 1989.
Ray also writes frequently for Authentically Speaking, and this week shares his thoughts on the product offerings of the great, perhaps late, AJD Cap Company.)
By Ray Jannelli
The AJD Cap Company in Virginia was always a forward thinking company, and did it in an ethical and elegant way. Nice people to deal with. AJD was always on the periphery, but when its cap product hit it right they were unstoppable.
The classic AJD Cap that we all recall (part of the collective unconscious) is the SuperStripe, circa 1978, probably a college cap and mostly a southern school. "Classic Trucker cap" comes to mind when AJD is mentioned at Sport Cap Conferences and Cap Think Tanks like PLA, where we really do put on our thinking caps.
I first started purchasing from AJD in 1986-87 when Philadelphia Eagles Coach Buddy Ryan selected and began sporting the all Kelly green AJD nylon w/mesh plastic adjustable Eagles cap (please forgive me if I don't use the word SNAPBACK, just too trendy).
This extremely heavyweight nylon cap had an embroidered flying eagle crest on the 2 front panels. Quality cap and our best seller at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness.
Retail price $12.00. Every day for 16 weeks.
"Ray, do you have any Buddy Ryan hats left?"
In 1990-91 AJD really hit it big with the NFL ZUBAZ Striped caps. The AJD ZUBAZ caps were the most popular and best selling NFL caps nationwide. I would venture to guess that there was more fanfare for the NFL ZUBAZ cap style in '90-'91than any subsequent NFL cap collection/offering since that time.
In my 25 years in the sports apparel business I never saw anything like it. Good for AJD. The ZUBAZ caps were certainly original and was the impetus for Logo Athletic to manufacture the “Sharktooth" and "Paint Splash" styles. Yes, "SnapBack”, youngsters those caps you think are new are really 20 years old (nothing wrong with a 1992 Buick Reatta).
Throughout the nineties AJD had continued success. The Virginia-based cap company secured a NASCAR Winston Cup license for driver and team caps, and obtained the World League of American Football cap manufacturing agreement.
Two years ago when doing research for PLA , I tried contacting AJD to see what cap offerings/range was available. No answer. Unless somebody knows better, I think AJD is no longer operating.
I'm not too sure though, I might just take a nice drive down to Virginia Beach, then stop by the old AJD factory and see if they have any Barcelona Dragons caps left.
How about a Don Majkowski ZUBAZ, anyone?
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: We previously asked which NFL team is the only one to never wear its white jersey at home (Seattle). Three teams have only worn white at home twice in team history, name those three teams and the years in which they wore white jerseys at home. Answer on Wednesday.
Monday’s answer: The Kansas City Scouts. K.C. played only two seasons in the NHL in 1974-75 and ’75-’76 before moving to Denver and begin renamed the Colorado Rockies in 1976, Six years later in 1982, the Rockies became the New Jersey Devils.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
Here at Authentically Speaking headquarters we decided to get a dose of MLB “Extra Innings” over the weekend on the hunt for the best orange-flavored uniform matchups among the 45 games that were contested.
Well, the fact that there were only three such matchups shouldn’t let facts get in the way of what were definitely the three best orange jersey sightings.
The weekend got off to a great start Friday night in San Francisco as the Giants hosted their arch-rival Dodgers. What a combination, the traditional, classic Dodger road uniform and the Giants Friday night home game orange.
Saturday at Camden Yards, the Orioles showed why their 2012 uniform change was a huge upgrade not only returning to the cartoon bird logo but adding the orange alternate jersey they donned against the A’s wearing their lone boring gray ensemble.
We knew we could count on the Marlins at home on a Sunday afternoon to don orange at Marlins Park against the traditional gray Padres, rightfully wearing the only jersey the team possess that displays the nickname as opposed to the city name, at home.
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Authentic Store Buzz: Eagles training camp T’s and Eagles caps (pictured above) are proving quite popular among fans, many of whom are heading to Bethlehem, Pa. to watch their beloved Birds get ready for the upcoming season.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: Who wore this jersey? Answer on Tuesday.
Friday’s answer: The “vested” Pittsburgh Pirates did not wear the MLB 100th anniversary patch in 1969. Here’s a patch-less Willie Stargell batting in an Aug. 1969 game at Forbes Field.
Two other teams that wore sleeveless jerseys that season did wear the patch, the Indians and the A’s.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
Next weekend will mark a couple of interesting more “modern” throwback weekends.
In St. Louis Aug. 4, the Cardinals will go back to 1982 when they face the team they just so happened to defeat in the World Series that season, the Milwaukee Brewers, in a 30th anniversary Redbird celebration in home whites without a belt. The Brewers will wear their powder blue (Columbia blue) ’82 road uniforms for that game making it a true throwback look.
The next day, the Cardinals will wear what Majestic is phrasing as the Columbia blue road jerseys, but the Brewers are expected to wear either their normal gray or blue road top for that game.
The Padres will have the second of their three throwback jersey games on Aug. 3 against the Mets. Both teams return to 1989 uniforms, which for the Padres means the rarely used combination of brown and orange, and the Mets in racing stripes and block lettering.
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Authentic Store Buzz: You may know Frank Knuckles as the percussionist extraordinaire with The Roots, Jimmy Fallon’s house band on “Late Night.” But the longtime Philly area native (born in Jamaica) also has some ties to the folks at Pro League Authentics, and Thursday he was in town and dropped by the store to begin preparations of his own line of apparel, caps to be specific.
Frank is pictured above holding caps at the store on Thursday.
New in the store, Eagles throwbacks T’s (pictured above) with the word mark used from 1973-95 and that at one time also appeared in the Veterans Stadium end zones.
We’d also like to give a shout out to PLA customer Keith Lombardo. He is PLA's first Hat Club Home Run customer (card pictured above). Keith purchased his first hat and after that
purchased four others at increasing discounts. His last hat was 50% off! Contact the store for details.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: What MLB team did not wear the 100th anniversary commemorative patch in 1969? Answer on Monday.
Thursday’s answer: The Florida Marlins wore an all-teal cap for their 6-3 first game victory on April 5, 1993 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at what was then known as Joe Robbie Stadium (now Sun Life Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Fla. An all-teal cap was new to MLB in 1993.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
In the wake of all that’s transpired in the last eight plus months at Penn State, as the football program under new head coach Bill O’Brien moves forward with the 2012 season just over a month away, O’Brien has been hinting of changes to the long-standing vanilla white and blue uniforms, staples of the Joe Paterno era.
Surrounding the Big 10 pre-season football media
events this week in Chicago, O’Brien held an hour-long conference call with
parents of the players Tuesday night, and among the many topics of conversation,
down there near the bottom of the list was talk about the on-field appearance.
For the first time, O’Brien, according to the Reading Eagle, told parents that he’s consulting with Nike about a change in direction for the uniforms, a move away from the Paterno way of doing things, that may even include placing the player’s names on the uniforms, something that O’Brien said he was against when he was hired last winter, but obviously has had a change in thinking with what’s transpired since then.
"It might be easier said than done (for this season)," O’Brien told the newspaper. "I'm not sure we can get it done this year."
Penn State with names on the back of the uniforms? Wow, that would be a sight to see.
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Authentically Speaking Trivia Time: What color cap did the then Florida Marlins wear in their first-ever game in 1993? Answer on Friday.
Wednesday’s Answer: The 2002 Jacksonville Jaguars added a black jersey to their wardrobe of white on the road and teal at home. The Eagles added a black jersey in 2003, the Ravens in ’04, the Lions in 2005, and the Cardinals in 2010.
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A Reminder: For more news about Pro League Authentics and thoughts on the world of sports uniforms, Like our Facebook page, converse with us @PLAphilly, and visit our YouTube page.
