Abreu is a really interesting case study in Philadelphia. He was quite similar to Donovan McNabb: grossly underrated in Philly, slightly overrated nationally. Abreu’s biggest sin was his laissez faire attitude in a city that simply doesn’t accept that. It’s fine for fans to be upset about the attitude, but to ignore his skill and […]
For one third of the MLB clubs this season, it’s going
to be easy to identify what were 2012 jerseys in the years ahead.10 of the 30 teams are wearing commemorative
patches including the newly named Miami Marlins, and as usual when it comes to
jersey patches, the now 20-year old Marlins are in a league of their own.
Debuting snazzy Marlins Park is certainly reason
enough to celebrate with a jersey patch in the current era of MLB marketing,
but as is their history, the Marlins have two versions; an orange background
for home jerseys and the black alternate, and a black background for the road
jerseys and orange alternate.
When the then Florida Marlins became the first team to
wear a World Series champions patch in 2004 for winning the title over the
Yankees the previous fall, no…they weren’t content with one patch style, they
had to have two; both white and gray versions for home/away jerseys.
Back in 1997 when all (then) 28 clubs wore the Jackie
Robinson commemorative patch honoring the 50th anniversary of trailblazing
Brooklyn Dodgers' MLB debut, while it was understandable there was a French
version for the Expos, and the adding of the Dodgers name on top of the version
they wore that season, it was the Marlins who insisted on a customized Robinson
patch that incorporated their team colors, better to match the teal and black with orange trim.
(Side note: the Florida Marlins wore the Robinson patch in the
1997 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, instead of a World Series patch.)
It was 1988, two years into my tenure at the "Original" Mitchell & Ness Sporting Goods (before Reebok purchased the name). It was the beginning of The Cooperstown Collection of wool flannel baseball shirts. Myself, being more of an ice hockey enthusiast, I wondered if old cotton/rayon/poly hockey sweaters like Winnwell, Sandow, and Bauer were in storage in some corner of a sporting goods warehouse. I visualized a tattered,creased box on a shelf that housed treasure island.
Going through my own collection of hockey magazines and catalogs, I happened upon my second favorite publication from that era, Casey's Hockey Bible, first being the Acme NHL Players Stamp Album, of course.
Speculation ensued, Casey's still in business? Could they still have the old knit material jerseys in stock ?
Peter Capolino, President of Mitchell & Ness at that time, asked me pessimistically, "Ray, do you really think 1970s era hockey jerseys will sell"? I was confident that there was a market for the old shiny knit jerseys with the lace-up fronts.
My next step was to call the old phone number of Casey's in St. Louis, Missouri, which I did. A young lady answered the phone, "Casey's Hockey,Robin speaking".
Kimmo Timonen was underrated from the start of his career. He was selected in the 10th Round (250th of 286 total picks) by the L.A. Kings in the 1993 Entry Draft. In today’s NHL, there are only 7 rounds in the draft, so it’s pretty easy to see what NHL front offices thought of Timonen. […]
129 years ago, on May 1, 1883, Philadelphia’s National League team was opening up its season, the first in the team’s history. John Coleman was the Quakers opening day starter, and thus, the first opening day starter in the history of Phillies baseball. He’s shown to the left holding a bat like, well, a pitcher. […]
Our 8th Most Underrated Philadelphia Athlete of All-Time is Dick Allen. Allen’s relationship with the fans of this City was unlike any other. The picture above is definitely worth 1,000 words: you’ve got Dick Allen playing first base at Connie Mack Stadium for the hometown Phils, he’s traced “Boo” into the dirt in front of […]
Eddie Plank is the best Philadelphia athlete you’ve never heard of. Yeah, some guys beat him as more underrated, but you’ve heard of those guys. Odds are you’ve never heard of the former A’s great (I had never heard of him until I did that piece on the 1911 World Series), which is nuts because […]
The correct answer to this awesome trivia question? Walt Masters, born on March 28th, 1907 in Pen Argyle (near Easton). Masters was a Philly boy, though, graduating from West Philly High School and then attending the Wharton School at Penn. He played baseball and football at Penn, and was a star at both. Masters made […]
Howard Eskin vs JD Drew is probably the premiere matchup in the Sweet 16. But Kobe vs. Fred-Ex is no slouch either. And Billy King, fresh off his upset of McNabb, is going toe to toe with “For who? For what?” himself, Ricky Watters. Billy Wagner is finally matched up with a true heavyweight, Norman […]
Big Ed Walsh was a baseball superstar. The Chicago White Sox pitcher dominated American League hitters early in the 20th century. In 1908, as he mastered the spitball, he went from solid to spectacular. His final numbers for the year: 40-15 with 1.42 ERA (He’s the last pitcher to win 40 games in a season). […]
On March 20th, 1943, things finally started to look up for the Philadelphia Phillies. After being owned by the disastrous Gerry Nugent, who had sold all of the Phillies prospects to keep his own head above water for the past 10 years, the Phils were sold on that day to an energetic young entrepreneur named […]
Del Ennis’s treatment at the hands of Philadelphia fans has never quite made sense, other than the fact that this city has always had a very strange relationship with its power hitters. The city never warmed to Mike Schmidt, jeered Richie Allen, and booed Pat Burrell. Even so, the city’s treatment of Ennis is particularly hard […]
