Baseball season is nearly upon us, with Opening Day just around the corner. That means we’ve got a whole season of warm weather, hot dogs and beers ahead – which is why it’s one of our favorite times of the year. And if you like baseball as much as we do, you need to check out Ebbets Field Flannels.
Back in 1988, life-long baseball fanatic Jerry Cohen was on the hunt for an original wool uniform. Starting in 1849, when the New York Knickerbockers took the field as the first baseball team to wear a uniform, until about the 1970’s, baseball uniforms were all made of a light, breathable wool flannel. But even in 1988, Cohen had a hard time finding any, until he stumbled across an entire warehouse full of flannels from the 1940’s. Having always been fascinated with sports uniforms – especially those of his one-time hometown Brooklyn Dodgers – he bought them all, and Ebbets Field Flannels was born.
Ebbets Field Flannels now makes vintage wool uniforms of all kinds, based on designs from years-past. You can grab a reproduction of a New York Knights Home Jersey from 1939, as seen in The Natural, or a Dartmouth College 1959 Road Jersey. They focus mainly on teams from the pre-1958 Pacific Coast League, vintage college teams or the famed Negro Leagues (MLB licenses are hard to come by). You can even get reproductions of old Puerto Rican Winter League or the Cuban League from the 1950’s. They even provided the jerseys for the movie “42” and outfitted old-time legends on the closing day of the old Yankee Stadium.
Each shirt is meticulously handcrafted and made-to-order, from the “world’s largest inventory of historical fabrics,” and they are all identical to the originals in style and details, down to the stitching.
Ebbets Field Flannels are awesome gifts for any passionate fan of old-time baseball, or just for yourself. They make shirts, sweatshirts, old-fashioned ball caps, and even vintage grounds crew jackets.
Wear some to this summer’s ball games in style, or decorate your man cave or office in America’s pastime.
