Why do you buy jerseys and hats that are not from your favorite team?

[Shumway]

I have quite a few items of teams that aren't my favorite. I guess I have 3 reasons....

 

1. Local team - I have a few Philly teams (and Baltimore Orioles) shirts, basically in case I go to a game....and mostly because I love Gritty. Also, you get a discount if you wear Union or Eagles stuff to the grocery store on game days. So basically, I own an Eagles shirt to save money on food. I also work with an Eagles sponsor, so occasionally, I go to Eagles sponsored events with clients/personnel....and sometimes our office gives us free stuff if we wear our Eagles attire to work (and you should see some of the awful fake jerseys people have!)

 

2. I like the logo/merchandise - I have a lot of hats and shirts of different teams because I just like certain logos. My minor league hat collection's been steadily growing, mostly with logos with cartoon mascots. I'll also buy stuff with retro logos, especially if it's the Whalers or the swinging Padre.

 

3. I like the player - There are certain players that I'll support, regardless of what team it's of. I'm up to 6 Howie Kendrick shirts (only one is of the Angels, my favorite team) and have a few shirts each of Vladimir Guerrero (both Jr. and Sr.) and Tony Gwynn. I'll also buy stuff of my favorite players from when they were on other teams (example: I have Darren McCarty and Mike Vernon Calgary Flames shirts)

[sportsfan7]

I have some Dallas Stars stuff from going to games with family in the area.

 

More peculiarly, I have the hat below. I'm pretty sure it was given to me because I would never buy such a thing, but the only person I know from KC isn't a Royals fan. I don't think I've ever worn it.

 

[Red Wolf]

My dad has this old Washington Federals shirt despite him being a Memphis Showboats fan at the time. I think he has/had a bunch of other USFL shirts. I know he had a ton of USFL pennants because I hung them all up in my room after I found them back in high school. Mostly I just found this and had nowhere else to share.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I was once accidentally sent a white Raptors throwback shirsey (that 90s dinosaur beauty) from Fanatics instead of the Sixers one I ordered. Would have gladly put that into my rotation if they said I could keep both, but no.

All of that to say, I'd wear some select old school apparel....if it were free lol

[Discrim]

Most of the wearable stuff I have of teams I neither root for not hate tend to be caps, with the occasional Jersey or shirt.  I've had a Falcons cap for a long time, with the short-lived A-falcon on it.  It went from black to brownish from a summer of wearing it constantly, so combined with teenage me starting to gravitate towards fitted caps exclusively, I haven't worn it since high school.

Then I have a Pirates cap because of an old classmate who played for them for a few years in the late 2000s; the relevant caps I tend to wear most often nowadays are a military-themed AZ Cardinals cap and one of two Raiders lids, all of which I bought at Ross bc they were cheap and in my size.  Same goes for a Tigers spring training cap, that thin material everyone here hated IIRC, though I don't think I've worn it out more than once so far.  Probably a consequence of me preferring flexfit caps nowadays.  In any event, there's also a Puerto Rico WBC cap I've worn a few times despite me not being Latino. 

Okay, I left something out: coats.  Back when Steve & Barry's existed, my aunt gave me a Michigan State jacket from there, and I later bought myself an Air Force Academy jacket of similar design (in honor of an older cousin who went there).  When they went out of business, I grabbed a St. John's jacket, largely because of the 90s logo more than anything else (given I normally don't give two craps about college hoops nowadays, any attention I do give basketball is either the Bucks or the various strains of summer ball, from the old And1 tour to TBT and Big 3).

As far as jerseys, I found a Jerome Bettis Rams jersey at either Goodwill or Value Village, which I only stopped wearing because I got fatter than I'd already been and bought a Senators swoosh jersey on sale once.  Kinda regret the purchase, only because I passed on a Penguins jersey.

[Trapper John]

I like to pick up hats when I travel... if I'm in NY and go to an Islanders game I get an Islanders hat... or the Blue Jays, Celtics, whoever.. I'm not fans of those teams but they are souvenirs of having been to see them in that city...