Obscure Sports Merch You Own

[raysox]

Let's hear it, what are some sports merch you have the pleasure of owning? What would only the nerds on a sports logo/uniform message board would think is cool. Think jerseys, shirts, jackets etc.

The idea for this thread came from posting my AAF Arizona Hotshots Starter jacket that I got when they were still on the Fanatics store in 2020.


I also have a Hotshots quarterzip jacket. Another entry would be a Matt Stairs Canada World Baseball Classic shirsey.

Would love to hear what you guys have, please post pics!

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Of my approximately 170 hats, the most obscure sports-related one is a bucket hat from the New York Streets.  "What are the New York Streets?", you  might ask.  An excellent question.  It was a team that played one season in the National Arena League in 2019.

 

The team had a bizarre season.  The Streets won their first two games.  However, the second game, their first at home, was played on a field on which the "yards" were only about 31 inches long, making the field 38 yards instead of 50 yards.

 

Also, their home was not what was promised to fans.  The team announced that it had reached a deal to play some of its home games at Madison Square Garden.  That was somewhere short of true, as all the home games were played at the 5000-seat Westchester County Center, which, as the name indicates, is not located within the City.

 

Finally, the last home game of the season (and in team history) ended in fiasco.  The Streets were losing 46-0 at the half, when the Carolina Cobras refused the play the second half because their locker room had been burglarised — by, it later turned out, a Streets employee!  Still, a team does not have the right to unilaterally walk out, and so the NAL correctly awarded the Streets a forfeit victory.  

 

And then the NAL correctly kicked the Streets out of the league after the season.

 

I have two Streets hats: a cap, and this bucket hat.

 

 

 

 

 

Staying with the sport of arena football, here is a hat of a team that some people will remember (I hope).  The New York CityHawks were members of the Arena Football League in 1997 and 1998.

 

 

 

 

Unlike the Streets, the CityHawks actually played in the Garden.  This is because they were owned by MSG.

 

But MSG did virtually nothing to promote the team.  I can remember going to a gift shop in the Garden one day in 1997 looking for CityHawks items.  Not only did the store not have any such merchandise available, but the person staffing the store had never heard of the team (even though there was a larger-than-life-size photograph of CityHawks quarterback Mike Perez on the wall right outside the store).  The team that was owned by MSG.  So MSG not only failed to promote the CityHawks to the public, they didn't even bother to let their own employees in on the secret.

 

Both the CityHawks and the Liberty debuted that year.  To say that MSG split its promotional efforts regarding its two new teams at 99% for the Liberty and 1% for the CityHawks would be to vastly overstate the amount of attention given to the CityHawks.

 

 

Finally, I have a cap of the MLL's Long Island Lizards, the original name of the team whose name was eventually changed to New York Lizards by owner Jim Brown.  While I also have a New York Lizards cap that is aesthetically far superior, the Long Island Lizards cap is more obscure (even though the team won two of its three MLL championships with the Long Island name).

 

 

 

[leopard88]

I don't have pics readily available, but my list would be:

 

1.  Philadelphia Stars windbreakers (team issued to stadium employees circa 1984)

2.  Baltimore Starts AJD hat (image below, but not actually my hat)

3.  Baltimore Cardinals t-shirt (from when the Cardinals were rumored to be moving to Baltimore, prior to the move to Phoenix)(image below, but not actually my shirt)

4.  Baltimore CFL Football Grey Cup t-shirt (before the official adoption of the Stallions name)

5.  Baltimore CFL Football Grey Cup button (image below, but not actually my button)

 

[BBTV]

Those are great!

 

I wonder if any "Phoenix Eagles" merch exists from when the owner basically lost the team gambling and a Phoenix group was a whisker away from taking it.

[leopard88]

4 hours ago, BBTV said:

Those are great!

 

I wonder if any "Phoenix Eagles" merch exists from when the owner basically lost the team gambling and a Phoenix group was a whisker away from taking it.

 

 

Apparently so. 

 

 

There is always someone looking to make a buck in those situations.  The only reason I don't have a Baltimore Browns t-shirt is that the helmet on the shirt looked really wonky.

 

I'm pretty sure this was it . . . 

 

 

And apparently there was also this . . . 

 

 

Also, if memory serves me, the Eagles near move was right after the Stars announced their move to Baltimore . . . so they wouldn't have to compete with the Eagles if/when the USFL moved to the fall.

[TBGKon]

Stuff like this makes me think of what if some of the rumored teams moved to Tampa Bay.

 

[leopard88]

I've never seen that White Sox one before.   The rest of the script is generic, but the Florida outline as an F is clever.

[Sec19Row53]

I used to own this autographed Edmonton ball, from Warren Moon's last season in the CFL. My parents were friends with Pete Kettela and his wife.

I still have this mini Green Bay Blizzard helmet, signed by two of the then co-owners, Brian Noble (pictured) and Dave Krieg (other side)

[CaliforniaGlowin]

I loved the NY streets so much. Such a sad ending. I'm glad I waited on buying gear though. 

[AgentColon2]

I still have my season 1, WLAF NY/NJ Knights t-shirt purchased at Giants Stadium.

 

Mine is packed away, but this is the same one.

[Brass]

[floydnimrod]

I'm not sure how regional/memorable this thing is but I used to go to the Adidas Tent Sale every fall when it stopped by Turfway Park here in northern Kentucky. I started going back when they had the NBA deal and tried to find and buy the strangest sports shirts they had. I found a bunch of, while not too obscure, but strangely specific shirts and my mom made them all into a quilt, which also  includes a Seattle Sonics 1995 Inaugural Edition Season shirt? I think it was just for the rebranding? Because it makes no sense whatsoever.

 

I can't upload pictures for some reason but I also managed to find:

A Utah Valley University 2012 Great West Basketball Tournament Champions shirt

A Maritime College Basketball Shirt (I've never tried to figure out where this was located)

A 13-0 Notre Dame Football National Champions Shirt from 2012 (a year in which they were neither of those things)

 

[DTConcepts]

The Denver Grizzlies were a team whose inaugural season was also their last, playing in the International Hockey League for only the 1994-95 season. Despite their short run, the team was a massive success both off and on the ice. They averaged roughly 12,000 fans a game in a city known for its long history of failed hockey teams and won both the IHL's Southwest Division and Turner Cup. The Grizzlies swept the Kansas City Blades four games to none in the championship series, and I own a t-shirt made in celebration of that championship.

 

The Grizzlies are mostly remembered by jersey nerds and hockey historians. Their jerseys and overall identity were gorgeous products of their time that have developed a cult following amongst hockey jersey enthusiasts, and their popularity in Denver is credited by historians as a big part of why the Nordiques moved to Denver. Even though they're technically one of my hometown teams, my affinity for them comes from their affiliation with my favorite hockey team, the New York Islanders. The Grizzlies were coached by Islanders legend Butch Goring, and their roster featured the mullet-clad, JOFA-rocking icon of the fisherman era, Ziggy Palffy. If that's not sick, then I don't know what is.

 

When the Colorado Avalanche arrived in 1995, the Grizzlies packed up and moved to Salt Lake City. They played as the Utah Grizzlies until the IHL folded in 2001, when the team's owners then bought an AHL team and kept the Utah Grizzlies name. That franchise was suspended in 2005 and moved to Cleveland to become the Lake Erie Monsters in 2007. The franchise is still active in the AHL as the Cleveland Monsters. The current Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL have no direct link to the original franchise, but employ the same logos and branding as the original AHL club. Funnily enough, both the AHL and ECHL franchises have been connected to the franchise that displaced them — the Lake Erie Monsters were the Avalanche's longtime AHL affiliate, and the current iteration of the Grizzlies are the Avs' ECHL affiliates.

 

In their first year in Salt Lake, the original IHL club wore the same jerseys they did in Denver, and once again swept the championship series to win the Turner Cup. The ECHL Grizzlies have worn throwback uniforms in homage to that championship-winning team, keeping the Denver Grizzlies alive for a little while longer.

 

I'm not sure if it's from their time Denver or Salt Lake, but I also own an IHL-era Grizzlies jersey with that beautiful clawmark striping pattern. I would post it here too, but I don't think it's as niche or obscure as my t-shirt.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

Shirt and cup from Dodgers/Red Sox coliseum game 2008

 

Orlando Thunder hat, jersey and mini helmet

 

LA Xtreme jersey and hat

 

California Redwoods (UFL) jersey and hat, I think I still have a shirt

 

WLAF 1991 and 1992 card set.  I bought a bunch of 1992 boxes online trying to collect all of the hologram cards.  I got most of them, I don't think they were made for all teams.

 

WLAF 1991 season recap book

 

XFL1 card set

 

Kronum League jersey from early seasons and shirt from later seasons.

 

 

 

[chtucker18]

(Commanders) 2020 Nike on field t shirt before the name change.

[spartacat_12]

I wish I could find a picture, but growing up the main football we played with was a Jacksonville Jaguars ball featuring their unused logo. It had alternating teal & gold panels with the leaping jaguar. It's probably still buried somewhere in my parents' garage.

[Discrim]

I remember in my middle school days, I could buy what were basically fancier versions of the ol' paper football with NFL logos.  They actually did perform pretty well IMO, but my usual opponent had no interest in them...in any event, color me surprised when I came across XFL versions.  I forget whether they were sold in their own package or if I got them with the lone pack of XFL cards I bought, but I have a Las Vegas Outlaws ball and a San Francisco Demons ball.

[Shumway]

I've wanted this hat since I saw it in a StarStruck catalog as a kid, and a few years ago, I scooped one up off of ebay. While a hat isn't too obscure, the Beaumont Bulfrogs existed for exactly one season in 1994. I just love this logo.

 

[DCarp1231]

Alright, which one of you bought a Frederick ?s hat?