For me, almost as long. Around 1998 or so, when I finished school and discovered eBay. Actually, it started when I bought about eight Mitchell and Ness repros for decoration purposes at their Super Bowl Weekend 1/2 off sale at their old retail store in Philadelphia.

Mark S. just sent me some pics I sent him from our very early correspondence … circa 2000 … look at all that wasted wall space!!!

You have a hell of a collection for 25 years. I’ve been a Giants fan my whole life but didn’t have a single piece of “memorabilia” until my sister gave me an autographed Will Clark plaque from Field of Dreams (remember those stores?) for Christmas in 1993. I thought “that’s cool.” I then discovered SCD and, like you, ebay in 1998. Funny, I no longer have any use for autographs unless something was signed in my presence. I’ve actually removed autographs from a few things. :p

Thank you! I never used SCD. What I did do in the “early days” was put little requests on supermarket bulletin boards, with the little tabs that tear off with my number … “I Buy Sports Pennants”. This got me a few good hauls including one batch of about a dozen 1950-60s Trench for like $15 apiece. That got me hooked. But I also sold quite a few that I definitely regret …

Will Clark was a lot of fun to watch, what a beautiful swing. I tried to imitate his very unique follow through …

Man I’ve seen some quick pennant flips but this appears to set a world record. First one was listed an hour after the second one ended.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/38708882001...mis&media=COPY

https://www.ebay.com/itm/25625377030...mis&media=COPY

The question is, if it is immediately purchased again by someone, does the re-lister just give his address to the original seller???

(In fairness it’s not EXACTLY the same, the picture was rotated 90 degrees.)

Kennedy pennant
 

Never seen this version of the ACSO Twins / Packers player style pennants. Most of these things I have seen over the years as I live in MN

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18650151981...A&LH_Auction=1

Bocca is snagging all the good Giants pennants, so I'm left with the scraps. :p

Picked this up for the minimum. These Giant on the Bridge came with what I call the forward or backward F in Francisco. GIANTS is always bigger wth the backwards F. Same with the left handed batter pennants, although I only have one of them with the backwards F. I have about an equal mix with the Giant on the Bridge. Are there slight variations like this for other teams?

That’s cool ... I never noticed the different ‘F’s.

As for teams with other minor variations, the Trench Phillies pennants with the baseballs orbiting the cap … there might be half a dozen or more variations, all having to do with the coloring of the cap.

The n and o are a tad different too.

Also the A in GIANTS is different, one has a flat top.

Milestone...After 6 years of on again off again effort, Feltfootball (https://feltfootball.com) has become the largest single sport pennant gallery/encyclopedia in existence (full transparency, there aren't too many out there).

As of this week, it officially has more football pennants than Mike Egner's Vintage Pennant Price Guide II has baseball pennants (1614 to 1613). Currently at 1616 and counting. Now I know, if he's so inclined, he could quickly dwarf me with a Vintage Pennant Price Guide III as the baseball possibilities are endless, but I'll enjoy it while I can. I was hoping for a more glamorous record breaking pennant but here is the topper...

PS...I wouldn't completely rule out a FeltBaseball, I just need my company to stop messing me around and lay me off so I can devote the time and effort to these sites to make them what they really should be.

So it is. I’m gonna do some quick research to see if I can figure which screen came first.

Congrats, Rob! The greatest achievement of my life is starting the most viewd and posted thread on Net54. :p

I couldn’t have done it without all of you. :D

Well done, Rob. Congratulations. I use and refer my readers to your site all the time. It's been a great resource for us all.

FeltBaseball.com definitely needs to happen, so tell your employer to expedite your severance package so you can get that up and running!

Thanks Rob...and well done by you. ;)

Thanks Kyle...Appreciate that. I do the same with yours!

I've got a year off with pay when they finally decide to pull the trigger. Oh the things I'll do when it happens.

Severance package or not, we (I) need a pennantfever installment on ABCO.

ABCO, right?

Just when you think you have things figured out...

https://www.insidetheparkcollectible...-LOT30719.aspx

Holy mackerel … I will say, the colors are extraordinarily vivid on this. But that’s a crazy price ..

Yeah, gorgeous pennant but could had been had cheaper. This is just the kind of Trench where I wonder if there were slight font variations like on some of the Giants.

I’m glad Lou made some coin on this. He’s a good guy with good auctions….even if they are often a little Dodgers heavy. :rolleyes:

'72 Cin'ti Reds NL champs pennant by WGN
 

This just sold. Can't recall seeing a WGN professional baseball pennant this recent; or, with the words, "Western Div." on it.

Note that it is not licensed by MLB, as you might expect a post-1969 baseball pennant to be.

Looks to be the dreaded stiff “felt”?

I'm fascinated by the 1970s baseball and football pennants that should have an MLB or NFL logo, but don't. Like this Astros pennant I just got from Greg (Thanks, Greg). They often share a number of characteristics, including interesting colorful designs, really stiff felt, and especially brittle tassels. I think that Mark just got a Reds Johnny Bench pennant that probably shares these characteristics and there is a Willie Mays Mets pennants that has them too (among many others). In the football realm, the single bar pennants with stars seem to fit. As do many single bar Canteen corp pennants (they rarely or maybe never have an NFL logo?).

It would be interesting to know if these were all coming from the same maker that for some reason did not have to include the logos, or somebody (or somebodies) just making a lot of non-licensed pennants because there was no enforcement. And, when I say a lot, I mean a lot of different pennants. Many of these pennants are quite rare individually.

There are also several Redlegs Big Red Machine pennants out there....which is odd.

That Astros is the nicest of that series I've seen.

Agree. Beautiful Astros pennant, Marc...

Really unique for one of that era. My Bench/Reds pennant arrived a few days back, but I would not call the felt super stiff. It's definitely modern material, but has some pliability and "give" to it.

I'm sure you've all seen this type of "felt'. I would say it's the same material as this one, which is much more common...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/40503089913...Bk9SR7CqkeKIZA


As opposed to this one, which more closely resembles the blade of a guillotine...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/29649655380...Bk9SR7CqkeKIZA

Yeah, these ones I'm talking about are not the razor sharp felt when it comes to the pennant. Sharp, but not that sharp. But the tassel material is often very brittle. Easily broken.

The Astros pennant came in a lot of four that the seller said was found together. It also gives some “provenance” to the weird Reds pennant and the sorriest depiction of Mr. Red. The Reds seems to resemble a Bengals Riverfront pennant if I’m not mistaken …

Here are some of the pennants I am talking about. Hats/helmets, stars, and autos. Perhaps I am seeing connections that are not really there. Correlation instead of causation. I feel like all of these should have an MLB/NFL logo, but don't. Most are, without doubt, from the 1970s. All of the others probably are as well.

Either these pennants were "bootlegs" or the newly enacted NFL Trademark infringement rules were not as strictly enforced back then.

I would bet it's a combination of the two.

50 years later, they're still not enforced. eBay and twitter are rife with sellers violating trademark. Nobody cares.

This seller didn’t want to answer my “stiff or soft?” question. Pretty sure it’s “guillotine sharp” as Mark would say.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/11622087958...mis&media=COPY

Here’s another fake I’m watching:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16683480916...mis&media=COPY

You could shave with that one.

Nice job "vintagizing" it.

Yes... what a seller. He lists is as 1953 instead of 1954, he soils it, ages it, blunts the tip, and removes the Mitchell & Ness Tag. You can even see the break in the stitching on the reverse, from where the tag was removed. And after all this, he calls it original and authentic.

Sad that there are 15 bids... it's fakeness is so painfully obvious. As if an authentic 1954 Giants pennant would have a vague image of Mays making his famous over the shoulder catch. :eek:

I remember getting into a pissing match with SCP 8-10 years ago. They had the 1955 Dodgers Mitchell & Ness counterpart to this one... equally obvious in its fakeness. It had gotten bid up over $500 when I told them to take it down. They put up a fight and insisted that the consignor's father bought it at the '55 World Series at Ebbets Field. I had to show them 3 identical examples that were currently on the market (for under $40) before they finally removed it.

Also, it should be noted that 5,827 "views" ago, this thread quietly passed the 2 Million mark. :eek:

#1 on Net54 by a country mile. Well done, Rob!

Put it in my obit! :p

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the “vintagizing” process. :cool:

An established 49ers collector made some pennants available to me recently. It allowed me to cross off about 12 pennants from my wantlist. Many were difficult to find variants and bootlegs from the 1970s and 1980s. Here are just a few.

Damn, dude! Might need to change your board name. PennantKing?

I did not plan ($$) for all the great Giants and 49ers pennants that would become available this summer. But I'm making it work.

I'm down to about three pennants on my 49ers wantlist, for what I believe is a complete run from 1946-1989. I happen to know where two of those pennants reside (you know who you are), but can certainly wait for copies to become available.

Here are two more very rare ones that came in this group.

Pennant King (not to be confused with King of Pennants) is taken. As are...

Pennant Guru
Pennant Dynasty
Pennant Geek


Still available are...

Pennant Professor (or Professor Pennant if you prefer)
Pennant Pal
Pennant Boss
Pennant Guy
Pennant God
Pennant Whisperer
Pennant Dude
Pennant Trooper
Pennant Stud
Pennant Chief
Pennant Whiz
Pennant President
Pennant Swami
Pennant Hero

Or my personal favorite...the modest and understated: Mr. Pennant

First of all...thanks to Greg for trading this to Marc and to Marc for then trading it to me. Been after this one for awhile. I've seen the A's, Padres, Astros and many Phillies with the orbiting ball(s)...did they do these for other teams?

And now this guy...as they says about Cher, "she's had some work done." And as the Grateful Dead say, "what a long strange trip it's been."

As part of the above trade with Marc, I traded him my better example (with tassels intact) of this pennant. The one one I got from Marc was pretty dirty. Marc cautioned me about trying to clean it, but I'm an idiot. I first just put it in soapy water. It maybe cleansed up a little. Unable to leave well enough alone, I broke out the OxyClean. I figured "just a little Oxy; just a little soak." Within 30 seconds, the black just started dissolving off of it. The water looked like when you drop a paintbrush full of black acrylic paint into a glass of water. :eek: I wish I had a picture, but I was in panic mode. I drained the water and started quickly dousing it with clear water. Amazingly, the black stains washed off...and the body was significantly whiter. It didn't look too bad. I put it on a towel to dry overnight.

This morning I checked it and all the black had turned to gray. :mad: All the black you now see? Sharpie! I know, I know...major pennant foul. But I'm happy with it and happy with the trade I made with Marc. Have I learned my lesson? Perhaps. :cool:

Vintage Clothing
 

Thought I would share this listing, since it has now ended. Sold for $1,225. It’s not mine, nor did I win or even bid on it, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a Chipenco or Collegiate Ames design on a clothing item from that period, as opposed to felt. It’s actually very similar, but has even greater detail, than the Cornell bear design on felt products from that period, so I’m not even certain it’s Chipenco/Colleagiate. In researching I do see there was a “Sportswear by Collegiate, Ames” product line. Strong price, but the bidders appear to be clothing collectors, not Cornelliana or even college memorabilia collectors. There were 57 people watching this auction. I guess the vintage clothing market is truly bursting at the seams!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355814180441

Wow, that seems like a strong price for the sweater, but I do wish they made those for more schools.

Rob- I had the same thing happen with retroclean on he Oilers pennant below. The areas that are now white started as an off-white color. Something about that layer reacted immediately with the retroclean can came off, leaving the more stable white paint below. It still looks ok. I kind of wish I had left it alone, but the blue cloth was very dirty/browned before I cleaned it.

^^^ Crazy. Not even a good size.

Edit: the sweatshirt.

Have you seen other examples? Are you sure the “off-white” was meant to be that color?

The layer that came off was almost like a top coat? Something akin to varnish? It was not just dirt.