Uni Watch Fan Appreciation Day, 2023 Edition

Good morning! It’s that time of year again — the time when I give something back, literally, to the Uni Watch comm-uni-ty. Or, if you prefer to be more cynical about it, the time when I clear out all the freebies that have accumulated here at Uni Watch HQ over the past year (along with some things that readers generously donated). Either way, for the 15th consecutive year, it’s the day I run a big raffle that all of you can enter.

For shirts and jerseys, you’ll see a size followed by a measurement (L, 21″, for example). In each case, that’s the tagged size followed by the pit-to-pit measurement across the chest. If the back side of a shirt isn’t mentioned or shown in the photos, you can assume it’s blank.

We have a lot of great stuff to give away this year, so let’s get to it:

1. A complimentary Uni Watch membership card.

2. A complimentary one-year subscription to my Premium content on Substack.

3. A Seattle Pilots fitted cap, size 7-3/8:

4. A Seattle Steelheads fitted cap, size 7-3/8:

5. An East Carolina University mini-helmet, still in its case:

6. An ECU “Pirates” lavender T-shirt (L, 20-3/4″):

7. An ECU “PeeDee the Pirate” bobblehead, still in its original box:

8. A 2023 Purple Amnesty Day T-shirt (M, 19″):

9. A 2022 Purple Amnesty Day T-shirt (M, 19″):

10. A vintage Chicago Saints softball jersey. I bought this a few years ago and have finally admitted to myself that I don’t like the way it fits me (L, 21″):

11. A Texas Rangers City Connect fitted cap, size 7-3/8:

12. A Texas Rangers City Connect replica jersey, still with its original tags (M, 22″):

13. A promotional booklet about the Rangers’ City Connect uniform:

14. A Seattle Sounders Bruce Lee-themed jersey (M, 20″):

15. A Seattle Sounders Bruce Lee-themed scarf:

16 and 17. Two Uni Watch corduroy strapback cap prototypes. I decided not to put these into production because I wasn’t happy with the quality of the logo embroidery, so these are the only two that exist. Each one is a separate prize.

18 and 19. Two Uni Watch prototype strapback twill caps. Again, I wasn’t thrilled with the embroidery. Each cap is a separate prize.

20 and 21. Two Uni Watch prototype snapback caps. Once again, the embroidery wasn’t quite up to snuff. Each cap is a separate prize.

22. A Uni Watch bottle opener prototype. Logo isn’t properly oriented, but the opener works fine:

23. The baseball that I used when throwing out the first pitch prior to an ECU baseball game for this year’s Purple Amnesty Day:

24. A small container of wood chips harvested from the making of the 2023 NCAA Final Four basketball courts, just like the chips used to create the hardcourt-smoked Final Four bacon:

25, 26, 27, and 28. Four hand-sewn uni-themed card holders made by the great Wafflebored. Perfect for your Uni Watch membership card or any other type of card. Each one is a separate prize — see photos for item numbers.

29. The promo box that the Denver Broncos sent me a few months ago, including all of its contents, as seen in these two short videos (additional details here):

30. A fantastic vintage MLB mini-helmet standings board, generously donated by reader Danny Kramer, who says:

When I was growing up in Oakland in the 1980s, I would wake up every morning of baseball season, read the sports section of The Oakland Tribune, and adjust these batting helmets to that day’s standings. It’s currently set to the end of the 1989 season, because Oakland!

31. A massive baseball-themed crossword puzzle, again donated by Danny Kramer, who says:

This thing is seriously huge, measuring 3.5′ x 5′.  It has adorable hand-drawn pictures of baseball players at each position, though as a former Little League coach, I have some thoughts about where the second baseman is playing. It was inscrutable for an 11-year-old in the late ’80s so it hung on my wall for a few months before I got bored with it.

32. A copy of the book Tigers Confidential: The Untold Inside Story of the 2008 Season, by Andy Van Slyke, generously donated by reader Jim Brewer:

33. A giveaway book from Surf laundry detergent, showing every Detroit Tigers baseball card from 1952 through 1987. Another donation from Jim Brewer, who says it’s “full of uni goodness.”

34. A Uni Watch T-shirt, designed by our own Scott M.X. Turner in 2017, generously donated by reader Paul Deaver because it was too small for him (XL-Tall, 22″):

35. An absolutely spectacular 1992 NHL pillowcase (with a left-handed goalie!), generously donated by reader Zac Neubauer:

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And there we are. Here’s how to enter the raffle:

1. Send an email to the raffle address.
2. In the body of the email, please indicate (a) your name and shipping address and (b) your top 10 prize choices, in order of preference, by number. If you’re only interested in, say, seven items, then just list your top seven choices; if you want to list more than 10, you can do that too, but I don’t expect anyone to go that far. I’ll do my best to accommodate the winners’ choices.
3. One entry per person. Non-USA readers are welcome to enter, although I may ask you to chip in on the shipping charges if you win something heavy.
4. Entry deadline is next Friday, Dec. 22. As per our longstanding annual tradition, the winners will be announced on Christmas Day, and I’ll try to get everything mailed out by New Year’s.
5. Please join me in thanking Danny Kramer, Jim Brewer, Paul Deaver, and Zac Neubauer for generously donating items to this year’s raffle. I’d also like to thank all the rest of you who contribute in various ways to Uni Watch. Honestly and truly, I wish I could provide gifts for all of you, and I wish all of you luck in the raffle!