Last week, we had another of Mike Chamernik’s “Question of the Week” series, the response was great, and Mike is back again with his next question.
Question of the Week
by Mike Chamernik
I went to Wrigley Field last Tuesday to see the Tigers-Cubs game. It was Javy Baez’s first game at Wrigley since he was traded from the Cubs in 2021.
Baez is known for being a member of the World Series team, along with his all-or-nothing power, 80-grade tagging skills, and the fun he shows for the game. He was a fan favorite — and still is. To this day, Baez jerseys are the most common Cubs jerseys I see around Chicago, even considering current players.
What are the most popular player jerseys among fans for your teams? Who are some unlikely players, current or former, who have become fan favorites for merch?
Thanks, Mike. This is definitely another fun QOTW. I can say this, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Javier Baez Mets jersey in the stands at Shea…er, CitiField. You might know why. But I want to hear from UWers on this one…
Readers? Fire away!
Pittsburgh Penguin fan here. Of course the most popular are Mario Lemieux and Sidney Crosby. But Max Talbot had a surge after scoring 2 goals in game 7 to win the cup.
These days, the jersey/shirt you’re gonna see the most of around Camden Yards is Adley, with Gunnar likely a close 2nd. I expect Jackson Holliday to enter the fold in a big way next year.
The most popular throwback player you’ll see is Cal, but you’ll still see a handful of players from the last time the O’s were good, too: Adam Jones, Machado, even Chris Davis (they sold a LOT of his stuff from 2012-2015). You’re also probably going to see the occasional Brooks Robinson or Jim Palmer jersey, too. They’ve had giveaways of their shirts or jerseys over the years that fans still wear.
I don’t know that any of these players are unlikely or unexpected candidates for jersey popularity, to be honest. You see the occasional Jorge Mateo or Felix Bautista jersey, those can be a breath of fresh air after drowning in 35 and 2 sightings.
As for me (not that this QOTW asked, but I have a feeling most folks will answer it anyway lol), I have a Machado jersey that I had customized; it’s the alternate black jersey they’ve had for awhile now, but instead of saying ‘Orioles’ I had the road ‘Baltimore’ script put on it. I also have a black jersey from the 90s for Robbie Alomar, and a team issued jersey for Steve Lombardozzi, son of Steve Sr. who won a World Series with the Twins in the early 90s. He was on the Orioles for a couple months in 2014, and I played Little League with/against him most of my years growing up. His dad was around every once and awhile too, who gave excellent clinics and coaching tips.
Of all my favorite teams (Giants, Mariners, Niners, Seahawks) 2 teams are exactly who you’d think: Rice, Montana, Young, and Mays, mcCovey. The giants Jack Clark jerseys get a fair bit of love I think mostly because he played during the giants “cool jersey” era (as opposed to their more traditional looks). I think we’re are entering an era in nfl and mlb where we will see less of these timeless player/jersey combos. Partly, the uni-verse is ever-changing and increasingly populated with crummy (or short sighted) designs, and partly because franchise defining players don’t tend to stay in one place as much. I think Brady (Pats), and Mahomes (Chiefs in case he ever leaves KC) will be about it, mostly because any franchise defining players either move around due to a lack of championship wins and an impatient fan base/ownership attitude, or they stick around but can’t bring their teams to the promised land because Brady and now Mahomes are in the way.
Oddly, the most watered down section of the uni-verse may be the most likely to continue to produce some classics: the nba. I just think that with it basically being a 5 man show, it’s easier to convince marquee players to stick around as long as there is SOME level of success. Steph, DWade, Giannis, Dame, Luka, Booker, will probably all become fan favs if not already (Steph, Giannis and DWade already are).
Blue Jays: Guerrero Jr., Bichette, Springer. Still see a fair amount of Pillar and Stroman jerseys kicking around. My Chapman, Delgado, and (Vernon) Wells jerseys aren’t as popular! You also see a lot of NNOB Joe Carter jerseys.
Arsenal: Saka is by far the most common one I see out in the wild, but I’d be interested to hear the local perspective. I have 3x Bergkamp, 1x Henry, 2x Fabregas, and 2x Ozil, all of which I’d imagine are still quite common.
For the Raptors, it’s still very common to see Carter, McGrady, Leonard, and Lowry, and more recently Siakam, VanVleet, and Anunoby.
Yes, in the UK and Germany it is much more common to wear a favorite player on your soccer shirt. Here in Holland it is quite common with some clubs as well but not at all with my team Sparta Rotterdam. The Sparta fans feel their bond with the club is stronger than a personal allegiance to a player, it seems. So you are a Gunner, Charlie? Interesting club, nice history, subject of a good book by Nick Hornby.
Yup! I’ve purchased far more NNOB shirts since returning to Canada, but when I was buying most of my shirts while living in/visiting the UK, I’d say I got a player on the back of the vast majority of them. Clichy and Arshavin are some of the more obscure ones, and can’t forget my Sneijder shirt from the 2010 World Cup!
Love Arsenal, love Fever Pitch!
I’m a Toronto guy too and have to second you re: the Pillar jerseys. Extremely popular for a player that never made an all-star team. Ill wear my team-issued Brandon Drury jersey to games sometimes, as well as my throwback Fred McGriff, which I don’t see many of.
I live in the Netherlands and not anywhere near my favorite Mets, Bucks, Rangers, Giants or Notre Dame. I can tell you about my favorite soccer team Sparta Rotterdam where almost everybody wears replica shirts without a favorite player’s name or number. Refreshing to see a red and white vertically striped back with no names and numbers, but unfortunately there have been ads on the back for quite some time now. I was discussing this with a friend at the Sparta game last sunday: wearing a team shirt to a game is like wearing a band shirt to a concert of that band. Yikes. So we both stick to red and white striped scarves to show our support. In the USA I would always wear a team hat to a game of my teams, not so with Sparta: their team hats are all awfully designed and executed, like with most soccer teams.
Giants fan here. You’ll still see a million #28 Buster Posey jerseys at Oracle Park. Lots of Mays, too. Especially since his passing.
With the Commanders and Sean Taylor being in the Uni Watch news again, I find it pretty common to see his jersey just because you’ve always been able to buy it since his death. In particular, the 2007 75th-anniversary throwback has always been available, but you can also get designs like the WFT burgundy jersey or even the current black alternate, which is fascinating.
At Spirit games there’s a lot of Trinity Rodman shirts and a good mix of other players past and present, but also people just wear whatever other soccer shirts and it makes for interesting people-watching. I’ve done that myself when the Spirit have blackout games because I don’t have a black Spirit shirt, so I wear last season’s black Aberdeen second shirt.
(My brother has an Amber Brooks shirt purely because of the time she flipped off an assistant ref on national TV and did not get sent off. Definitely up there as a cult hero. link)
With Arsenal and Chelsea visiting the past two weekends, a decent number of those fans had shirts of their women’s team players but I didn’t get a sense anyone was particularly common except maybe Sam Kerr.
I’ve also been to the local Tottenham bar (sorry, not sorry, Charlie) a couple of times and leaving aside NOBs, the shirts people wear really skew more recent. I have one from the 2012-13 season that was probably among the oldest in the room.
Don’t be sorry (or not sorry lol)! I’d be interested to hear what specific NNOBs you’ve seen apart from the obvious Kanes and Sons.
Pedro Porro sticks out, there were definitely some Lloris goalie shirts, plus people from a relatively long time ago like Pavlyuchenko and van der Vaart. Like the Arsenal/Chelsea people I didn’t get a sense anyone else besides Kane and Son was especially common.
Washington fans LOVE Sean Taylor
I went to a WFT game in Las Vegas a couple seasons ago and was pleasantly surprised by the number of Riggins jerseys I saw.
NY Rangers: Kreider, Zibanejad, & Shesterkin are very popular as far as current players, but Lundqvist jerseys I’d bet are still the most common at any given game. I’m 33 and I think Zuccarello is still very popular for my age group, Messier for those a bit older than me. There are ALWAYS older folks at games with Jeff Beukeboom jerseys.
For the Timberwolves this year, Naz Reid has become one of the most popular players and jersey choices when you go to the Target Center. Interesting to see a bench player outshine guys like KAT and Gobert when it comes to selling merch. Then there was the guy holding a Naz Reid flag in the crowd at WrestleMania and hundreds of fans got his name tattooed during the playoff run.
I was in Minneapolis last summer and Naz Reid was on all the TWolves billboards and advertisements. Super popular.
Zimmerman, Strasburg, Scherzer, Soto for Nats. None of them are currently on the roster, though 3 of them are still on the payroll
Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom and Wilson for the Caps
Sean Taylor is probably the most popular for the NFL team, bit people don’t wear those jerseys in public much and I don’t got to games.
The Wizards…no data
Agreed on Rodman being most popular Spirit jersey
I grew up before NOB on merch jerseys was a thing, am a Yankees fan by blood and a Penn State alumnus. So, it l’s easy to take the “I don’t wear another man’s name oh my back” attitude. I say this half-jokingly, though I made a point to get WFT jerseys off of ebay so I could have them NNOB. My Caps, Nats, Penn State and Yankees jerseys are blank too.
Does anybody know if the Yankees Judge football jerseys from this weekend had NOB?
Cincy baseball –
Currently it’s mostly Votto. Elly De La Cruz is quickly catching up.
Bench, Rose, and Larkin are the most popular former players, and we now add Votto to that list.
Atlanta Braves and Carolina Panthers fan: Braves Dale (he should be in HOF) Murphy. Panthers Cam Newton. Murphy great player and along with Gary Carter my favorite baseball players growing up. While Newton isn’t my favorite Panther; great athlete, who had a great 3 year run
Yes a decent amount of Dale Murphy jerseys to be seen at Braves games. Also plenty of AARON 44 jerseys among the throwbacks. Most popular currently are Acuna and Albies jerseys.
Most of the time the jerseys you see are a function of what can be bought. Deion Sanders #21 is one of the few Falcon throwback jerseys available. Same with Dominique Wilkins of the Hawks. Still plenty of Matt Ryan jerseys seen around town, as well as a few Michael Vick holdovers.
I go the extra mile and weat a Falcons Brett Favre, and for the Braves an old Andy Messersmith “Channel 17” and the #27 jersey Ted Turner wore the one game he managed the team.
As a USC alum and fan, it always seems off-pudding when I see a Trojan football jersey with the name of a past player on it. “Allen” (Marcus Allen) with #33 is the very common, along “Bush”, “Leinart”, and “Lott”, also very popular. Of course USC has NNOB. I thought they might change that with NIL, since they could pay players for jersey sales.
I’m a Cubs and Bears fan. For the Cubs there are also a lot of Sandberg and Dawson jerseys around. For the Bears Walter Payton is one that outnumbers the current players at games and bars
That seems correct about the Bears. I think all the Fields/Trubisky/Cutler jerseys are long gone. I do expect Caleb Williams jerseys to be everywhere, though.
Interesting phenomenon at Hawks games is seeing a fair amount of 00 jerseys with “GRISWOLD” NOB – classic
Ha! Yes I’ve seen many of those, too.
I first saw one of those around 2011 on the Metro coming out of a Caps – Hawks game
I live in KC MO, and tho I am not a big NFL/MLB guy, the jerseys you see around here are mostly the obvious ones; Mahomes, Kelce, Butker, Pacheco, along with Salvador Perez, Bobby Witt Jr., and a few old schools.
If I was going to buy/wear one, it would probably be a Brett, Dawson, Derrick Thomas.
Good answers, everyone!
I’m going to a White Sox game this weekend so I’ll have to see what is the most popular jersey there. Probably Frank Thomas? Among current players, I see a lot of Robert Jr 88 jerseys.
“I’m going to a White Sox game this weekend”
Did you lose a bet?
haha. Well they’re playing the Mets…..
Exactly
Philly local here.
Commonplace to spot Bryce Harper jerseys, but only the pinks, err…pins and (formerly road) powder blues.
Embiid tops are fairly standard too, mostly on kids.
Flyers and Eagles both run the gamut…you’d be lucky to see more than the occasional Barber or Lindos and Montgomery or McNabb.
I can’t say fir certain but I think Ryan Blaney-ware is popular at most NASCAR tracks these days – for both the guys and gals.
Post-Script:
The Phils CC don’t dominate the landscape, but have (regrettably) become more prominent…often seen as blanks/no particular player in my area.
I’ll go so far as to say the new-fangled Flyers sweater hasn’t been a big seller.
The Braman-era Eagles gear is ‘trending’ as the kids say nowadays, but doesn’t appear to outweigh the midnight green. You’ll encounter a smattering of the 70s super-stripey model with Papale 83 ‘round town too.
Post-Script:
The Phils CC don’t dominate the landscape, but have (regrettably) become more prominent…often seen as blanks/no particular player in my area.
I’ll go so far as to say the new-fangled Flyers sweater hasn’t been a big seller.
The Braman-era Eagles gear is ‘trending’ as the kids say nowadays, but doesn’t appear to outweigh the midnight green. You’ll encounter a smattering of the 70s super-stripey model with Papale 83 ‘round town too.
In Denver
John Albert Elway #7 will be seen almost everywhere you go in the state!
Close second might be Nikola Jokic #15
At Tribe games, you’ll see a fair amount of #99 “Wild Thing” Rick Vaughn jerseys.
Makes sense!
I’ve yet to see a Stan Ross Brewers jersey (Mr. 3000)
As a Yankees fan, it’s pretty easily Jeter and Judge, with Judge becoming more and more common the last few years of course. Because the Yanks are NNOB, sometimes it can be hard to tell what a jersey is, perhaps intentionally or otherwise. For example 25 could be any number of notable Yankees from the past decades, it could be Torres, or Teixiera, or Giambi. My dad got a #30 jersey for his 30th birthday, and it has enjoyed getting to claim several different obscure middle relief pitchers over the decades since.
I actually don’t fault Yankees fans who wear NOB jerseys, even though they’re inaccurate. Like, you want to rep your guy, and you want everyone to know it.
Fans who wear NOB Yankee jerseys are doing so because they are replicas, not authentics. And when you’re talking in some cases over $300 for an authentic, I can see why. But Yankee fans who GetIt™ actually give those wearing replicas shit. I was once at a game when I saw an interaction between two fans (one of whom had a replica) and the other fan actually said “GET A SEAM RIPPER” (Looking back, I wonder if that fan was a Uni Watcher).
I don’t fault fans for wearing replica jerseys if they don’t want to spring for an authentic. But it’s not a “rep your guy” thing — it’s a $$$ thing. And Yankee fans know their team does not wear NOB.
For sure. If your intention is to own and wear anything authentic, then yeah it’s gotta be NNOB for the Yankees.
But sometimes, like, you just wanna support Jazz Chisholm and be a part of the scene, and not have to answer “Hey who’s No. 13?” (I just looked up his uni) over and over again. We love unis, but not everyone sweats the details.
“But Yankee fans who GetIt™ actually give those wearing replicas shit.”
Going to disagree respectfully here. I don’t really mind fans who wear jerseys with names on the back. I have seen some fans wear a name on the back that isn’t even a players name so I have assumed it was a customized jersey representing a family name or a nickname or something along those lines.
It’s still fan merchandise at the end of the day and if that’s how these fans choose to support the Yankees, more power to them. That’s their choice.
Giving people shit, in your words, just comes across as policing what fans should and shouldn’t wear.
At Devils games, the current crop is heavy on Hughes and Hischier, with a healthy dose of Brodeur and Stevens among my forty-something age bracket. Ken Daneyko also remains a fan favorite. Personally, I love to rock either my Chico Resch or Claude Lemieux sweater!
PS – The best “quirky” sweater that you’ll see a surprising number of times at The Rock is Brodeur’s #29, red-white-and-green rookie jersey.
I’d love to see a gallery of that. Players wearing odd jerseys — but jerseys for the team they’re known for, just in a uni from a different era.
Like Charles Barkley wearing the old western Suns jersey link
Or Giannis in the green-red Bucks uni link
Frank Thomas in the blue and red White Sox uni link
Matt Ryan in the new Falcons uni link
And so on….
Hey Mike — I love this — if you want to turn this idea into an article…you know where to find me!