Today marks the 63^rd birthday of Hall of Famer Michael Jack Schmidt. Born in Dayton, Ohio on September 27^th, 1949, Schmidt is best remembered for his seventeen years of service with the Philadelphia Phillies in the 70s and 80s. Even after his retirement, Schmidt worked for the Phillies organization as a hitting coach and manager for its Single A team, the Clearwater Threshers.

Schmidt is an icon in the city of Philadelphia. He led the 1980 Phillies to a World Series Championship, the first and only Baseball World Championship in the city’s history at the time. His #20 jersey is retired by the team and he even has his own statue outside of Citizens Bank Park in South Philadelphia. Even nationally, Schmidt is regarded as one of, if not, the best third baseman to ever play the game. He combined freak athleticism with raw power at a position that was typically reserved for smaller, defensive oriented players.

Over seventeen seasons, Schmidt hit 548 home runs while winning ten gold glove awards. Until Schmidt, only Harmon Killebrew and Eddie Matthews hit 500+ homers as a third baseman, and Killebrew played more first base than third. Schmidt’s ten gold gloves only trails Brooks Robinson for most career gold gloves by a third baseman. Schmidt hit a career .267, knocked in 1,595 runs and scored 1,506 runs. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 as a first ballot selection.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Monday Night Football debuted in September 1970 on ABC. Since then, this program has been one of the longest running prime-time network television series ever, as well as one of the highest rated, particularly among male viewers. Monday Night Football left ABC for ESPN at the start of the 2006 season.

Who remembers this promo commercial from 1970 introducing Monday Night Football on ABC? Wow, these graphics are awesome!  

This Saturday marks the official start of Fall! This is our favorite time of year as the temperature starts to drop sweaters, hoodies, sweatshirts & scarves start to make their way out of the back of your closet & soups, stews & roasts become the main course for dinner. Along with these things that make this time of year our favorite most of all it is knowing that football is back & in full swing!

Whether you are a college or pro football fan we've got you covered in the sweatshirt & hoody departments for those chilly days filled with football!
First up is the Stadium Crew.

The NFL Stadium Crew

The NCAA Stadium Crew

Did you know it takes a 5 day manufacturing process to produce a football? Did you know 4 feet of vinyl lace is used to lace a football? Well, now you do. Check out the interesting football making process in the video below, How It's Made: Footballs.

On September 17, 1955, at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Brooks Robinson made his major league debut.  The Orioles were facing the Senators and pitcher Chuck Stobbs.  Robinson, batting sixth in the Orioles line up, came to bat for the first time in the bottom of the 2nd, flying out.  In the bottom of the fourth Robinson came to the plate again, this time singling to left field.  He flew out agin in the sixth, and in his final plate appearance of the day he singled and drove in pinch runer Dave Pope.  Overall he finished 2 for 4 with one RBI. 

Brooks only appeared in 6 games in 1955 and didn't become a full time major leaguer until 1958.  From then on, third base in Baltimore belonged to Brooks.