The NHL trade deadline always is the biggest day of the season for player movement. And when fans are clamoring for a jersey of the newest member of their team, someone has to make sure it’s available as soon as possible.
That’s where the NHL Powered by Reebok store comes in handy. As soon as a player changes teams, they go right to work.
“The store downstairs, we have a heat press in the basement,” Dan Near, NHL director of consumer products licensing told The Rumble’s David Satriano this week. “We have in stock letters and numbers so we can make any combination, and as soon as we have [the players] number confirmed, we are able to press that jersey with the name in the back, letters and numbers, and a ‘C’ or an ‘A’ on the front if applicable and get that out to the floor.”
Though manufacturers make the jerseys and T-shirts as well, the midtown Manhattan store needs to have some available relativity quickly. Last week, when the Rangers shipped Ryan Callahan to the Lightning for Martin St. Louis, it didn’t take long for some fresh jerseys to be put on display in the store.
“You’ve got to do a single hit of the heat press on the back, which is less than 30 seconds that the heat is applied,” Near said. “You let that dry, then you hit each sleeve separately, but you can build a jersey in 10 minutes if you are being super careful.”
With a new Ranger coming to town, there was a need for more St. Louis jerseys.
“In particular, St. Louis coming to the Rangers generated a lot of interested, and so we will be looking to get name and number T-shirts into the store as quickly as possible. The jerseys, we were doing on the same day and were replenishing the letters and numbers so we were able to service the fan looking to get these jerseys.”
Youth baseball gets Borough Cup boost
Coming this summer, to a ball field near you: a battle for New York City supremacy.
No, it’s not the Yankees and Mets who will be fighting an intracity battle, but rather, the inaugural Borough Cup.
The Cup, which will begin in early July, will pit youth baseball teams against each other to determine the city’s best. It will be run by the NYC All Stars Sports Group, which was created by former Mets closer John Franco, WFAN talk-show host Craig Carton and Brooklyn Cyclones assistant general manager Gary Perone.
“It’s never been done before, and [it will] give youth baseball another tournament to play in in the summer and not leave New York,” Franco told The Rumble’s John DeMarzo. “It will bring kids from Staten Island, Manhattan, Queens, the communities back together. The borough presidents are involved and they love the idea. We [also] have some big sponsors.”
Among those supporting the endeavor is Modell’s, while the Cup is also partnering with Mercedes Benz of Brooklyn and WFAN. The Cup also will have two MLB ambassadors who will be familiar to all New York City baseball fans: the Yankees’ Mark Teixeira and the Mets’ Curtis Granderson.
Registration for the Cup closes July 1, with play to commence shortly thereafter. People are encouraged to follow the Cup on Facebook and Twitter, @BoroughCup.
Yogi’s late wife honored at event
The most popular spring training bash in Florida turned into a toast for the late Carmen Berra, a regular with Yogi at the Tampa event hosted by Andrew Levy and Tim O’Neill of Wish You Were Here Productions.
Held a day after Carmen’s service was held in New Jersey, the party list included Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, David Cone, Willie Randolph, David Wells, Joe Girardi, Mickey Rivers, Fred McGriff, Ron Guidry and Yankees GM Brian Cashman.
“Many toasts to one of the regular attendees, Carmen Berra,’’ Levy said.
A fixture at the outdoor event, Carmen often sat with Yogi, Don Zimmer and wife Soot.
In addition to the annual spread of surf and turf over 400 pounds of pizza from Modern Pizza in New Haven was flown in.
Campbell’s ‘Soup’ nickname is A-OK
Eric Campbell loves his nickname “Soup.”
“I really like all kinds of soups, especially New England clam chowder,” said the 6-foot-3, 230 pounder who is having an superb spring training for the Mets. “ If I ever make it to the majors, maybe I can get my own commercial,” he added with a laugh.
“I’m just trying to make the most of my chances,” said the Norwich, Conn., native, who went to Boston College. “Every at bat is important.”
“Eric has done a great job so far,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He hit the ball hard and can play infield and outfield. We will just put him out there the last week and see what happens.”
Maybe if things work out he might even get his own TV spot someday.