As a child in the 60’s my friends and I would eagerly look forward to the arrival of the new season’s baseball cards at the neighborhood candy store. While I appreciated the players, their stats and the great photos, my fascination did not end there. I fell in love with the uniforms. The original baggy baseball uniforms. Not every year, but often enough, teams would make subtle changes to the uniforms; they didn’t change them dramatically, as there were no high-priced marketing firms or focus dictating the current year’s style. But if I looked closely I would see the new changes. So I did not buy the cards solely because of the players, but for my fascination with the uniforms.

Then came a genetic change is the early 70’s when Major League Baseball changed not only the uniform fabric from wool to double-knit polyester but the style. Gone was the classic baggy look. Form-fitting shirts and pants with multi-colored striped belts characterized the new look. For me this was when baseball culture shifted from the game itself to big business.

I hated the pullover V-neck uniforms of the 1980’s. It was the worst of times of double-knit uniforms. There was no way that I could envision Jackie Robinson or Babe Ruth wearing one of these pitiful uniforms. They looked terrible. I was offended to the point of not being able to watch the games.

When in the late 80’s, as a Seattle Rock-n-Roller, I went looking for some baseball apparel for myself. I did not want to wear the 80’s style jerseys. I wanted to wear a classic baggy baseball jersey.

So I began to look for a company that still produced the originals. There were companies that were using pajama ‘flannel’ to make jerseys; I bought a couple and was sorely disappointed.

I decided to make my own. Here was Ebbets’ first hurdle. I had a business concept but had no materials to produce a product. I made hundreds of phone calls to find the right fabric. Finally I found a guy that was sitting on many rolls of authentic flannel, some that still had the labels! He began to ship the rolls to me; I did not know what I would be getting until UPS delivered it. It was like Christmas each time! Little by little I developed an extensive cache of authentic flannel. I found a seamstress that could ...

My friends saw them and they wanted some for themselves. So a company was formed.