Baseball Guru
02-26-2005, 08:43 PM
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1999343
When Jerry Cohen opened little Ebbets Field Flannels in Seattle in 1987, his company was selling more than just handcrafted wool jerseys, jackets and caps -- it was selling history.
"We were the first," Cohen says of his trailblazing entry into the Negro League replica apparel market.
"At the time, the Negro Leagues were not generally known at all outside the circle of baseball historians. Because the public wasn't aware of the Negro Leagues, our catalogue became a great educational tool," Cohen continues. "People who weren't aware of, say, the Kansas City Monarchs would read their history and become interested in the product."
Unlike Major League Baseball, which holds trademarks on all its team's apparel, all but two Negro League marks entered into the public domain after the league filed dissolution papers in 1960. (The Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City owns the Kansas City Monarchs' and Indianapolis Clowns' marks.)
What this meant for Cohen and his eventual competitors was that any and all licensing agreements would be purely voluntary. When the Negro League Baseball Museum opened its doors in 1991, Cohen's decision to let the museum license his gear -- cutting the institution in on 7 to 8 percent of Ebbets Field's Negro League-related revenues -- was more an act of conscience than savvy strategic alliance.
When Jerry Cohen opened little Ebbets Field Flannels in Seattle in 1987, his company was selling more than just handcrafted wool jerseys, jackets and caps -- it was selling history.
"We were the first," Cohen says of his trailblazing entry into the Negro League replica apparel market.
"At the time, the Negro Leagues were not generally known at all outside the circle of baseball historians. Because the public wasn't aware of the Negro Leagues, our catalogue became a great educational tool," Cohen continues. "People who weren't aware of, say, the Kansas City Monarchs would read their history and become interested in the product."
Unlike Major League Baseball, which holds trademarks on all its team's apparel, all but two Negro League marks entered into the public domain after the league filed dissolution papers in 1960. (The Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City owns the Kansas City Monarchs' and Indianapolis Clowns' marks.)
What this meant for Cohen and his eventual competitors was that any and all licensing agreements would be purely voluntary. When the Negro League Baseball Museum opened its doors in 1991, Cohen's decision to let the museum license his gear -- cutting the institution in on 7 to 8 percent of Ebbets Field's Negro League-related revenues -- was more an act of conscience than savvy strategic alliance.