The second and third floors of the old building near 13th and Walnut Streets held the world’s largest collection of backdated periodicals, making it an ideal place to pass some time. Bookcases lined the floor and the stacks of old magazines nearly touched the ceilings. Sports Illustrated, Life, Look, The Sporting News, Time, and even Playboy. David Bagelman’s collection had them all.
That same year, Sisto Capolino was born in a coastal Italian fishing village named Formia between Rome and Naples. In 1917, Capolino left on a boat with his parents to flee from a cholera epidemic that was ravaging the country. His mother died on the ship and his father died shortly after arriving in Philadelphia.Why one of college baseball’s top hitters plays with Jackie Robinson’s No.
“I helped put on the face masks before the 1960 championship game,” said Capolino, who was 15 years old when the Eagles topped Vince Lombardi’s Packers at Franklin Field.Capolino — who went to Susquehanna University after graduating from Yeadon High School in Delaware County — took over the company in 1975 when his father had cancer. No longer outfitting the pros, Mitchell & Ness struggled to find its footing in a changing industry.
The jerseys sold out instantly. Capolino made more, raised the prices, and watched them sell out again. His customers had never seen anything like it. The throwback jersey was born. It led Capolino back upstairs to those stacks as he paged through old sports magazines searching for photos of the next jerseys he could produce. The place he once hid was now where he went for inspiration.
OutKast — the Atlanta hip-hop duo — wore Mitchell & Ness jerseys in a 1998 music video and it soon seemed like every rapper was doing the same. Reuben Harley, a customer from West Philly who frequented the store, told Capolino that he could get his products in the hands of more rappers. “I said, ‘I have to make this jersey,’” Capolino said. “He was this wahoo guy from Texas Christian University. I made a deal with Sammy. He couldn’t believe I wanted to make his jersey. It was a plain maroon jersey, the plainest thing with these funny little No. 33s on the front and back. It’s totally ugly. If you see it, you would never want it. But there was somebody who wanted it.