Phillies World Series title merchandise still a hot commodity

A stellar postseason has vaulted Cole Hamels (above) past Jimmy Rollins as the new favorite among Phillies fans. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

As Philadelphia celebrates its first World Series title in 28 years and first major sports title in a quarter century, the sale of World Series championship merchandise has "blown away everyone's expectations," says Howard Smith, Major League Baseball's senior vice president of licensing and retail. The sales also show a change in fan favorite pecking order.

For the last few years, the Phillies' Big Three in terms of MLB sales of player-specific swag (items such as jerseys) has consisted of the All-Star infield trio of Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. But Smith says Cole Hamels' stellar postseason, in which he won MVP awards in both the NLCS and World Series, vaulted him past Rollins. New fan favorite, Shane Victorino, ranks fifth.

A good hot market , Smith says, can last three or four days after a clinching victory. A great hot market can last a week, but at the 10-day mark sales had barely slowed. MLB will tinker with the championship logo to create new holiday versions of Phillies apparel. (Per MLB policy, exact sales numbers were not released.) The benchmark for these retail periods is the 2004 Red Sox, for whom Smith says the market didn't slow until after the 2005 season had begun

"The ['04] Red Sox were the greatest hot market in the history of sports," Smith says. "I think, with certainty, the Phillies will end up second."

The healthy sales are attributable not only to Philadelphians pent-up demand but also to the city's strong retail infrastructure, particularly the area's 24 Modell's stores. Most of the purchases have come from the greater Philadelphia area, which includes most of eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Driving the sales have been printable items-hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.-- as well as a host of collectibles including a special edition Monopoly game and a Mr. Potato Head with the World Series trophy.

Despite Philadelphia's mascot bearing a passing resemblance to the Grinch-feel free to insert your own Philly-fans-booing-Santa Claus-joke here-the Phanatic will feature prominently in MLB's holiday apparel, with Phillies red complementing Phanatic green.

Nets Season of Giving

While some baseball clubs, such as the A's, Astros, Brewers, Giants, Pirates and Red Sox, have announced ticket-price freezes or reductions, no other pro team is matching the discount the New Jersey Nets are offering for select tickets: they're giving them away for free.

Early this season the Nets implemented a "Buy Now, Pay Later" plan for $10 upper-deck tickets (fans won't have to begin paying for their $440 season tickets until January) and now Nets CEO Brett Yormark has offered 2,000 free tickets to out-of-work fans who submitted their résumés to the Nets Job Bank. Corporate sponsors and businesses that own season tickets are reviewing the résumés.

The team is also hosting a job fair at the Izod Center before its Nov. 22 game against the Clippers. After receiving 2,012 résumés in the first three days the team announced plans to sponsor a second round of the Nets Employment Program after New Year's.