Phillies championship T’s sent to Indonesia

A premature ad in Monday’s Inquirer advertised Phillies’ championship T-shirts for sale. Some say that may have jinxed things. But what happened to all the T-shirts and other gear that were pre-printed in anticipation of a repeat.

The Phillies’ loss to the Yankees Wednesday night depressed Phillies fans across the region. A premature ad in Monday’s Inquirer advertised Phillies’ championship T-shirts for sale. Some say that may have jinxed things. But what happened to all the T-shirts and other gear that were pre-printed in anticipation of a repeat.

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[audio: 091105sptshirt.mp3]

They go to Indonesia. In preparation for a win, thousands of Championship shirts and hats are printed for both teams. For the losing team, Major League Baseball donates that merchandise to a relief organization, World Vision. First the shirts will get shipped to Pittsburgh, where they are packed with other relief supplies on their way to the site of a recent earthquake in Indonesia.

Karen Kartes, works for World Vision and has helped distribute the supplies.

Kartes: Some of the apparel and hats have Major League baseball stickers and holographs, and they’ll take the stickers off and put them on their forehead, and they’ll dance around, and some of the kids will wear the shirts as dresses and they just absolutely love having new clothing and when you see what they’re wearing some of them have never had a piece of new clothing in their lives.

Kartes says the organization also gets all the counterfeit merchandise seized by customs agents, as well as the losing team’s gear from the Superbowl.