Philadelphia Phillies
There’s a type of Phillies fan that doesn’t have to defend their fandom. The ones who watched the Phanatic rally the Bucs in Citizens Bank Park on a Tuesday night in April when they were six games under five hundred and didn’t give a shit. The ones who remember 2008 like it was last week. The ones with opinions on the lineup whether you asked for them or not.
Buying gifts for that kind of person should be simple. And yet it never is, because your options will invariably fall into the two extremes; cheap stadium tat or the sort of ultra-safe licensed merch that could belong to a fan of any team whatsoever.
This collection is for the folks who bleed red and white. We didn’t think about casual fans who watched the playoffs on TV. Every item here was curated because it felt like it was made for who Phillies fans actually are. Not just fans of baseball but fans of this specific team in this specific city who understand the unique, painful beauty of being a Philadelphia sport fanatic at any level.
Every gift here will work for any occasion. From birthdays for the friend that keeps games on at every get together or Christmas gifts for the dad who taught you how to keep score from the bleachers. To something for that friend who just moved away and needs something Phillies on their shelf or wall to feel like home again. We considered every one of these situations when picking these items.
Everything we didn’t include is just as important. If something was looking cheap (literally or figuratively) got pulled. If we felt it could belong to any fan of any sport we didn’t include it. If it looked great on a product page but wouldn’t last a week in actual use it didn’t make the cut. That rules out a lot of gear really quick. And that was kind of the point.
All that’s left are some really damn good options. Stuff we would gift wrap ourselves and hand over to someone special. Real Phillies gifts for the kind of fan that deserves better than most merch collections.