2008 World Series Memorabilia: Guaranteed Delivery by the 2009 World Series!

A day or two after the Fightins clinched the 2008 World* Championship, my sister emailed me from suburban Philly to ask whether she might pick up some memorabilia and bring it to me this weekend, when she'll be traveling here for my wedding. "Nah, no need to do that -- I can get everything online," I replied, and set upon the Interwebs to purchase some overpriced gear to remind everyone how awesome my team is.

*Cuba didn't have a say in this, did they?

First, I visited Eastbay. I purchase things from Eastbay regularly and am consistently satisfied with my experiences. To my disappointment -- but not necessarily surprise -- virtually every Phillies World Championship/World Series product was out of stock. Way more fans than expected showed up at the victory parade, so I guess more people than expected were buying merch.

On to the source, mlb.com. There, I was able to find* everything I wanted, and I sprung an extra $10 for express delivery so I'd have my gear by the time people started arriving for the wedding.

The next day, I received an email from mlb.com claiming that the products I'd ordered were "not available for processing" and that I'd get them... whenever that occurred. And I'd still pay the extra $10 for rush delivery that is no longer of any use to me.

*By "find" I mean "add to my virtual cart and pay for."

So here I am, of a mind to express my appreciation for Eastbay for not allowing me to pay for products they don't actually have.

The same can't be said for mlb.com -- I'll slot them in second on the list of things that contaminated my enjoyment of the Phils' championship run, right between Joe Nutz and hangovers.

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mlb.com has now made available World Champion edition bobbleheads, the appearance of one of which chaps my arse to a much greater extent than it probably should.





























Notice anything sub-kosher there? (I mean, other than the fact that it looks nothing like Shane Victorino?)

What's Victorino's most distinguishing physical characteristic as a baseball player? He's one of a very few players who wears a double-flap batting helmet. How could they miss something that obvious? Would any Phillies fan not notice this?

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