Mitchell & Ness is a truly iconic sport clothing company

Mitchell & Ness was founded by Frank P. Mitchell (former tennis player and wrestler) and Charles M. Ness (a passionate golfer) in 1904. The headquarters were and still are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and they initially produced tennis rackets and golf clubs. The business soon experienced growth and it expanded to production of uniforms for local baseball and American football teams. Slowly but surely, things kept going in a positive direction which led to supplying local NFL and MLB teams.

Down and up

By the 1980s, the company was struggling and almost went bankrupt until a random and unexpected single event turned things in the direction that defined sports nostalgia forever – for which the company is now a synonym. The story goes that in 1985, a person came to M&N with a 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates game-worn vest and a 1949 St. Louis Browns game-worn jersey. He wanted both of them to be repaired. Then owner Peter Capolino successfully met this request and realized what the new purpose of the company should be: “to craft historically-accurate, vintage, authentic baseball jerseys and apparel.”

With time, other sports were included as well and the most important of them all is, of course, basketball! We are proud to have such a significant collection of M&N jerseys and apparel at Grosbasket. Here are some of our favorite pieces in it:

The greatest of all time

Given the recent decision by the NBA to rename its MVP award as the Michael Jordan Trophy, the GOAT debate is pretty much settled. This is why we have so many MJ jerseys available and they include:

Finally, as perhaps our most beloved one, we present the NBA All-Star East 1996 Jersey ”Blue” from a truly epic All-Star game that took place in San Antonio and where MJ was the MVP. It was the first All-Star game that Michael played in after returning from his first retirement and he recorded 20 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist.

The King

As amazing of a prospect that Victor Wembanyama is, not even the expectations for him will be as a high as they were for “the kid from Akron”. LeBron James came to the league with an unbelievable amount hype only to surpass it all and write his own story of greatness. This is the jersey in which the epic journey began.

Clutch = Dame time?

Since we earlier mentioned renamed or completely new NBA awards, the Jerry West Trophy will be presented to the Clutch Player of the Year. “The Logo” is without a doubt the perfect choice for this new award, but we also agree with many (younger) fans that Damian Lillard should have been considered for this honor. His Portland Trail Blazers 2012-2013 Alternate Swingman Jersey is a reminder of the amazing season he had 10 years ago on his way to become the Rookie of the Year (ROTY). He was the first rookie to record 35 points, nine assists and zero turnovers in a game and also earned Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for every month. Finally, he joined Blake Griffin, David Robinson and Ralph Sampson as the only unanimous ROTY winner.

Stay Melo

For a lot of younger fans, the nickname “Melo” is reserved for LaMelo Ball, but most will still know that it belongs to Carmelo Anthony. His Denver Nuggets 2003-04 Swingman Jersey ”Blue” jersey commemorates his rookie season that led to a legendary career with the following stats:

  • PTS. 22.5
  • REB. 6.2
  • AST. 2.7
  • FG%. 44.7

The walking record book

There are a lot of other historic/epic M&N jerseys that you can find in our collection, but we decided to end this blog with something, or someone, truly iconic – Wilt Chamberlain and his Los Angeles Lakers 1971-72 jersey. The list of his records and achievements deserve several separate blogs so for now we will just point that “the Big Dipper” is the only player in NBA history to score 100 points in a single game!

Just in case these recommendations did not get you excited make sure to check out everything we have to offer at Grosbasket since we are certain you will find the right thing to feed your nostalgia for which Mitchell & Ness is renowned!