He’s From Delaware County, but You’ll Find T-Shirt Phil Down at the Stadiums

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Citizen's Bank Park in South Philadelphia
Image via iStock.
T-Shirt Phil is from Delaware County but spends a lot of time outside the South Philadelphia sports complex selling unofficial merchandise.

He’s known as T-Shirt Phil, and the Delaware County resident can be found selling unofficial sports merchandise at the South Philadelphia sports complex, writes Jason Nark for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

On a good day, he can clear $1,000 in profit.

The 54-year-old ex-Marine and former city employee has been at it for decades, greeting fans about to go into a stadium with a “Yo cuz, you need anything?”

Counterfeit shirt hawkers have been around for decades at the stadiums before and after games and concerts.

T-Shirt Phil thinks it all started in the 1970s. Not much has changed.

Parking lot shirt hawkers don’t pay for trademark rights to use official team logos and rarely have vending licenses.

You’re not allowed to sell shirts anywhere near the stadiums so the sellers move around to keep merchandise from being confiscated.

“At the Eagles preseason game, they took like $500 worth of shirts off me,” he said. “Preseason, cuz.”

T-Shirt Phil sees sports teams as community property. You can’t trademark the color red, the number 3, or the word “Harper,” he said.

There’s room for the little buy alongside Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and Taylor Swift to make a few bucks, he said.

Find out more about T-shirt Phil in The Philadelphia Inquirer.


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