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About Bowling Shirt Bonanza!
One day, my friend Ben Flaster sent me a link to an Ebay auction. The link was accompanied by the text "Don't tell me you're not tempted." I opened the link and discovered over 100 vintage bowling shirts, in various men's and women's sizes, recently discovered in a long-closed sporting goods store in Cleveland, Ohio. They were for sale as a lot. They were retro. They were stylish. They were quality. And for the most part, they were 100% polyester and out-of-this-world. There were a lot of active bids on the auction, and even a couple people that seemed to be in a bidding war. The auction hadn't even met the reserve price yet, and there was still a day to go--plenty of time for the bidding war to rage on and then for a sniper to cut in at the last second. I decided to play a little joke on Ben. I bid the item up a few dollars and then I replied to his message: "What do you mean I'm not tempted? Who's the high bidder? Ben's reply took only minutes to arrive. "What, are you crazy? What are you really going to do with over 100 bowling shirts?" I explained that, in reality, there was no way I would be the high bidder when the auction closed. Too many other people wanted those shirts.
I was out nearly a grand. I was screwed. That's what I get for second-guessing an Ebay auction. Yet, life didn't seem so bad when the enormous box arrived. Ben, Mrrranda, and I picked through the shirts one by one. Sometimes we laughed. Sometimes we were impressed. Mostly we were in awe, surrounded by the often audacious fashions of a bygone era--and manufactured by some of the top names in bowling apparel, as we later found out, such as King Louie, Hilton, Lane Mate, and Nat Nast.
Ben and Mrrranda took the bite out of my financial disaster by offering to split the loot with me. "But what do we do with all these shirts?" I asked. Ben and I considered getting a table at the Milan flea market some weekend. That would be an entertaining experience, proprietors of a flea market table. Neither of us had a lot of confidence in that plan, though. Could flea market shoppers in Milan, Michigan, possibly comprehend what incredible treasures these shirts really were? Coming to the point, these hip historical artifacts are now for sale on this Web site. We are not selling them to make mad cash--we are selling them to recoup our losses. Our real profit has been the experience. The shirts are variously priced, based on style and quality, and some shirts are drastically reduced due to stains. (We have not washed the shirts, so some of the stains may come out.) If you have any questions about the shirts, don't hesitate to e-mail me at chris Oh, and one last thing...be careful about bidding on Ebay items that you don't really intend to purchase. |
Important Policies
We accept payment via PayPal. You can also use major credit cards via PayPal. Our PayPal account is listed as Osric Publishing--that may sound strange, but remember, we hadn't planned on selling bowling shirts. We ship using USPS priority mail flat-rate envelopes. We charge $4.00 shipping & handling for an order of one shirt. If you want to buy multiple shirts, just e-mail me (chris Is your satisfaction guaranteed? Damn right it is. If your shirt doesn't quite fit, or the collar isn't as wide as you'd hoped, send it back--in the condition you received it, of course--and we'll refund the purchase price. We can't afford to refund the shipping & handling expenses, though, yours or ours. If it makes you feel more confident about buying from us, we do have a USPS address: |
Hi. My name is Chris Herdt. I have a problem. Actually, I have many problems. But my biggest problem is 
Of course, I was wrong.
Some shirts, on the other hand....
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