As the team charges toward a World Series berth, the New York Yankees’ throwback turtlenecks have taken center stage as a hot autumn fashion item.
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It’s a look that channels the team’s last dynasty, when Derek Jeter and Company rocked turtlenecks emblazoned with Yankees logos to four World Series championships in five years from 1996 to 2000.
The turtlenecks have prompted fans of a certain age to reach deep into their closets to rediscover their own — and fans of a younger age to wish they could buy them. However, the turtleneck is not in active production as a licensed piece of Yankees apparel.
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This is 2024. Anything with room for a professional sports team’s logo is seemingly for sale somewhere. So why not the Yankees’ turtlenecks?
The surprising reason was inadvertently revealed Saturday in a social media post by YES Network’s Justin Shackil.
This postseason, multiple Yankees have opted for the “old school” turtlenecks that conjure up great memories from the past. Turns out, those turtlenecks ARE from the past. I’m told they were in storage for years, and the players chose them b/c they prefer the cotton material.
— Justin Shackil (@JustinShackil) October 19, 2024
“This postseason, multiple Yankees have opted for the ‘old school’ turtlenecks that conjure up great memories from the past,” Shackil wrote on Twitter/X. “Turns out, those turtlenecks ARE from the past. I’m told they were in storage for years, and the players chose them b/c they prefer the cotton material.”
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If an out-of-circulation item spontaneously came back into circulation at the players’ behest — not by, say, marketers — that would certainly explain why fans can’t find it in the usual places online, or even Yankee Stadium.
CLEVELAND, OHIO – OCTOBER 18: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees runs back to the dugout in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians during Game Four of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field on October 18, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Yankees’ turtlenecks have become a popular fashion item.
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
As indicated by the replies to Shackil’s original post, fans have already cottoned to the idea of grabbing the turtlenecks for themselves:
That’s awesome. I see a marketing opportunity.
— George (@YorkSwampFox) October 19, 2024
For the love of God tell the organization to start selling them. Soooo much $$$ to be made
— Dom D. Bean (@dom2two) October 19, 2024
Tell the Yankees to sell them lol
— Glen DeNigris (@GlenDeNigris) October 19, 2024
The Yankees are playing the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field. They need one win to clinch the best-of-seven American League Championship Series, which would send them to their first World Series since 2009.
A 14-year title drought isn’t the longest in team history, but not all fans are old enough to remember the fallow period from 1978-96 during which the team made only three postseason appearances, none in the World Series.
Now that the Yankees are on the precipice of taking center stage again, expect demand for the turtlenecks to reach a fever pitch.
Certainly, it will be a more popular look than the Mets x Yankees hat Mayor Eric Adams donned Monday at New York City’s annual Columbus Day parade.
For more MLB postseason news, visit Newsweek Sports.
