Not long ago, I admitted that I didn’t know that the J. Peterman catalog was a real thing. Now some hilarious soul has signed me up for their mailing list. I open this thing up and hear John O’Hurley reading to me about baseball shirts:

“Sleeves” is what we called them. They were plain and ordinary, nothing to think twice about. (Or so I thought.) But now I realize they were unduplicatable.

I still have mine, and a few emotions, dating from my days in professional baseball.

When we wore our sleeves, it was always the best time of year. We were beginning to feel up.

I laugh at the imitations today. They have pseudo names like “river shirts,” “punting jerseys,” “Henley pullovers.”

Sleeves are, were, and always will be comfortable and engaging to wear; lightweight; warm, not hot; not itchy; not sticky, not fussy. Sleeves are good looking in the way things are when they aren’t trying to be good-looking.

– The J. Peterman Company Owners Manual No. 114.