The Hawaii Sports Museum is proud to announce Old Queen Street Stadium X Ebbets Field Flannels (2025). The collaboration with Ebbets Field Flannels pays homage to the 1960 University of Hawaii Baseball Team and comes as the second project between the two.

The collaboration was inspired when the team at Old Queen Street Stadium (“OQSS”) met Lyman Koike at the 2024 University of Hawaii Baseball Alumni game. Lyman, a University of Hawaii alum, showed off his jersey from his 1962 season. This was the oldest University of Hawaii jersey OQSS has ever seen and sparked the idea of creating authentic 1960s University of Hawaii baseball flannels. When OQSS spoke with Lyman, Lyman said, “In those days, the University of Hawaii did not even play against other colleges. They played in a league called The Hawaii Major League, which included military and civilian teams.”

Sam Kakazu, Wes Kimura and Lyman Koike at the 2024 University of Hawaii Alumni game.

At the time, the only company that seemed logical to create such a custom jersey was Ebbets Field Flannels (“EFF”). The company was known for their quality reproductions of baseball flannels from the past, including minor league teams. In fact, EFF had already made reproductions of the Pacific Coast League Hawaii Islanders from the 1960s. Jerry Cohen, the original owner of EFF, once said, “Fashion is about looking forward. But what Ebbets does best is look backward. The company, by its very design, is anti-trend.”

An email was sent to EFF and Andy Hyman, the company representative for their customs department, emailed back to discuss the idea. Little did we know, Andy Hyman was a “Hammah”, an OG to the game. Andy was the founder of Distant Replays and is credited as a one of the major contributors to the vintage throwback jersey craze of the late 1990's. Some of his clients included Usher, Big Boi, Andre 3000, Bow Wow and Billy Crystal.

The devil is in the details, obviously, so the research is key. To find references to the 1960s pinstripe jersey, OQSS looked to their archives and found photos in the University of Hawaii’s 1960s yearbooks. Because the research was photographic and black and white, OQSS had to be very careful. There was a certain amount of guesswork but it’s an art, not a science. A big help was the access to Lyman’s jersey.

Baseball jerseys switched to polyester in 1971. Before that, baseball jerseys had the classic wool and baggy look. According to Jerry Cohen, “When they changed, sporting goods companies didn’t think like fashion companies. They thought, “This is our market and our market now wants this and they don’t want that anymore.”Not only did styles change, but they threw out the machines - machines that we need now.”

Coach Hank Tominaga and Assistant Jyun Hirota. Circa 1960.

‘Bows Kid at 11-0 Job Over Marines. Circa 1958

Andy and his team went to work and came up with two renderings. In the original rendering, the #4 was added to the back. No real significance, only that it was the number of Yours Truly during his playing days. The number was eventually switched to #1 due to policy regulations with the University of Hawaii.

Details! Details! Details! The pinstripe jersey is made of wool and features navy felt letters and numbers. “U.H. 1960” is embroidered on a nameplate and affixed to the inside collar. The OQSS X EFF collaboration tag is sewn on the bottom left front. Most notably, on the left of the sleeve is the UH Rainbows patch.

Old Queen Street Stadium X Ebbets Field Flannels Collaboration Jock Tag

U.H. 1960 Nameplate on the Inside Collar

Officially Licensed with the University of Hawaii

After a year in the making, OQSS is ready to “officially” release this collaboration jersey. Of major significance is the fact that EFF recently sold the company to the holding company Ames Watson, which also owns Lids. Upon further research, I found out that Lids is owned by Fanatics.

According to Andy, OQSS was one of the last companies to collaborate with EFF and there would no more collaborations for customs until further notice. The selling of EFF also meant the departure of our friend Andy due to the shut down of the customs department.

With that in mind, this could be your only chance to purchase a University of Hawaii baseball jersey made from artists who truly cared and were dedicated to meticulously crafting the highest quality historical jerseys.

Jersey release will be on the day of the 2025 University of Hawaii Baseball Alumni game. Game is scheduled for February 1, 2025.

Many thanks to Kevin Sebastian, Nigel Guerrero, Larissa Goshi and Kedren Kenzie for all their help with the photos for this post.

Behind the Design: 1960 University of Hawaii Baseball

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