Bryce Harper's wristbands feature Harper's image and are awesome
They appear to be made by Mims Wristbands, a company that, again after a hiatus, is making customized wristbands for Major League Baseball players that feature the player's likeness. From 1986-1992, Mims made bands for many of the game's biggest stars.
By
Dave Brown
•
3 min read
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, many stars of Major League Baseball wore wristbands featuring their own cartoon image and autograph, and some included a personal message -- something like, "Say no to drugs." Mims Wristbands manufactured them, selling them at first to individual players at the ballpark (at first, making them by hand), and later to the public at Merle Harmon sports apparel stores. Mims Bandz have made a resurgence in recent seasons, and it now appears that Bryce Harper is wearing a customized pair.
Harper's bands got notice Wednesday night as the Washington Nationals played at Wrigley Field.
Bryce Harper's wristband tonight looks like these, which is to say it looks awesome. http://t.co/EAm9yj5fWP
— Mr. Irrelevant (@MrIrrelevantDC) May 28, 2015
Where did Harper find the bands? Was he just tooling around the Internet, like us? It's possible he learned about them from teammate Denard Span, one of the current major leaguers who wears Mims. Span's wristband is available at Mims' website for $8.50 (and it's one of the classier-looking ones available). Todd Frazier, Troy Tulowitzki, Brandon Phillips, Andrew McCutchen, Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gomez and Adam Jones also wear 'em, according to the Mims Bandz online store.
That LobShots link from 2012 referenced by the Mr. Irrelevant Brothers Mottram -- Brady Phelps' memoir about collecting Mims Bandz -- might be one of the greatest sports links in the history of the Internet. It includes up-close pics of the caricatures, along with candid photos of players who wore the bands in games. It's a veritable who's who: Eric Davis, Darryl Strawberry, Barry Bonds -- Reggie Jackson! -- Frank Thomas, Ozzie Smith and others. It's a stroll down memory lane many of us didn't even realize happened at the time. Not everybody notices details like wristbands. Thankfully, Brady did.
There's at least one other useful Mims link, from January, by James Santora over at Classic Kicks, in which bands creator James Mims is interviewed. He hooked his first player, Dusty Baker, when Baker played for the Oakland Athletics, and signed up 100 more players soon thereafter. The toughest get was Reggie, but Mims hooked him too:
The toughest was Reggie Jackson. I said to Dusty I was going for Reggie and he said 'Nah man, he's a tough one.' I was in Anaheim and waited for him after the game. Reggie being a lady's man was talking to a few women and said to me 'Can I help you?' I said yeah you can help me but I'll wait until you're finished. After he finished up I introduced myself and told him who I was and what I had. He told me he already had wristbands and I said, well you don't have these! I showed him a sample and he was like 'Huh. What's your name again?' I said my name is James and I'll have a sample for you at the next homestand.
The team went on the road for a few weeks and when they came back to Anaheim I saw him pulling into the parking lot so I walked over and showed him the sample and he was like 'Wow. I really like them. They're like Reggie Bands.' I said you can call them Reggie Bands or whatever you want. I just would love for you to wear them. Reggie said 'Absolutely and I just want to thank you that you weren't intimidated. Most people are put off by my demeanor and you weren't.' I said hey man, from where I grew up you're not scary to me. I just felt that I had something that you would like and I wasn't going to walk away without having the opportunity to introduce you to the product. He loved them and he wore them.
And here they are: They're a bit pricier than Span's bands, at $49.50.
Just so you don't think that Harper is the only one wearing them in a game: Frazier really does wear wristbands with his own likeness:
Mims even sent Frazier a special-edition wristband with his mother's likeness for Mother's Day:
You can kind of see why players like this company.
These bands are among the neatest accessories in sports. Perhaps soon you'll be able to buy Bryce Harper caricature wristbands from Mims. Be the first on your block!
