SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT -- It's "Philly fever" today at the Little League World Series! The team is so popular this year, that the gift shop manager said they have a hard time keeping the Mid-Atlantic merchandise in stock.
Each of the 16 teams has merchandise available at the gift shop, but the store manager said Mid-Atlantic's t-shirts sold out on the first day. The store got another shipment of t-shirts on Wednesday, just in time for Pennsylvania's big game, and those shirts were literally flying off the shelves.
Philadelphia fever is running high in South Williamsport, as fans look forward to watching the Taney Dragons take the field once again.
People started lining up three and half hours before grandstand tickets were made available at noon, for the Pennsylvania versus Nevada game Wednesday night.
"Supporting the Pennsylvania team is big, because it's not every year we get a team from Pennsylvania in the Little League World Series," Joe Baker said.
So what better way to support the Pennsylvania team than by wearing the Mid-Atlantic t-shirt? Well, that's been tough because the gift shop has been sold out of them since Thursday, until now.
"We started coming on Thursday and we just thought, 'Oh, we'll get it the next day. And then all of a sudden they didn't have them anymore. We've been coming everyday since Saturday," Traci Dobson said.
Taney Dragons fans lined up at the Little League Souvenir Shop to get their t-shirts. Pat Buckley of Media came with a group of 30 kids, and spent $400 on Mid-Atlantic t-shirts.
"We wound up hearing that they're going to put them out. We came at nine and they weren't here. Fortunately, one of our friends was here and we have them now so I bought about 20 t-shirts," Buckley said.
The store manager said initially 1,500 shirts were ordered for each team, including Mid-Atlantic. Those sold out almost immediately, so 1,500 more were ordered. He expects those to go just as fast.
"I would think. Depends if the weather holds out and what the crowds are like tonight," Director of Sales Dustin Solomon said.
Solomon said other teams' shirts are almost sold out, too. He says they may get more in before the end of the series.
"It's difficult sometimes depending on how fast our printers can turn them around, so we're trying to keep up with all the teams, not just Mid-Atlantic," Solomon said.
The store manager said Mid-Atlantic hats will be in stock on Saturday and the store is taking orders, but the pins are sold out.
