When I was young, my parents bought me a tee-shirt that said “Property of The New York Yankees”. These are common, and I think most sports fans own or at least have seen something similar on sports attire.
Being a huge Yankee fan, I didn’t think about the underlying meaning at the time.
Now I wonder, is it supposed to mean that the tee-shirt, hoodie, etc. belongs to the sports team, or does it mean that the individual wearing it is claimed by or contracted with that team?
I always assumed it a tongue-in-cheek way to make the clothing appear more authentic, albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way. I.e., any schlep could buy a shirt bearing the Yankees logo. But official clothing issued and owned by the team could only be obtained by someone actually associated with the team. Well, them, and thieves.
I’m certain that at some point, a team got tired of their stuff walking out the door, and decided printing “Property of Us” on it would make it easy to spot the criminals (or the people they were passing the gear on to).
Of course, such printing would just make it more valuable. And, being money-grubbers, they figured out they could sell the stuff instead of letting it be stolen.
Dittoing that the joke is that the item is supposed to be stolen/borrowed. “Property of the Alcatraz Swim Team” t-shirts take the joke in a different direction.
I did have the same confusion when I saw this phrase first – how would a person be “property of” something? But it’s gotta be the “stolen property” joke.
Thanks, this all makes sense. Although as a kid who played baseball, my own self being the property of the Yankees would have been the preferred message.
ETA: as in being a highly-regarded prospect or draft pick, etc.
I think it originated with academic sports. A high school’s gym outfits might genuinely be the property of the school, but you’ll still see lots of ordinary folks wearing them. Once the popularity caught on, the higher levels started selling them, too.
The internet* tells me that it originated at USC in the 1930s, shortly after t-shirts became a thing. The football coach had a bunch of them made for his players to help prevent shoulderpad chafing. They became wildly popular among students, who began stealing them, so the athletic department began putting the “property of” logo to deter theft.
Nowadays it’s really just a different type of branding, not meaning anything more than a team logo.
*grains of salt and all that