Ask anyone this side of the Hudson and they’ll tell you where the “New York” Giants and Jets actually play—East Rutherford, of course. And there’s one store with merch that honors MetLife Stadium properly. Mike Spitz, or Mr. Throwback as he’s known to his 175,000 Instagram followers, expertly digs through the racks of his cozy 700-square-foot East Village shop to find the exact vintage sweatshirt he has in mind.
“Oh, here it is. Boom. Oh, my God. ‘Play it in New Jersey,’” Spitz says, reading the shirt aloud and pointing out Giants players from the ‘80s—Carl Banks, Phil Simms, Mark Bavaro and O.J. Anderson—pictured on it. “Now that is a winner. Yeah, that’s crazy. Somebody’s got to scoop that up.”
The $150 shirt, which not only features the state’s name in all-caps but the shape of New Jersey surrounded by the words “real home of the pros,” is just one of the many authentic retro treasures Spitz is known for sourcing. Another find Jersey fans will appreciate? A Devils sweater from 1982—also costing $150—featuring the original red and green colorway, just waiting for someone’s next Christmas party.
While his store is on East 9th Street in New York City and he hails from Bellmore, Long Island, Spitz is now a proud Fair Lawn resident with deep Jersey roots.
“I married a Jersey girl in 2014, and I met Alyssa in 2010. So, technically, I’ve been a Jersey boy for 16 years,” Spitz says. “I mean, my dad grew up in Jersey, my aunt, and now I live in that current town. So I’ve been a Jersey boy, I guess, technically, my whole life.”
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New Jerseyans are proud to claim him. He gets recognized everywhere from school dropoff to the Garden State Plaza mall to the town’s Memorial Pool.
“There was one (guy), I met him at the bagel place. ‘You Mr. Throwback?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Oh, come look in my car,’ and he had these folders from the NBA from the ‘90s. He’s like, ‘Take them, put them in your store, and try to sell them,’” he says, adding with a chuckle: “I’m like a Z-list celebrity. I love it.”
This summer was inarguably all about the Knicks. And, oh, how Mr. Throwback capitalized on it.
“Our Super Bowl,” social media manager Jay Garcia shouts from behind the register.
“We literally sold out of every vintage piece and that’s why we had to make the bootlegs because that’s the only thing we could get,” Spitz shares, referring to the viral (and now sold-out) Mr. Throwback Knicks gear that had a cult-like following during the playoffs and finals—T-shirts with prints like “Alien vs. Brunson,” pencil sketches of Knicks logos through the years, and a picture of the Knicks starting five in a movie-poster-like design, to name a few. They went for $60-$80 each.
“We had the most traffic we’ve ever had in 14 years. We had lines. I mean, at one point there were probably 50 or 60 people just rolling (down the block). Jay was here in the front, just typing. He was like, sold, sold, sold. I’m in the back, like, small, medium, large,” he says, miming his arms quickly throwing out shirts to eager fans.
He estimates he sold about 200 T-shirts a day throughout the finals series when the Knicks faced the Spurs.
“It was crazy. It was like printing money. Every night I was at the printer until 4 in the morning. I went to bed at 6 am. I woke up at 8 with my son and went to school, and then we came here, and we were just cranking. And it was unreal.”
Think of a Knicks fan, and they’ve probably shopped at Mr. Throwback, including big stars like Spike Lee, Timothee Chalamet, Jersey’s own Nick Jonas … and even Knicks players themselves.
“Tyler Kolek came in the night before the parade, and I met with him the morning of at 7:45, and I brought him a T-shirt. The T-shirt that I have was from 1993 and it said ‘Knicks World Championship,’ but the Knicks never won in ‘93. They lost to the Bulls. They didn’t even make the championship, but he wore that.”
Spitz is gearing up for football season now. If you’re tailgating at MetLife, be sure to look for Mr. Throwback doing his infamous “off the back” negotiations where he buys jerseys, hats, shirts, jackets, and more straight off the people wearing them. While talking about his “favorite thing,” he realizes he could offer them something to wear afterward.
“Jay, we need a T-shirt cannon. For ‘off the back,’ Giants and Jets. And then we’ll give them a shirt that says, ‘I’ve been off the back by Mr. Throwback.’ It’s a cool idea.”
