MAJESTIC HITS A HOMER

Late one Saturday night last February, Faust Capobianco IV learned the biggest baseball trade in years was about to go down: the Texas Rangers were sending Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez, the league's highest-paid player, to the New York Yankees. This was big news for any baseball fan, but Capobianco had a particular interest in the details.

Capobianco's the president of Majestic Athletic, a sports-apparel company in eastern Pennsylvania. If he moved too soon, he might get incorrect information--like what number A-Rod would be wearing--and assemble the wrong shirts for retailers. If he moved too slowly, he'd miss out on fan interest. "There's a window of opportunity when teams or players are hot," says Melissa Gelfand, spokeswoman for Sports Authority, one of Majestic's biggest customers.

Capobianco knew he had just a couple days--including a Sunday and a holiday--to get thousands of A-Rod replica jerseys to retailers. He had to get through to baseball officials and he had to see which workers he could get to come in on a holiday. It all worked out (unless you're a Boston Red Sox fan). When the Yankees held a press conference to introduce their newest member, Majestic had already begun delivering hand-sewn Yankees jerseys with A-Rod's name and new number (13). Stores were thrilled.

It's an approach Major League Baseball itself has come to rely on. When the contracts to outfit seven teams came up in 2001, MLB gave Majestic Athletic the exclusive rights to make their on-field uniforms. Critics said baseball was crazy to choose a small, family-run company instead of an athletic-apparel behemoth. "The teams told me, 'We love them, but are you sure they'll be able handle this?' " recalls Howard Smith, MLB's senior vice president of licensing. But the clubs wound up getting their uniforms earlier than expected. "Twenty-three other clubs were asking, 'Why can't we have Majestic?' "

Next year they will. For the sake of uniformity, MLB decided it now wants only one manufacturer to produce all on-field attire. Majestic beat out bigger firms like Adidas, Russell and Rawlings to win the exclusive five-year contract--estimated at $500 million--to outfit all the players, as well as to make uniform replicas. Majestic Athletic not only stepped up financially, says Smith, but also in quality and service.

The Capobianco family hasn't always been into baseball. When Mary and Faust Capobianco II started manufacturing apparel in the 1950s, they focused on womenswear. But as other textile producers migrated overseas in the 1970s, their son decided to shift to sports apparel and team uniforms. Faust Capobianco III, now 64, founded Majestic Athletic in 1976 and remains the company's chairman. His daughter Nicole, 30, is vice president of team services. The 32-year-old Faust Capobianco IV, a sports enthusiast who grew up with the Philadelphia Phillies, became president in July 2001.

The company now does roughly $150 million in sales a year (and that's before it was awarded the big MLB contract), according to analysts. It also makes clothing for the NHL, NFL and NBA, plus dozens of college teams. But it's still dwarfed by such apparel makers as Nike, which reported revenues for the last quarter alone of $3.5 billion.

Majestic distinguishes itself with what insiders say is the quickest turnaround time in the baseball-apparel business, as well as an efficient domestic operation. "Competitors that are almost solely reliant on overseas manufacturing find it harder to react to unexpected opportunities," says Capobianco IV. He points out that a new jersey--whether it's custom-made for a consumer (ordered off the Web) or one that will actually be worn by a player--can be designed, produced and shipped from the same place when the order is received. "Being able to turn on a dime as the news happens is critical," says Marshal Cohen, who tracks fashion for NPD Group, a market-research firm. After all, you never know when the next A-Rod is going to be traded.