Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

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New York Mets (2007 All-Star game)

I returned from my trip to Colorado just a few days ago feeling recharged after reconnecting with longtime friends and places that are deeply meaningful to me. As I mentioned in the first post of this "Homecoming Series" , Colorado was my college home in between my childhood years in Virginia and the ones when I lived in the Bay Area before I finally came to New York. The third post in this sequence is the last before the All-Star break and it connects three of the four places I have lived thus far as it is the cap worn by David Wright—who like myself, was born in DePaul Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia—when he represented the New York Mets in the 2007 All-Star game which was held in San Francisco. I am glad the Mets chose their black hat for that game because the minimal amount of blue and slight bit of orange pairs beautifully with the side patch. I've stated many times the 2007 All-Star Game hat is my favorite one ever and if this cap was my size you can be sure I would ...

Norfolk Tides (2019 Stars & Stripes)

As mentioned in last week's post, the "Homecoming Series" would be at least two parts. And because July 4 falls on a Friday this year, this week's entry takes us to my home state of Virginia to highlight the "Stars & Stripes" cap the Norfolk Tides wore during games played throughout the Independence Day weekend in 2019 . When the Tides launched their refreshed logo set designed by Brandiose following the 2015 season, I immediately picked up the home and road caps but for some reason held off on their alternate featuring a "T" in historic naval lettering. It's kind of a "if you know, you know" sort of thing as that design isn't the most widely recognized logo in minor league baseball but that's ok! The straightforward elegance of the military font is splendidly done up in the colors of Old Glory and the league patch adds even more pop to the overall look of the cap. I am a sucker for a white sweatband and a green und...

1924 University of Colorado (Ebbets Field Flannels retro)

Today's Fresh Fitted Friday post is first of at least two in a "Homecoming Series" as I am currently traveling toward my alma mater, the University of Colorado Boulder. While I usually make efforts to attend baseball games during jaunts occuring during the season, my packed schedule leaves limited chances of making it to a Colorado Rockies game this time around. I've come to terms with this actuality since this is really more of a live music journey as I'll be seeing Phish play three shows at Folsom Field. I suppose there is a sports element to this trip after all because that is where the Buffaloes play their home football games! I am fairly certain this is my first visit inside the stadium as I never went to a football game back in my college days and am unsure if I went to any other event at Folsom Field. I did however go to a few men's basketball games back then and while I really would have enjoyed attending some Buffaloes baseball games, their baseba...

1994-96 Midland Angels

We are halfway through the 2025 Major League Baseball season, and as it happens, today I attended what was most likely my last game at Yankee Stadium until after the All-Star break and am especially thankful the Mike Trout home run I witnessed did not spoil the sole win the New York Yankees could muster against the Los Angeles Angels during this four-game series. Catching an Angels game where Trout homers at the halfway point of the year is good enough pretext for me to share photos of this Midland Angels hat. While the one I posted back in 2014 was size 7 1/4 , this week's hat is actually in a size that I can wear which is a welcome change! Mike Trout was definitely mashing bombs when I last wrote about this hat but the fact that he's still at it despite his nagging injuries is something I wholly welcome. The size tags are the same as the other cap except this one is actually my size! Just too perfect that there's a red, white and blue batterman this close to the Fourt...

1983 Reno Padres (Ebbets Field Flannels x Paul Carr retro)

As this blog approaches its 14th anniversary, I cannot help but be amazed that I have been writing about baseball hats almost half as long as I have been regularly wearing them! It is hard to believe that even the caps that were brand new when I first started writing are now as old as I was when I first started collecting. Those older caps in my collection are too small and ragged to wear but I can never part with them as they represent such a big part of my past. Speaking of nostalgia and such, I recognize that I lean extra heavy into such themes in my Fresh Fitted Friday posts ahead of Father's Day when writing about San Diego Padres "Taco Bell" designs which has become a quasi-tradition. Like the 1978 Reno Silver Sox retro I featured for last year's Father's Day post, hat blog legend Paul Carr tirelessly worked with Ebbets Field Flannels to release this 1983 Reno Padres reproduction which I chose for this year's post for the holiday. A...

Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino "Mechanic"

Today's date is June 6 (aka 6/6), so the theme of this week's post is the Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino. This is my second 66ers post of the year, but the date falling on a Friday seemed like better timing than waiting until it happens again in 2031, although the next time after that would be in 2036, which would have been especially cool because six times six is 36! I am a big fan of all-cap logos featuring any type of character swinging a bat or any object resembling a bat, and this one fits the bill. I picked this cap up in 2023, so I added that year as a label on this post to help identify the years caps are from in future posts. Glancing upon the colorful MILB batterman here for the "looking back" segment of the post, I should stress how glad I am to have picked up this cap in 2023 as it is now almost impossible to find on most sites. My assumption is it's being phased out, which is a shame! In my Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino "Cherubs...