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Showing posts from 2011

1993 Texas Rangers New Era Cap

While rainfall in Arlington has postponed tonight's Game 2 ALCS matchup of the Tigers and Rangers, the skies are clear here in New York City. If the Yankees had beat the Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS, the Rangers would have been in town for this game of the series. As it turns out, New York will not taste this particular flavor of the postseason and I'm still a little bitter over Texas beating them in this very round of the playoffs last year. It was annoying to see so many Rangers caps around town after they clinched the American League championship especially because they were facing the Giants, who were my hometown team for all those years I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was hoping to see the Giants play the Yankees in the World Series, but I'm happy that my beloved Giants won it all nonetheless. When I saw this Rangers cap was up for sale as a "Buy It Now" option on eBay for next to nothing, I couldn't resist the classic logo design. It's unfor

1993 Brewers and Tigers New Era Caps (Green Underbrim)

Now that the postseason is at the League Championship Series (LCS) point I'm starting to feel a bit nostalgic for baseball seasons of the past. What greatly excites me is that the Diamondbacks didn't make it past the first round. Any division rival that gives my Giants a hard time will definitely not receive any support from me during the playoffs. By the time the season officially ended I had already begun cheering for the Brewers, if only because the Cardinals lead all National League teams with 10 World Series championships. While the Giants can boast of 6 World Championships, the Brewers have won none. Before the Brewers switched to the National League in 1997, they had earned one sole trip to the World Series, in 1982, where they lost to the Cardinals. I'm fairly certain the Brew Crew will make it to the World Series this year and I hope they face off against one of their former American League East rivals, the Detroit Tigers. I think it would be a fun match-up, and on

1996-1999 New Era Caps Screengrabs

The timeline here shows some of the subtle changes to the inside tags of New Era caps from the mid to late-1990's. Starting with 1996, this particular tag scheme is what I remember most about the caps that I owned from the period. From the tried-and-true "Authentic Diamond Collection" tag to the iconic and simplistic "size tag," everything about these caps screams "official." The caps from that year feature the last appearance of the psychedelic script-style New Era middle tag. The New Era tag in the center with the black and white "5950" logo is the first thing you see when inspecting the cap and the one thing you'll certainly notice is the plain black satin taping on the inside of the cap. Of all the iterations of the taping, this one is my favorite in it's seeming lack of design. This would also be the last year that the familiar "size tag" would appear in simple red, white and blue which is a shame because that tag woul

1992 New York Yankees Cap with Green Under Brim

This cap is boss because it offers a glimpse into the small changes that MLB caps go through from year to year. The Yankees were the last team to hang onto the green underbrim style for their on-field caps before switching to the grey brims in 1994. Because this cap's style is so timeless, collectors such as myself will scour the earth for vintage caps with the elusive green underbrim. There is something so official-seeming about this cap; all others pale in comparison. These next two photos are from a post entitled 1983-1993 SF Giants Cap 4 (1991) and what I'd like to note here is that the "Authentic Diamond Collection" tags are exactly alike but that is where the similarities end. The "New Era" tags closely resemble each other but I have to deduce that the one on the Yankees cap is more recent because of the updated style of the size tag. These next two photos are from a previous post entitled 1983-1993 SF Giant

1999-2001 Trenton Thunder Cap- Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

Update: Apparently I wasn't very talkative when I published this post. I probably just didn't know much about what year this cap was from and just wanted to get these photos out. I did some light digging into Trenton Thunder Google image wormhole and the earliest card I could find of a player wearing the cap with a New Era flag is Morgan Burkhart from 2000 .  I guess I maybe thought it was a good idea to take a photo with that annoying flash because it would complement the Thunder emitting from the mouths of this dual-headed beast?   This satin taping is reminiscent of the style seen on caps from 1999-2001 so I think it would be fair to guess that this cap is from 2000. The sweatband tags are similar to the 1999-2001 style, and although I have seen a lot of MLB World Series caps with the maroon and blue box style size tags, I see that less frequently on minor league caps from those years. Behold the green and gold! Too bad it's just too bright for you to a

2008 MLB All-Star Game Caps

I've lived in New York City since April of 2010 and one statement that I frequently hear from New Yorkers when the "Mid-Summer Classic" is brought up in conversation is "I don't care about the All-Star Game," and it baffles me every time. I suppose no one has much to be happy about when it's 90+ degrees in New York City but I've always thought fondly of the All-Star Game no matter what city I call home. It's a defining moment as the pennant race really intensifies at the half-way marker in the season. As for the festivities, I always enjoy watching the camaraderie among the players from rival teams within the leagues especially during the Home-Run Derby, although I do admit these events can place unnecessary strain on the players involved. Perhaps one should consider the notion that New Yorkers have a reputation for having a more traditional and serious outlook on baseball and it may be that they view the All-Star Game as a distraction from th

2009 New York Yankees Ballcap - Inaugural and World Series

The 2009 New York Yankees ball cap is a special one for me because it not only marks the inaugural year of Yankee Stadium but it also reminds me of my last baseball season in California before I made New York City my new hometown. I had never owned a Yankees cap before I purchased a 2009 World Series cap. However, while the World Series patch was accurate, the logo on the rear of the cap was not the inaugural patch, but rather the grey and white MLB batter-man logo from 2010. I didn't realize that the cap I had obtained was not a correct game-worn representation until I revisited some video footage and saw that the inaugural patch was so prominent. This probably means that New Era wanted to produce more World Series caps but ran out of inaugural patch caps and used the following season's caps, which is a Bush League maneuver if you ask me! One thing that I notice about the caps with the inaugural patch is that they fit looser than the caps with the traditional MLB embroide

2010 Jay-Z The Blueprint 3/Yankees Collaboration New Era Cap

I'm not going to lie; I didn't attend the Jay-Z/Eminem shows at Yankee Stadium September 13 & 14, 2010 but I did get my hands on the special commemorative cap designed (hopefully, at least in part) by Hov. The cap is the standard black-on-black cap with the addition of a special additional "All Black Everything" embroidery on the rear of the cap and on the wearer's right side, three embroidered red stripes echoing the album cover art of Jay-Z's 2009 album, The Blueprint, Pt. 3. Personally, I'm a fan of Eminem and Jay-Z's music but I don't make it a habit to dress like a "G. Money All-Star" so this cap is one that I probably won't wear to a Yankees game, nor is it one that I'd wear out and about in New York City. It's a heavily sought-after limited edition release, making it a cap that could get you mugged in some neighborhoods, however it is a solid reminder of my first year in New York and I'm glad that it found its w