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Showing posts from 2018

Leigh Valley IronPigs and Toledo Mud Hens: Bacon and Eggs

Well folks, it's the last Fresh Fitted Friday of 2018 so I want to thank everyone for checking in with the blog throughout the year and whether you're on a weekly/monthly/bi-yearly or whatever reading schedule, keep doing it because it feels good knowing that people out there are interested in picking up what I'm laying down. As much as I'd love to end the year with a big bang for Fresh Fitted Friday— that's exactly what I'm going to! While this week's hat isn't vintage or rare, this Leigh Valley IronPigs X Toledo Mud Hens "Bacon and Eggs" collaboration cap is one of my favorite MILB logos because to me it screams teamwork. After all, is there a greater example of synergy than the simple dish of bacon and eggs?  The "Bacon and Eggs" series has been a yearly staple since 2015 however only the IronPigs refer to it as such while the Mud Hens call it the "Eggs and Bacon" series. The former sounds better to me becaus

2002 Toledo Mud Hens

The International League festivities continue this week with a cap from a team whose city has a history of hosting professional baseball that goes as far back as the origin of the league itself which was founded in 1884 while a year earlier, the Toledo Blue Stockings was an inaugural member of the Northwestern League which was all teams from the midwest.  They later became the Toledo Mud Hens in 1902 when they joined the American Association, which was an independent league that later jumped up to Double-A in 1912. The team then got another promotion when  the American Association became a Triple-A league in 1946 and stayed at that level when they joined the International League in 1965. To me this cap is synonymous with my appreciation of the International League as it was the cap the Mud Hens wore when I started going to games almost 30 years ago. The fact that the team still wears this cap is a testament to its longevity. The satin taping is typical of caps from

Pre-1992 Rochester Red Wings

I'm glad to be getting back into a regular groove of posting and hopefully you are enjoying the posts, too! I also hope that you won't mind that this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is actually a snapback! Truth be told, you can't even be mad at this one because the material on the crown is Fresh Mesh plus it's yet another Rochester Red Wings cap! The details surrounding the years this cap might have been worn are fuzzy —as is the embroidery on the top right portion of the cap logo—seeing as how I can't seem to find an exact match for the logo via my usual resources.  The solo sweatband tag on here tells me that this cap definitely has some age on it and it actually reminds me of my 1992 Tidewater Tides cap that once belonged to Kevin Baez. Speaking of Kevin Baez... Baez played the 1994 season in Rochester. He's seen here wearing the cap logo used from 1992 through that season however I believe the red brim was only wor

Rochester Red Wings Road Cap

I thought about writing about another Buffalo Bisons hat this week but I don't think that will do much to alleviate my sadness regarding New Era closing its Derby plant. Instead I think I should focus on another legendary International League team from Western New York like the Rochester Red Wings. As I've mentioned before, my hometown team growing up was the Norfolk Tides and I got to see a lot of games against the Red Wings who were affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles during those years. Something interesting I just found out about Rochester is that the "Flour City" has been a charter member of the league since its earliest incarnation in 1886! Like all minor league teams in the late 19th century, the first Rochester squads were all independent clubs however another thing I learned recently is that moniker is likely derived from the fact that their first major league affiliation which was with the St. Louis Cardinals which lasted from 1929 through 1960 and exp

2013-2018 Buffalo Bisons

I hope y'all don't mind that I took last week off but I was worn out from Turkey Day and that's too bad because I had a Part II edition of the previous week's  Fresh Fitted Friday by featuring the current Buffalo Bisons cap. What sparked the two-part series is news of New Era Cap closing their manufacturing plant in Derby, New York. Over the past few years New Era has shifted a good chunk of its production overseas making it increasingly difficult to find US-made caps. I would imagine that in a few years those hats are going to come at a premium on the secondary market similar to the 100% wool/grey-bottom craze that began after New Era switched to the 100% polyester/black-underbrim build in 2007. So what's the correct course of action here for a cap addict? Do I lie down and die because there's nothing I can do? Do I take a seam-ripper to the New Era logo on my hats? Do I stop buying New Era hats completely and just stick to Ideal Cap Co. and Ebbets Field

1993-1997 Buffalo Bisons

Fall doesn't officially end for another month but we had our first snow in New York yesterday so I've decided to put myself in a winter mindset starting now. Another wintry experience I had this week was attending the Buffalo Bills-New York Jets game at MetLife Stadium and in the eight years that I've lived in New York, i t was my first time seeing a game there  which isn't surprising as I'm not much of a football fan. Even though I'm not that big into football, I've always made it a point to half-heartedly adopt a team from any city in which I've resided.  I latched onto the Denver Broncos when  I was at the University of Colorado and in the following years when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I took to the 49ers but when I moved to New York in 2010, I just couldn't decide between the Jets and the Giants. There wasn't anything about either one that attracted or repelled me in any way so I decided to expand my definition of a "loc

2002 West Michigan Whitecaps

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a  West Michigan Whitecaps hat because the state of Michigan made some waves (I'm so, so sorry for this terrible pun) this week as they became the 10th state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana. This is no doubt going to do wonders in continuing to grow their economy and decrease overcrowding in prisons, which to be fair has dropped some in recent years. It's now dawning on me that I've never been to Michigan but I have some friends in Kalamazoo that I can visit and Bells Brewery is also located there so I think I might need to make the trip at some point. I should try to check out a Whitecaps game and maybe the Great Lakes Loons or Lansing Lugnuts too. The Whitecaps stuck with this logo from their inaugural season in 1994 through 2002 which is a really long time considering this logo is nondescript when compared to the zany logo trend that many teams jumped on during that time.  T he satin taping

1994-1996 Trenton Thunder

As difficult as it was for me to be a Boston Red Sox fan for almost an entire week as they faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, it's all over now. I was happy to watch the Dodgers be eliminated at home for the second year in a row but... That's it. I was happy to watch the Dodger be eliminated at home for the second year in a row.  Ok but now it's time to reassess my priorities and the first thing I'll do is sulk about the fact that there are no baseball games to watch. At some point in mid-February I'd sell my soul to watch an impossibly tortuous game where the Dodgers play the Dodgers or something silly like that so someone please remind me not to make this deal! Thankfully, I know that soon enough the 2019 season will be here and I'll be going to lots of games at CitiField and Yankee Stadium so— Wait a second. How am I going to go to Yankee Stadium after I've actively rooted for the Red Sox in the World Series? I guess my saving

Colorado Springs SkySox

I'm not regaining your trust am I? See, I know I was absent last Friday but I really did have something come up that prevented me from posting: my pride. I had a great one written congratulating the Milwaukee Brewers on their unexpectedly great playing in the NLCS but suddenly got cold feet as it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers had it locked down when they went 3-2 after their Game 5 win. I know the Brewers had a chance to come back and win the series but I just wasn't feeling it by the time it was time to publish so instead of starting over with a sad post, I caved. At any rate, it looks like the Red Sox are about to make quick work of the Dodgers in the World Series so my spirits are up again! To celebrate that, this week's cap involves the Brewers as well as the two teams that they faced in the postseason: the Colorado Rockies and the Dodgers. From 2015 through 2018, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox were affiliated with the Brewers but from 1993 through 2014 they w