Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Unless something changes between now and next week, the last cap in this recent tour throughout the California league is going to be this San Jose Giants cap which features a patch commemorating San Jose hosting the 2013 California League All-Star Game. Side-patch mania is at another one of its peaks with cap collectors currently and while I'm not personally seeking out these newfangled releases, my thing will always be vintage caps of Giants affiliates that feature truly special patches such as this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  selection. This patch ranks right after the 2007 MLB All-Star Game patch as far as I'm concerned. I love the Giants wordmark logo featured prominently on top of what looks like the In-N-Out logo and bonus points for the text specifying that the exhibition game was played between the Carolina League and California League. I'm only just now popping tags on this one so forgive me for the sticker shock here but wow... a Made In China cap retail...

I've enjoyed welcoming the first signs of Fall here in New York lately as the days get shorter and the air becomes increasingly more brisk however it's important to think of our friends on the West Coast who receive no quarter as wildfires continue to rage across those states.  Natural disasters are a possibility no matter where you live but in the five years I spent in the Bay Area, my greatest fear—besides my irrational phobia of getting eaten alive by a shark— was being helpless in the middle of a major earthquake/fire type scenario.  I'm overcome with sadness for those affected by these current happenings, especially since  I never experienced any of those things firsthand. In truth, I have a hard time even thinking about those situations so it goes without saying I'm not going to be rewatching Jaws or sitting through any sort of disaster movie sometime soon.  Hats are a different story with me for some reason!  I've had my eye on a certain (not telling...

I'm getting close to putting down the landing gear on this six-month long  Viaje  (Spanish for "Road Trip")  of west coast MILB teams and there is not a better California League cap to bring it on home on than the Lake Elsinore home cap, which the team has worn consistently since 1999. This is one of the most popular logos in all of minor league baseball, but I'm personally not as into it. The eyes remind me of those "No Fear" shirts from the early 1990s which are only fondly remembered by those who enjoyed wearing toxic masculinity on a t-shirt back then. I'm unable to pin down a year for this cap because it was acquired secondhand a few years ago through a bulk purchase that I occasionally refer to as the Great eBay Haul, or just the eBay Haul if I'm feeling modest. Also, the team has worn this logo since the beginning of time. The price sticker on this "low-profile" style cap reads $28 so it would seem whoever owned this cap before me...

This week's Stockton Ports hat is similar to last week's High Desert Mavericks cap in that they are both California League caps that I was completely certain I had already featured but alas, had not. I  wish I had a cool backstory here but to be completely honest, I don't even remember when I purchased it.  I tried digging through my emails for a confirmation for more details and the closest I got was one from 2015 for a purchase for "STO NE AU ROAD 5950 CAP RYL/SCARLET-HAT" which isn't too descriptive but  "STO" seems to be an appropriate abbreviation for "Stockton" and  the colorway listed checks out for the  Ports "road" cap. The Ports road cap is my favorite of all the versions they currently wear. I love the anchor's hook piercing the baseball and the colorway surrounding the "P" reminds me of the Peninsula Pilots , which, as I've mentioned before is one of my all-time favorite cap logos. Made in U.S.A. qua...