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1983 Charleston Charlies - Fresh Foam Snapback!!!!

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is unique in that it's actually of the Fresh Foam variety! This is the second ever foam pillbox cap that I've written about with the first being a Tidewater Tides snapback with nearly identical construction as this week's Charleston Charlies hat.

The Charlies were a Cleveland affiliate from 1981 through 1983 and this logo takes the block "C" logo their parent team wore from 1979-86 and adds white piping around the crown. That is a touchstone of cap styles in 1983 which was the only year this cap was worn as well as their last season in Charleston, WV.

Because this hat was only worn for one season I doubt if a fitted version was even made at the time. Also, I'm not usually a fan of the visor being the same color on both sides but this cap is very rare and sometimes you've got to take what you can get, folks! 

The Tides cap I mentioned earlier has a Twins (Enterprise Products) tag on the sweatband while this one features a 100th anniversary tag celebrating the International League centennial. I'll make an effort to look for this variance as I continue to collect these distinctive caps.

Love this card for two reasons with the first being you can clearly see the red undervisor here matches my hat. The second is I've recently learned about how Doug Simunic is one of those baseball guys that can't stay away from the game. After toughing it out in the minors from 1976 through 1984, he went on to play in the Senior Professional Baseball Association and after that mostly coached Independent ball up until 2017.

I'm assuming anyone reading this far into the post must be a regular reader who is no doubt aware that I like to have fun with themes here and occasionally those themes tie into current events so you might be wondering how I decided on this cap from Charleston, WV.

The answer is a little obtuse but the passing of Prince Philip last Friday made me think of his eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales and of course, growing up in Virginia means I'm always wondering if any regal-sounding city is named in honor of some member of English nobility.

It turns out Charleston is actually named for the father of Col. George Clendenin who is known as being the founder of what is now the capital and most populous city of West Virginia. Now that you've learned a little of the town's origin story, I've got a few caps on deck of other defunct Charleston teams so be sure to come back over the next few weeks to check them out!

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is not going on the Trading Block however please don't hesitate to reach out if you want any other cap from that list and you are willing to part with any of the hats on my Wish List.

As always, thanks for coming back to read about baseball hat geekery. I've got comments disabled here so if you'd like to discuss a trade or simply just chat about hats, please feel free to connect via the following social sites:

Instagram: @baseballmilquetoast
Twitter: @FittedFriday

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