I’m taking a respite from the National Day themes for this post because there’s finally been some big news in the baseball world this week as David Ortiz was the only former player elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America–BBWWA for short which by the way, note the ridiculousness of the two B’s in the acronym–on this year’s 2022 Hall of Fame ballot.
While congratulations are in order for Ortiz, these results mean Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa have missed election for the 10th and final time and next year will be off the ballot. All four of those players deserve plaques in Cooperstown but the tribunal that comprises the BBWWA could not come to a reasonable consensus to recognize that.
The Hall of Fame candidacies of these legends now lie in the hands of the “Today’s Game Committee” which looks to honor the players who dominated the game from 1988 through 2016. Luckily that time frame encompasses the years Bonds racked up his 14 All-Star Game appearances, 8 Gold Gloves, 12 Silver Sluggers, 7 MVP awards and both batting titles.
As a San Francisco Giants fan the only snub I really care about is Bonds but the other three greats are each deserving in their own ways, which I won’t get into this time. Instead I’ll focus on my thoughts around Bonds’ omission and until he's elected, the only thing that could make me feel better is to share photos the cap the GOAT wore in his first season as a Giant.
While congratulations are in order for Ortiz, these results mean Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa have missed election for the 10th and final time and next year will be off the ballot. All four of those players deserve plaques in Cooperstown but the tribunal that comprises the BBWWA could not come to a reasonable consensus to recognize that.
The Hall of Fame candidacies of these legends now lie in the hands of the “Today’s Game Committee” which looks to honor the players who dominated the game from 1988 through 2016. Luckily that time frame encompasses the years Bonds racked up his 14 All-Star Game appearances, 8 Gold Gloves, 12 Silver Sluggers, 7 MVP awards and both batting titles.
As a San Francisco Giants fan the only snub I really care about is Bonds but the other three greats are each deserving in their own ways, which I won’t get into this time. Instead I’ll focus on my thoughts around Bonds’ omission and until he's elected, the only thing that could make me feel better is to share photos the cap the GOAT wore in his first season as a Giant.
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The serifs on this cap are what I most associate with the Giants of my childhood but the only season Bonds wore this version of the logo was upon his arrival in San Francisco in 1993 as the design that is still currently in use was introduced the following year.
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| I often rely on The Chronology of New Era Cap Tags: A Guide from Paul Carr's The Ballcap Blog to determine years in which a cap was worn. That write-up demonstrates that this combination of tags was worn from 1993-96 and there's even mention of the "Dry Clean Only" variation of the size tag as seen here from those years. |
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| The flat black and orange MLB batterman here is my favorite colorway for obvious reasons and I hope you enjoy it even 1/10 as much as I do! |
Bonds was however was charged with obstruction of justice for giving an evasive answer regarding PED usage to a grand jury in 2003. That there was no formal PED testing in place before 2003 signals the BBWWA is playing a Monday Morning Quarterback version of judge, jury and executioner. It's become apparent to me that their decision not to elect Bonds is steeped in spite.
Bonds was no media darling and you won't find a baseball writer with anything bad to say about Ortiz so this all seems like a big power play. I'm choosing my words carefully though as I've had this blog for ten years so maybe I’m finally eligible for pseudo-membership in the BBWWA? Then again as Groucho Marx once said, “I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member” so…
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
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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