I’ll be back on my usual "National Day" celebrations for the next few posts and my focus this week is this 1973 Portland Mavericks retro from Ebbets Field Flannels in recognition of National Wear Red Day, which is an annual campaign started by the American Heart Association to spread awareness about heart disease in women.
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| I first learned about the Portland Mavericks in a 2014 documentary on Netflix called The Battered Bastards of Baseball. I highly recommend checking out the wild story of this historic ragtag bunch of misfits that played as an unaffiliated team in the Class A Northwest League from 1973-77. |
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| The stiff and low profile wool crown on some of the Ebbets retros for 1970s and 1980s designs are top notch for me. Even though the black sweatband might not be historically accurate, not seeing sweat stains makes the cap feel fresher overall. |
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| I realize this isn't an all red cap but the color is featured on the front panels enough to work well for National Wear Red Day. Besides, the pinwheel look is great and I think we're still more than a few years away from seeing lots of folks out there wearing all red caps again. |
Ebbets recently had their annual clearance sale to make room for new stock and for that I'm thankful as I have a good feeling about the batches coming out this year. Recent releases have been heavy on collegiate logos and various twill caps so I hope they can take a break from those and get back to releasing unique minor league caps with embroidered logos.
I get the appeal of a classic looking caps with a felt letter in a simple font but the flat embroidery on caps like this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection just hit so much nicer in my opinion. In fact, if you go back and look at all the Ebbets hats I've featured, you can clearly tell my preference is embroidered because only two of those caps feature felt logos!
The holidays that I showcase on here are usually more of the "fun" variety but spreading awareness about heart health is a key factor in staying alive enough to live a long life and living is fun so there you go! Take care of that ticker, y'all.
One last to mention is if you're in the market for a Portland Mavericks hat and can't find the Ebbets retro, check the merch shop of the Maverick's latest incarnation. The team plays in the aptly-named Mavericks League, which is a brand new independent league in the Pacific Northwest. The logo on the current team's cap is a fine callback to its original namesake.
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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