It has been a busy couple of weeks for me here but thankfully this time away has brought me back feeling recharged and excited to tell you good folks about this Tampa Bay Devil Rays hat that I have selected for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post in honor of today being National Citrus Day.
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| The only other Devil Rays post I've ever done was the black brim variant of this cap but I just absolutely love the way the gradient pops even more with the purple brim here. |
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| The photo above shows sweatband tags are of the pre-1997 variety. |
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| This cap scores major nostalgia points for having the old school Diamond Collection tag attached. |
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| Extra major nostalgia points for the tag from The Sports Authority. I have some high-quality childhood memories of my mom taking me there so I could fawn over caps like this one! |
I mentioned earlier that this post was only my second time writing about the Devil Rays which is a number that seems low until you consider there are some major league teams that I have never written about. I cannot rattle them all off but I know for sure the Toronto Blue Jays are on that list however I have least written about some of their minor league teams.
The same cannot be said about the Devil Rays although I do plan on getting a Vero Beach Rays retro someday. Unfortunately, my Dodgers aversion prohibits me from Vero Beach Dodgers caps which is unfortunate because that logo is really sweet and it features citrus on it which would have been perfect for this week's post!
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| As consolation for having to suffer through me being a bondservant to my silly arbitrary and self-imposed rule, I present this image of young Mike Piazza wearing the famed Vero Beach Dodgers cap. |
Only time will tell how long my Vero Beach Dodgers embargo lasts but I do plan on eventualy picking up a St. Petersberg Rays hat with the cool gradient seen on this week's cap. I mostly just want the St. Pete hat for troll purposes considering their their home field at Al Lang Stadium was less than 2 miles from Tropicana Field where their parent team played to dismal crowds.
That affiliation only lasted a few years but there are grumblings in Tampa Bay that St. Pete should figure into the name if they fund a new ballpark. It seems as though they are taking a cue from the Marlins who had swap out "Florida" for "Miami" when their downtown ballpark opened. All I can say is that I am so thrilled the San Francisco Giants never moved to Tampa!
And as a current New Yorker, I am constantly amused that both "New York" football teams actually play in New Jersey and that those teams will build a shared stadium in the middle of the Hudson River before changing their names. I will say though, "Jersey Jets" has a nice ring to it and for that matter "Garden State Giants" sounds pretty good too.
I do love this cap though so unfortunately, 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:
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