Today is the first Friday in August and that means beer lovers worldwide celebrate International Beer Day. This is not to be confused with National Beer Day which is a separate holiday I honored here once before on its occurrence in 2023 with a 2011-18 Helena Brewers cap in paying tribute to Miller Brewing Corporation. For this one the focus is on a St. Louis Cardinals cap and Anheuser-Busch who are the titans of beer in the Gateway to the West.
For reference, the US holiday commemorates Franklin D. Roosevelt signing a law allowing Americans to brew and sell beer, and thus creating a path toward the creation of Amendment Twenty-one to the Constitution which would undo the prohibition laws that had been in place since 1917. By contrast, the holiday we are celebrating today was arbitrarily created in 2007 with the following intentions according to internationalbeerday.com:
- To gather with friends and enjoy the deliciousness that is beer.
- To celebrate the dedicated men and women who brew and serve our beer.
- To bring the world together by celebrating the beers of all nations and cultures on this one remarkable day.
Of course Budweiser is not likely to be the favorite brew of many beer connoisseurs however we can all agree lagers are difficult to produce especially ones as light as the different variations within the Anheuser-Busch portfolio. My main reason for highlighting this cap is that I made my first ever trip to Busch stadium earlier in the week as the Texas Rangers visited the St. Louis Cardinals in what was a essentially a rematch of the 2011 World Series.
As a San Francisco Giants fan, I appreciated seeing Brandon Crawford in his first year with his new team in St. Louis after having served as shortstop for my team ever since 2011 as well as having Bruce Bochy in the opposing dugout in his second year managing the Rangers. As this was the only inter-league series between the two clubs, I am sure they had lots to talk about ahead of the matchup such as why I was wearing a Cardinals hat to a ballgame!
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| After the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team I loathe the most is the Cardinals as their 11 World Series titles surpasses the 8 held by the Giants. Their fan base is less antagonistic toward my team than Dodgers fans and this is a sweet logo so I had little problem wearing this cap to their ballpark just this one time. |
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| I picked this cap up back when I first moved to New York in 2010 and hunting for "grey bottoms" was like a second job for me. Looking at these now, the New Era and size tags resemble black and white versions of their blue box counterparts which were featured on caps in 2005 and 2006 so I am guessing this cap was produced around that time. Another difference on this "Made In China" cap is the "Genuine Merchandise" tag rather than the "Made In USA" on-field caps' "Authentic Collection" tag. |
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| Navy blue, white and red on the flat batterman makes my heart sing as does seeing the white sweatband popping through in between the crown and grey undervisor! |
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. 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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