In my Milwaukee Brewers City Connect "Grill" cap post from this past summer, I provided tiers of where each team's City Connect kits ranked in my opinion and while the hat was not the on-field design the Brewers wore for their City Connect games, that exclusive design from Hat Club was my preferred choice between the two.
I mentioned then I had gotten some actual City Connect on-field caps and the Tampa Bay Rays cap has the honor of being the first to be posted here, although sadly my driving force in choosing it for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post was the passing of my Uncle Bobby in Tampa. He was instrumental in getting me to appreciate baseball in my early years and you will never forget the person who taught you how to throw a fastball.
I never got a chance to see a Rays game with him but I will be wearing this City Connect hat in tribute whenever I make my first trip to their new ballpark which is slated to open in 2026. I brought up both Juan Soto and the Rays in my Albany-Colonie Yankees post a few weeks back and while it has a snowball's chance in hell of happening, Tampa has been added to the list of Soto's offseason suitors. Ok, enough with the wild fantasies, on with the show!
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| I grew up right off the Chesapeake Bay so any hat with imagery of a bridge over a body of water is a winner, especially if it is all contained within the shape of a devil ray! |
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| The gradient around the sweatband is a beautiful touch as as is the undervisor which is meant to resemble grip tape in a nod to skate culture in Tampa Bay. |
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| I have to admit when when I first read about the grip tape inspiration, before thinking of skateboarding I thought it was in reference to skate fish which are often conflated with devil rays so I suppose this cap gets even more bonus points because of the play on words! |
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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