I clung to a faint hope that posting a Buffalo-exclusive from New Era’s flagship in last week's post ahead of the AFC Championship game might bring good luck to the Buffalo Bills against the Kansas City Chiefs. Unfortunately, my celebratory run of sharing Buffalo-related caps will have to wait for another time.
And just like this year’s remaining unsigned MLB free agents who are frustrated with their previous and prospective teams alike, I had to find an alternative route for this week’s post. The main difference between me and players like Pete Alonso or Alex Bregman is that I don’t anticipate receiving a lucrative contract between now and the start of Spring Training.
Nevertheless, that mere fact won’t deter me from daydreaming about the sun-soaked games that are about to unfold in Arizona and Florida in particular as I’ve chosen to focus on the Kissimmee Cobras for this week’s post. In addition to celebrating the “Year of the Snake” during the current Lunar New Year, February 1st also holds significance as National Serpent Day.
Before they rebranded as the Cobras in 1995, the Osceola Astros were the Class A Advanced farm team of the Houston Astros in the Florida State League since 1985 which was the first year their ballpark served as the Spring Training home for their parent club.
While the Cobras relationship with Houston ended following the 2000 season, Osceola County Ballpark continued to serve as the big league team's Spring Training home through 2016, which happened to be the year Alex Bregman made his major league debut with the Astros.
This week's news of Jorge Polanco reuniting with the Seattle Mariners after discussions with the Astros is all the indication I need that Houston is ready to commit to Bregman. If this is the case, Bregman can focus on readying himself for Spring Training for which Astros pitchers and catchers will begin reporting in just two weeks. And I will still not be a millionaire so all is well.
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| I created the Favorites tag in 2023 for caps with designs that speak to me on a deeper level and I will certaiinly apply it to this cap because this logo appeared at a time which I consider to be the golden era of MILB logos. |
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| I am glad that for the United States turn of the holiday that I can share a Made in U.S.A. retro with you good folks! |
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| Not many teams can pull off the green in their logo but if your team is the Cobras you at least get a crack at it. Plus this tealish hue hits the right 1990s notes. |
Looking back through the archives, I see that I last posted a vintage version of this cap for World Snake Day on July 16, 2016. Both that cap and this week's were Made in U.S.A. and I sincerely hope that production of New Era caps can recommence in America at some point soon because I miss the quality of these caps.
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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