The big news in baseball this week was Pete Rose's posthumous removal from Major League Baseball's permanent ineligibility list and while I was just a neophyte fan of the game in 1989 when this lifetime ban was instated on MLB's all-time hits leader, I remember how that ruling left a dark cloud over the game that would not soon be forgotten.
Sadly thing things would only get worse a few years later when MLB players went on strike in late summer of 1994. This coincided with a time in my life when my "normal teenager interests" prevailed so my enthusiasm for baseball had waned considerably by the time the following year's strike-shortened season began on April 25, 1995.
Time is perceived differently in your younger years. Pete Rose had become a distant memory while the four monster seasons Frank Thomas previously had were recent enough for me to half-heartedly welcome baseball back despite other factors beginning to take more precedent in my life. The Big Hurt was still laying pain onto baseballs and Barry Bonds was also making lots of noise with his bat in San Francisco.
I was fully hooked again in college and the severity progressively got to where it factored into where I was going to live after graduating. Chicago had been on my mind because of Thomas and the excitement of the Giants seasons in the early 2000s had me seriously considering the Bay Area which is where I ultimately moved in May 2005.
By that time steroid allegations had cast new shadow on baseball but I no longer concerned myself with what others considered to be right or wrong. Baseball was there to entertain me and I appreciated the distraction it provided from other aspects of my life as an adult.
The only bad part of this realization was the timing of Bonds spending most of 2005 on the disabled list and only played in two series at home that I could have potentially seen that year. I'm not sure if I was at either but I do remember the excitement of living in the same place he was chasing MLB’s all-time home run record. I was beguiled and my relationship with baseball was firmly more transactional than emotional but when Bonds broke that record in 2007, i felt that excitement.
Now living in New York, I will go to a Mets game with the same enthusiasm as I would if I were seeing the Yankees because all I care about is having fun at the ballpark. And all these years after Bonds delighted us, the Hall of Fame voters have decided he's locked out, at least as long as he is living which is the lesson we might learn if Rose is ever to be voted in.
Right now I'm so beyond caring if baseball's exclusive club will ever do what I want but I know it would be peachy if Rose and Bonds were to be inducted into Cooperstown! And speaking of peaches, I happened to spend this past Mother's Day holiday in my wife's home state of Georgia but as it happened both the Braves and Gwinnett Stripers were on the road so I didn't catch a game this time.
The Columbus Clingstones were at home but that long drive was infeasible. While featuring their hat this week would have been the perfectly peachiest tie-in to Frank Thomas as he was born in Columbus, a 1967 Macon Peaches retro aptly pays tribute to the hit king’s minor league legacy as Pete Rose played for the team in 1962.
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| The Macon Peaches were an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1967 but that obviously did not urge the team to switch up their color scheme which makes sense in the end because that partnership only lasted that season. |
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| I often make it a point to call-out my preference for embroidered logos on my Ebbets Field Flannels caps but the stitching on these felt logos is well done so no issues here! |
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| I've got a whole collection of those hang tags that I like to use as bookmarks! If Ebbets ever decides to release caps like these again I might purchase some but they'll also have to lower their prices down from $68 which is what they are currently selling for. |
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:
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Twitter: @FittedFriday
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