Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

It was hard for me not to have a proper Southern League hat for last week's Fresh Fitted Friday, so I'm fully energized this week to be able to share this 1999 Knoxville Smokies hat with you this time around. I have to admit when this logo came out in 1993, I didn't think anything was special about it besides the fact that bonafide prospects like Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green wore the cap that season. My best guess is that this cap is from 1999 as that is the year that the New Era flag began appearing on the side of MILB caps as well as the fact that the white taping and sweatband tags are identical to this 1 999 Capital City Bombers cap . Here's a flipped-up view where if you zoom in you'll see the modernized, yet tonal, New Era branding on the adjustable snap itself. Even though this is a snapback, I feel fortunate to have snagged this cap as it's not one that seems to come around as often as one would think. Another reason my guess is that th...

I'd love to continue celebrating the Southern League, but it seems that after writing about five of the ten current teams, I've run out of caps to write about! Because of this, I've decided to share some images of a more recent—but still vintage—Birmingham Barons cap than the 1993-94 Barons cap that I wrote about almost two years ago. The Barons have sported an Old English "B" as their cap logo in every image I can find going back to 1981, which is when the Montgomery Rebels franchise was moved to Birmingham to become the Barons. The tags here are the classic 1999-2001 configuration featuring "The Nations Highest Quality Fitted Cap" text along the satin taping and of course, back during those years that statement was true. Nowadays, New Era caps aren't so much the best thing ever but I digress. Nothing but respect for the silver and black batterman here. Sometimes I wonder if the Barons logo is as ubiquitous as I believe it to be. Of...

The landing gear is about to come down on the New York-Penn league festivities and I'm making sure the last few Fresh Fitted Friday selections are super special, starting with this week's New Jersey Cardinals cap that I believe to be from 1999 to 2001. The New Jersey Cardinals played in the NYPL from 1994 (in which they won the League Title) through 2005 and wore this cap logo for parts of the 1997 season and then all the way through their final season. I've identified the sweatband tags as being similar to ones I've seen on the following caps from 1999-2001: Augusta GreenJackets, Harrisburg Senators and Trenton Thunder. Second week in a row with a cap featuring a bred MILB batterman! Also of note is all of the aforementioned caps also feature "The Nation's Highest Quality Fitted Cap" verbiage on the satin taping inside the crown. The 12 seasons the Cardinals played in Augusta, NJ isn't long when compared to stalwart cities of the l...

Welcome back folks! I hope everyone had a relaxing All-Star Break and for those of you in the US — which I know is pretty much everyone reading this blog, however I still need to be inclusive —a joyous Fourth of July.  I spent the holiday weekend in Boston seeing Phish play at Fenway Park which was an amazing experience as I was able to see my favorite band play music in a ballpark! Even though there were rain delays on both nights, T he Boys from Vermont delivered the goods. In honor of this momentous occasion, I've decided to finally feature a proper Boston Red Sox cap on the blog. While this week's cap is not one that I personally own, the timing is just too perfect not to share considering my recent trip to Boston and that tomorrow, July 13, 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of when the Red Sox hosted the game in 1999.  The embroidery's design isn't what anyone would call intricate but I do have an appreciation for the logo's green ba...

If you feel the same as me about the two-game "regular season" series last week between the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in Japan, you recognize today as the true Opening Day of the 2019 baseball season. While I have no qualms with special series overseas, I do feel that having all 30 teams beginning their season on the same day is a sacred rite of passage. While all teams technically did play today, it's strange to think that the Mariners already have a 3-0 record. Hell, I'm just happy baseball is back so I'll stop complaining for now. I'm really excited for this season and for a change I'm actually into the side-patch that will be worn for year's All-Star Game which will be held in Cleveland for the first time since 1997. I'm probably going to pick up the cap that the San Francisco Giants will wear even though I'm still not a fan of the patch being on the right side due to the New Era flag placement on the left. I know it seems ...

Today's date is March 15 and this day is always a special one for me as it marks the anniversary of my move from the Bay Area to New York City. While it commemorates a major life event for me personally, March 15 is one of the most infamous dates in all of history and it even has an ominous saying to accompany it: "Beware the Ides of March."   As you can imagine, I had difficulties finding a South Atlantic League hat with some kind of connection to Julius Caesar but alas I stumbled upon an Augusta GreenJackets cap that I had not yet written about.  It's common knowledge that the city of Augusta in the US state of Georgia was named for Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha , but the etymology of her given name dates back to  Augustus of Prima Porta , who for those who  need reminding was Julius Caesar's adopted son and thus the eventual and rightful heir to the Roman Empire. Anyway, enough with the super fun history lesson; let's talk about this classic c...

Well folks, my baseball morale right now is the lowest it's been all season. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who continued their winning trajectory by sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ALDS earlier in the week, are now set to face the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS for the second year in a row and I'm not feeling optimistic about this match-up. I was actually hoping the Washington Nationals would be the team to beat the The Doyers in the NLCS (and because I have no caps from any Cubs minor league affiliates) I am featuring this vintage cap from the Harrisburg Senators, who have been the Nats' Double-A affiliate since the team relocated from Montreal in 2005. The Senators sported this logo from 1996 through 2005 and I'm not blind to the irony of the Senators  ditching the Yankee Doodle Dandy fellow in their logo  as soon as their parent team in Canada moved to the capital of the United States. This combination of satin taping and sweatband tags are co...

At this point I must admit that last week's call for black magick was useless. Since there's no point in summoning sorcery for this week, I'm just praying the Giants don't get swept by the Padres this weekend and ending the season with 100 losses. Since I'm tuning in to that series while in Atlanta, this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a Greenville Braves cap. Bonus points for this week's photos at a Pearle Vision in Roswell, GA. And extra bonus points for the 70's interior.  While the  sweatband tags and  satin taping style are consistent with caps I've featured from the mid 1990's, this cap is most likely not from any time before 1999 which is when the New Era flag began to appear on minor league caps. This Joe Nelson card from 1999 is the oldest Greenville Braves card I could find with a player in a cap sporting the New Era flag. Image courtesy of COMC This cap logo is a reminder of how dominant the Atl...

This week's selection from The Great eBay Haul features not only another defunct Connecticut minor league team but it also follows the theme of caps that are too dang small for my noggin. I still had to at least try on this size 7 1/8 New Haven Ravens cap for nostalgia sake as one of my first MILB caps as a youngster was a Ravens hat. It might have actually been the same size as this one! Before they ever played a game,  I probably bought (aka my mom bought) that Ravens cap  assuming they were a Marlins affiliate (rather than Rockies) because of the black and teal colorway. I  don't know if I've told you this before but my Bar Mitzvah colors were teal and purple because like most people in the early 1990's, I had an acute case of Tealism. This cap's crown has a New Era flag so the earliest it can be from is 1999 and because the Ravens made some minor adjustments to their cap logo in 2001, this one is either from 1999 or 2000. The satin taping and ...