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Showing posts with the label 2003

New Haven Ravens (EFF x Lids 2003 Retro) - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

It has been a very busy month since my last post so I sure am glad to finally have some time to write for week's Fresh Fitted Friday .  I have been buying up some fun caps lately which I am very excited to share here however this week's post brings attention to one I picked up almost seven years ago back when Ebbets Field Flannels and Lids collaborated on a set of retro MILB caps. That partnership was a very big deal at the time because until then, all other retros of 1990s caps featured inaccurately recreated logos and polyester materials while the Ebbets x Lids collection was true to OG specifications featuring accurate logos and made of 100% wool. Check out the Facebook post to launched the collection for some hot takes in the comments. Lots of folks were not enthused about spending $50 on these gems but as I was familiar with Ebbets quality at that time, I happily pulled the trigger on the Butte Copper Kings, Erie Sailors, Batavia Clippers and this week's hat which is ...

2003 World Series - New York Yankees

Without MLB game results and general happenings to inspire my weekly write-ups, I typically look to "National Day" holidays and current events to guide me during these slow times. Luckily, there is no shortage of transactions occurring this time of year. As it turns out today's date, January 14, was an eventful one for the two teams I follow the most which are the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees  in 2002 and 2001 , respectively. The big move San Francisco made on this date in 2002 was signing Barry Bonds to a 5 year $90 million contract extension. Getting his team to the World Series that year validated San Francisco's determination to do what ever it took to ensure Bonds was in a Giants uniform while shattering hitting records up throughout the remainder of his career. The Yankees have not make a splash on January 14 in the past 50 years however  their division rivals did in 2001 when the Toronto Blue Jays traded  David Wells–who was the Yankees 1998 ALCS ...

2002 World Series - San Francisco Giants (Alt logo from 2003-06)

I neglected my posting duties last week by not sharing a Fresh Fitted for the first Fresh Fitted Friday of 2022 but that just means this week's cap has to work extra hard to assume that role! For the very special honor of starting the year off right I have selected a 2002 World Series cap which when combined with this particular San Francisco Giants logo, is a bit of a mind-bender. I viewed footage from all seven games of the 2002 World Series and can confirm that this alternate logo was not worn during any of them, which makes sense because it did not appear until the 2003 season. Nevertheless, I have a soft spot in my heart for this one as this design was very popular when i moved to the Bay Area in 2005.  January 7 is National Bobblehead Day so this cap is teaming up with a Tim Lincecum bobblehead that I procured at a special event at AT&T Park in 2011. Fun fact: the orange-brimmed cap Lincecum is wearing was only worn during Game 4 of the 2010 World Series, which in case y...

Pre-2004 Erie SeaWolves

I hope y'all are down to continue the love-fest for the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania again this week because I've got this Erie SeaWolves hat that I estimate to be from before 2004 and it really makes me want to keep this Keystone State party going!  There is some mild mid-1990's cheese factor going on here and while this logo properly ranks highly among the worst in all of MILB history, I still somehow prefer it to the bat-less logo that the team has been rocking since 2013. The messy satin taping here is something I've seen on a few caps from 2002, which as it happens was around the time these particular New Era and Size tags began to appear as well as the last year this version of the MILB sweatband tag tag was used. As a Giants fan, I've got serious love for the black and orange MILB batterman embroidery here.  Former Giant Cody Ross was on the SeaWolves in 2002 and here's a  video of Ross the Boss 2010 highlights which has been instrumental in mainta...

Pre-2004 Everett AquaSox - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!

I hope everyone appreciated the temporary break from vintage caps over the last few weeks but I have to give you fair warning: this week's Everett AquaSox cap has plenty of aging on it as I have good reasons to believe this particular one was produced before 2004. Just looking at the logo is of no help in estimating this cap's age since the primary design has not been altered since the team's inception back in 1995, which of course was prime-time for tealism which we see prominently on the brim and cap button. The sweatband tags and satin taping on the inside are definitely from no year earlier than 2002 but I'd say this hat is either from that year or 2003, which was the last year this MILB tag appeared on most caps. I like the teal and poison-green on the MILB batterman here. Definitely spices things up! As you're well aware, I'm a huge fan of backstories when it comes to MILB teams and Everett is no exception. I've previously featured the A...

2003 Hudson Valley Renegades - Fresh Fitted Friday

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday  selection from the New York-Penn League takes us north of New York City metropolitan area to Duchess County which is where the Hudson Valley Renegades have played since their inaugural season in 1994. This cap logo was worn by the Renegades from 1994 up through 2003, which was their final season with the burgundy and green colorway.  In addition to the colorway switch-up in 2004, the MILB sweatband tag is from no later than 2003 which tells me that would be  the final year this cap could have been worn. For as long as this team has existed, it has relied on Studio Simon in Louisville Kentucky to design its entire brand identity. For an in-depth account of the team's rebrand in 2017, check out this  this excellent write-up   by Paul Caputo for SportsLogos.net. It takes a good amount of effort and desire to leave the city for fun day trips up to the Hudson Valley and while I definitely don't get up there enough, jus...

2002 Toledo Mud Hens

The International League festivities continue this week with a cap from a team whose city has a history of hosting professional baseball that goes as far back as the origin of the league itself which was founded in 1884 while a year earlier, the Toledo Blue Stockings was an inaugural member of the Northwestern League which was all teams from the midwest.  They later became the Toledo Mud Hens in 1902 when they joined the American Association, which was an independent league that later jumped up to Double-A in 1912. The team then got another promotion when  the American Association became a Triple-A league in 1946 and stayed at that level when they joined the International League in 1965. To me this cap is synonymous with my appreciation of the International League as it was the cap the Mud Hens wore when I started going to games almost 30 years ago. The fact that the team still wears this cap is a testament to its longevity. The satin taping is typica...

2003 and 2004 "What If?" World Series caps - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

It's official. The Houston Astros are 2017 World Series champions and now that there are no more baseball games until the Spring, it's time to remember  the words that the Starks in Winterfell are known to say: "winter is coming." Question: did you like the Game of Thrones  reference? I was going to go 80's Glam/Hair Metal and say, "In the words of Cinderella, 'it's gonna be a long cold winter' without baseball" but I didn't think many of y'all would get the reference. No matter how you put it, the impending winter solstice without games occupying my mind gives me time for pondering (or ruminating, musing, etc.) new quips for the blog however I'm certain everyone in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization will probably use that time to wonder "what could have been" had they won Game 7. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I'm feeling a toxic level of schadenfreude running through me knowing that although my team suc...

Early 2000's Minnesota Twins Cap - Fresh Fitted Friday!

Welcome back to your regularly scheduled missives of a baseball milquetoast! The last few weeks of summer have been hectic for me but I'm ready for fall even if at this very moment my beloved San Francisco Giants are two games away from being eliminated from a wild card berth. But you know who's in the running for one of those berths in the AL? The Minnesota Twins! I've written about some Twins farm teams on here but never the big club. I figure now is as good a time to do that as any since they're currently playing decent baseball which is something they haven't done since 2010. That's not a fact but the way; it's just an opinion I came up with by looking at their record over the last few years! Coupling that opinion with the 3 World Series the Giants have won since 2010 is comforting but  let's get back to this cap because it intrigues me. The tags and satin taping are consistent with what I've seen on caps from 2002-2004 however I ha...