Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

I can't recall when I first saw a cap that was designed by Brandiose but I'm guessing it was the current Asheville Tourists home cap that I picked up in 2014. I think until then I was more into collecting vintage caps but once I acquired my most sought-after logos, I was better equipped to appreciate the recent designs that had come onto the scene. We have seen a great many Asheville Tourists alternates ever since their Brandiose rebrand was pushed live in 2011 but I believe this week's "White-Navy-Light Blue" colorway was done as a custom rather than an on-field. The starry night motif really pops on top of the white panels but I also think the blue stitching along the edges of those panels pops but in a distracting way. This is definitely the oldest cap I've seen with that contrasting stitching so it might be all that nonsense started in 2014. I've got more Asheville caps than any other team but this is my only one with the craftsman-

I've had a lot of fun over the past two months writing about classic International League teams and the different caps that teams have worn over the years but I think this week's Lehigh Valley IronPigs "Fighting Bacon" cap will be the 8th and final cap of this run. Just like many of the cap logo designs that Brandiose produces, this Bacon is a surly character who's ready to rumble as his anger is sizzling hot. Like the  "Bacon and Eggs"/"Eggs and Bacon" cap  that I wrote about on December 28, 2018, the origin of this cap's logo comes from another Food Fight type of series. This time the IronPigs took on the identity of Bacon while the Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League were the Tacos.  While the IronPigs once again turned to the brain geniuses of Brandiose for their design, Fresno used an in-house design team of artists named Dorian Castro and Andy Inman. I like the Bacon logo more but if I also really dig Fresno&

As much as I want to start this new year off with a fresh start for Fresh Fitted Friday, I just can't help wanting to do a continuation of last week's theme so I decided this week's hat needs to be the Lehigh Valley IronPigs home cap. Brandiose designed this cap which the IronPigs have worn for most of their home games since their  inaugural season in 2008 . I love the 3D embroidery on the crown and that the fierce looking pig has become a touchstone in terms of design elements for Brandiose.  Because the logo and sweatband tags haven't varied much in the time since this cap first came out, it's almost impossible to decipher which year this cap was purchased although it was Made In U.S.A so it's likely not that recent. I appreciate you coming to the site to read about this now-iconic cap logo and I hope you return next week as I have another fun cap from the IronPigs cap artillery that I'm looking forward to sharing with you.  Ev

I didn’t end up going to a game during the Orioles-Mets series earlier this week but regardless of that, the hat that I would have worn to the ballpark is one that pays tribute to both teams. The road cap that the Norfolk Tides have been wearing since 2016 is another gem designed by Brandiose. When I wrote about the current Tides home cap previously, I brought up how the locals were not impressed when the main logo was revealed. Now that I have the road version, I think this one should have been introduced as the home cap as its nautical design is better suited to the conservative population of Norfolk, VA. Having grown up in Norfolk, I can tell you that history plays a huge role in the city’s identity. In fact, I still hear folks griping about missing the Mets, who were the Tides’ parent team from 1969 until they became affiliated with the O’s in 2007. Even though Norfolk isn’t yet on board with the cartoonish logos that are de rigueur, their commitment to the

The Double-A party continues this week folks and we're not just taking a look at any old Eastern League team this time around. This week's Fresh Fitted is an alternate worn by the Hartford Yard Goats, which as it turns out is a natural rival to last week's featured team, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.  Like last week's cap, this was another gift from my wife. The "Horned H" logo first caught her eye because it represents our last initial but when she learned the cap was one worn by the team in Hartford, that sealed the deal as we had recently visited The Insurance Capital of the World . Unfortunately, this cap cannot proudly boast the Made In USA tag but I haven't found any glaring quality issues with it thus far. The green, white and blue MILB batterman is a fitting tribute to the iconic colorway once used by the now-defunct Hartford Whalers. The team's rebrand by Brandiose in 2015 brought the design firm's calling card  - w

If this is your first visit to the blog, I welcome you! And if you're a regular reader, thanks for coming back despite my neglect of minor league caps for the past three consecutive weeks, which might be some kind of record; I'm not sure. Either way, I hope this week's vintage West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx cap makes up for the recent lack of MILB love! This is another cap that came from The Great eBay Haul that I've been writing about over the past few weeks. The Diamond Jaxx rebranding in 2002 was the first big client win for Brandiose , which back then was a just a fledgling design firm known as Plan B Branding. Plan B (now Brandiose) conceived "Jim Dandy" as the mascot for the Diamond Jaxx in 2002. According to Bloomberg Businessweek , "Dandy" is "a Disneyfied version of  a miner wielding a baseball bat modified into a pickax" While every MLB team began wearing New Era's polyester caps with black sweatbands and

I hope y'all didn't think that I'd slack on posting a Fresh Fitted today simply because it's Black Friday as I can assure you that is most certainly not the case. In addition, I hope no one thought they'd be getting two fitteds in some sort of "Black Friday deal" because I can assure you that is not the case either! For this week's Fresh Fitted , I wanted to honor the Thanksgiving theme of stuffing one's face by featuring a variation the Asheville Tourists' Mr. Moon where he is happily chomping on some (what I assume are) BBQ pork ribs. This delectable treat is a staple in Southern cuisine so I appreciate that this hat combines two of my greatest interests: BBQ and baseball.  Brandiose delivered this design as an alternate to the standard  Mr. Moon cap logo,  however I've never seen evidence of the team wearing this cap during a game. I've been waiting a while to remove the tags on this cap but I'll have to find a special home f

I had a plan to do something so  innovative that I'd be surprised if anything like it has ever been done. Of course please let me know if you know of any site that for three straight weeks featured a hulking man with facial hair who is brandishing a bat or bat-like object. My plan ended up not coming together due to an inventory snafu on my part but it all worked out as I really dig the cap I'm writing about today.  This is the standard home cap which is the one that I owned rather than the Teddy cap.  Both are swell but maybe this "Double-R" logo has a more  classic  look. Nothing out of the ordinary on the sweatband tags here. If you look closely you can see that the MILB batterman logo is maroon and baby blue which to me is very 1980's Phillies-esque. The supposed trifecta started two weeks ago with the  Butte Copper Kings snapback  and was supposed to end with this cap that features Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt following his own advice of "speak

We're only a few days away from Halloween so it's a must that this week's Fresh Fitted has an All Hallow's theme. There are some teams with scarier and/or spookier logos out there (eg. Lake Elsinore Storm , Orem Owls  and Ogden Raptors ) but the fact that the "Casper Ghosts" team name has expired, this cap seems even more haunted than ever. To prove my point about the ghoulish nature of this cap, look no further than the way in which the Casper Rockies decided to unveil their rebranded look  on Halloween back in 2007. Brandiose was at the helm of the creation of the new identity and its success with this effort solidified their reputation as a top-tier design firm in the world of sports logos. This cap logo glows in the dark but my camera is simply not powerful enough to capture this awesomeness. Luckily Chris Creamer's Sportslogos site is way better blog than mine and has no issues getting the job done. While the Casper Ghosts ceased to ex