Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

As we enter the final weekend before the MLB All-Star break, now is a good time for some levity. I searched for some fun baseball-related trivia and the best I could find was that today is the 45th anniversary of the Disco Demolition Night  promotion hosted at Comiskey Park as the  Detroit Tigers faced the Chicago White Sox on a fateful summer evening. Music fans no doubt recognize Chicago and Detroit as two cities with rich musical histories so admonishing a "lesser" style like disco the night they play each other is apt. Unfortunately, I have no disco-themed caps—or even an interesting one from either team—but the "Old English D" on my Denver Bears retro from Ebbets can easily be taken for a Detroit cap. I do not know the technical terms for this wordmark's design elements other than serif but I will say there is a notable difference between this and Detroit's current logo. Interestingly enough, the embroidery here very closely resembles the logo used by

While writing this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post, I am also watching the telecast of  this year's special  "MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues" with the   St. Louis Cardinals (as they wear the uniforms of the St. Louis Stars) playing my San Francisco Giants (wearing uniforms of the San Francisco Sea Lions) at the oldest professional ballpark in the United States in Birmingham, AL. The Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues called Rickwood Field home as did Willie Mays when the  Alabama-native  got his first professional baseball assignment playing for the Black Barons as a 17 year old in 1948. All three scheduled events were set to honor  Mays who was the last living member of the Black Barons but died two nights before Thursday's finale. There were so many tributes (both large and small) to Mays when news of his passing arrived during Tuesday night's MILB showcase in which the  Birmingham Barons (playing as the Black Barons) hosted

When I began posting about my caps back in August 2011, there were only a few sites out there dedicated to the hobby of collecting but two posts that I was thrilled to come upon in those early days were  Paul Carr's   The Chronology of New Era Cap Tags: A Guide and The San Diego Padres "Taco Bell" Caps . Over the years, Paul has since added more  brilliant blog  entries  in his  "Taco Bell"   series and even worked with Ebbets Field Flannels to create a retro of the 1978 Reno Silver Sox cap which was the focus of his  Minoring in Taco Bell  post. Also in that time, I as well have endeared myself to this wacky style enough to  run for the border to join in the "Taco Bell" fun when possible! I chose  the Reno Silver Sox retro to be  this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  selection   to continue in that paternal theme  that I started in my only  previous "Father's Day" post which as it happens was for a  Early 1980s San Diego Padres "T

The San Francisco Giants have just pulled into New York and I am currently feeling the jitters of seeing my team play in person for the first time this year as they are about to  start a three game series against the New York Mets at CitiField. I always have a hard time settling on what Giants hat to wear at away games but this time I have it figured out! I went a little long on my 5/10 post highlighting my 1950 Oakland Oaks from Ebbets Field Flannels so I do not feel too bad about not having much commentary this week other than I am happy to keep the  "O"  party going with a  1951 Ottawa Giants hat that I recently picked up from Ebbets as well. The Ottawa Giants moved there from Jersey City after the 1950 season because the local television broadcasts of the New York Giants obliterated the "Little Giants" attendance at Roosevelt Stadium. Sadly, the Giants relationship only lasted for only one season as the team became affiliated with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1

Yesterday was 5/9 and it warmed my heart to see so many lovely Instagram posts honoring New Era's flagship "59Fifty" cap and its importance in this community of hat collectors. Sadly, I did not join in the fun as I am not much of a "regular poster" although this Oakland Oaks cap for 5/10 is a good way to celebrate the 510 area code in "The Town" over in the bright side of the Bay. Before I get to photos of this week's hat, I want to take a moment to give a shout out to the fans in Oakland who have been creative in their support their team in these times. I saw a recent post of a fan who only goes to A's games on the roads as well as clips of fans sitting behind home plate wearing a "Sell" shirt to the Colliseum as a plea to the owner to "do the right thing" soon. I suppose "the right thing" is as subjective as it gets but the team's impending and temporary move to West Sacramento next season will be an interest

Last week I goofed-up National Citrus Day by celebrating a Florida team despite that holiday being started by a citrus producer in California so it only makes sense that I would find a way to put my own  unique spin on International Women's Day by writing about the 1947 Twin Falls Cowboys cap I recently picked up from Ebbets Field Flannels. Anytime I browse the Ebbets Field Flannels site and see a former minor league cap with beautiful serifs embroidered, I have to go for it as many of their recent offerings have skewed toward college and Negro League teams featuring felt letters and patches. Made in U.S.A. quality every single time! Popping the tag on an Ebbets cap is always fun for me and I love using the little tags as bookmarks. Before I go into why a Cowboys hat is the Fresh Fitted Friday selection on a post highlighting a holiday for women, I first want to share with you that according to this page from census.gov ,  International Women's Day  is celebrated on March 8 t

In all the years posting on this blog, I have never done any sort of Veterans Day post which I think is somewhat of a shame considering my hometown Virginia Beach is mere minutes away from  Naval Station Norfolk which is  the world's largest naval base.  Whether I was seeing the Tidewater Tides play or just out and about in town, uniforms were a regular sight growing up! Perhaps the reason for not having done a dedicated post is that I do not own any of the "Armed Forces Day" hats so while I do not have a military uniform themed cap, what I do have is a sort of meta-uniform cap by way of Paul Lukas's Uni Watch Blog which if we are being honest is a big reason why my blog exists. Obsessing over the nuances of uniforms is a tale as old as time. Lukas worked with Ebbets Field Flanels to create this cap featuring the design prowess of Bryan Molloy in this now-iconic cap logo of winged stirrups. Even though this week's cap is not a military-themed cap, the pride of o

The 2023 MLB season concluded with the Texas Rangers defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks to clinch the franchise's first World Series championship this past Wednesday, November 1. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I am thrilled Bruce Bochy led the Rangers to win it all during his first year managing since coming out of his brief retirement which began ahead of the 2020 season. Another point of elation—albeit on a more petty level— is that the Diamondbacks suffered the loss at home in front of their fans although the crowd reaction in Arizona when the Rangers scored made me forget which team was on the road. Nevertheless, the 2024 season will be here soon enough and I have high hopes for Bob Melvin's first year managing the Giants. My ideal scenario would be Melvin and Bochy squaring off in the World Series but those are the types of ambitions one can really only have a few days into the offseason during that time when every team has a shot. Once the chips start falling in the free

Many of this site's readers already know that Phish is my favorite band but what you might not know is that a big yearly tradition of their's since 2011 is to play a multi-night run during Labor Day Weekend at Dick's Sporting Goods Park which is home to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. As a former resident of Colorado, I feel obliged to honor this annual event by featuring this 1952 Denver Bears retro cap from Ebbets Field Flannels for this very special Labor Day Weekend edition of Fresh Fitted Friday . This cap was one of my earliest Ebbets caps purchased however the logo from  last year's Denver Bears post ahead of Labor Day Weekend is the one I wish they would retro once again but hopefuly this time with a historically accurate sized logo .  I cannot overstate how much I appreciate that the elegantly understated touchstone elements of an Ebbets cap such as the tags which like the quality of the caps, have stayed consistently great over the years.     Hor

I've been making my best efforts to post every week throughout this current baseball season but last week was simply too hectic for me to get it together to do the Nashville-themed post which I hoped to do as a tribute to June Carter Cash who if still alive would be celebrating her 94th birthday that day. My goal for this week's write-up of this Nashville Stars cap is that it makes up for that lapse! Music City Baseball, LLC (“MCB”) is the name of the collective that aims to bring Major League Baseball to Nashville. The group has selected "Stars" as the eventual team's name in honor of the barnstorming team based in Nashville from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. MCB partnered with Ebbets Field Flannels (or, "EFF", for those with a penchant for acronyms) in creating caps to drum up excitement for Nashville's chase of their white whale, which for many years now has been to host an MLB team. There's not a lot of information out there on the

I started a little mini-tradition last year on the  Friday before Memorial Day Weekend with my "National Don't Fry Day" post which I think is worth continuing this year so I'm happily breaking out  this 1967 El Paso Sun Kings cap I purchased back in August 2011 from Ebbets Field Flannels back when the Triple Play price for three caps was $79. The El Paso Sun Kings were a California Angels affiliate from 1965-70 and then again in 1973 so I listed that iteration of the parent club's name in the labels section of this post as well as in previously published posts wherever it was appropriate to do so. This hat, along with retros of the 1955 San Francisco Seals and 1958 Phoenix Giants, was in my very first Ebbets order and I'm happy to say that all these years later, it's in a great enough condition that I have no qualms with it being a Fresh Fitted Friday selection today!  The little yarmulke looking halo here is very unique and possibly confusing at first g