Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

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

Right after wrapping up my Earth Day post last week I realized I had actually earmarked that 1948  Oakland Oaks  cap for my Arbor Day post this week. It actually turned out for the best because the logo on this 1940 Oaks hat is even more arboreal than last week's so I'm very thankful to be ending Earth Month on a strong note! When I first got this a few years ago, I thought the green felt on the logo might be the outline of the city of Oakland. Then I thought maybe it was a sort of reference to the Bears at Cal in Berkeley. And then today I realized the obvious: the green thing is a leaf because…trees! By the way, I also just learned that the word ellipsis (as in the punctuation I used in the last sentence) originates from the Ancient Greek word  élleipsis  which means ' leave out'? Most of my Ebbets caps are navy or black but I have to say the buckram really pops on the grey wool broadcloth.  The green on the logo of the crown's front, piping and undervisor are wh

I picked this Oakland Oaks retro to celebrate Earth Day—which is tomorrow, April 22—because of the tree theme in the team's name and the cute little stem on the logo however there is added significance for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection as it was confirmed just yesterday that the Oakland Athletics have reached a deal to purchase land in Las Vegas where they hope to have a new ballpark constructed by 2027. In 1948, Oakland had no MLB team nor affiliation however the Pacific Coast League champions of that year have at least some connection with New York considering they were managed by Casey Stengel who would manage the Yankees the following season. Also, their shortstop was Billy Martin who before becoming a Yankees legend was a Bay Area native who was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. I long for the days when Ebbets would release minor league bangers such as this one. Their collaboration with '47 to produce classic MLB logos seemed to be a big hit with collector

Last week's Fowlball post was a lot of fun to write and rising up from the flames of all that fun is another ornithologically tinged cap that also happens to be Arizona-related as well. This Phoenix Firebirds retro cap was part of a 2017 collection produced by Ebbets Field Flannels and sold by Lids. I love the crispness of the white sweatband and grey undervisor here and hope Ebbets' newly kindled partnership with Lids will bring back some of these classic designs from the 1990s. It's difficult to faithfully reproduce logos from the 1990s however Ebbets has a solid hit rate in that regard even though they're better known for their more esoteric releases. I made a plea for Ebbets to retro the Peninsula Pilots cap  and 1983 Portland Beavers in last week's Fowlball post and the quality on this Firebirds cap is what I'd like to see if either or both ever get made. Perhaps Ebbets will fulfill these requests if I keep promoting the other caps from that collection li

I've featured many Ebbets hats here over the years but this 1933 Regina Nationals retro cap is perfect for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post because today's date is February 10 which means we celebrate National Umbrella Day as well as National Flannel Day, although I'm not sure if those holidays hold the same weight in Canada. A common misconception many U.S. folks have is that it's gloomy in all parts of Canada so flannels and umbrellas are required no matter where you are however  just 390mm of precipitation accumulates per year on average in  Regina, Saskatchewan. Just for reference, that equals the amount of rain in Denver and less than what Salt Lake City gets in a year. By contrast, the average temperature is considerably higher in those US cities than what is experienced in Regina so it's good to have a flannel hat there as well as here  in NYC where it's still rather chilly, especially as  Punxsutawney Phil determined this past Groundhog Day tha

I was planning on taking off this week on account of the holiday weekend but then I remembered that I'm coming off a nice-sized break so I decided to up the ante and do a long-winded  double-cap post which is something I am fairly certain was last done with vintage and retro Jacksonville Expos caps  I wrote about in 2017. Otherwise, the closest I've come to such a thing in recent years was with consecutive posts of very similar hats worn by the  Albany-Colonie Yankees which was also in 2017 as well as the vintage and retro 1988-92 Buffalo Bisons caps  in 2021. This week's double-cap post features the logo the Denver Bears wore from 1982-84 which has been my most sought after design ever since I got serious about hat collecting many years ago. As I've stated in previous posts, I went to college in Colorado which probably explains why most things related to the Centennial State are of interest to me. As is the case with many hat hoarders, it all began with an interest i

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday post might be the last for a little while as I'm about to embark on a busy summer that slated to feature some fun travels as well as a big home improvement project. I don't want to share too many details yet but let's just say the background you see on the Instagram posts will be affected in a major way! Every year on the first Saturday in June, National Black Bear Day is celebrated to recognize the most common bear in the United States. Since tomorrow is the first Saturday in June, the theme for this week's post is going to be ursine-focused with my 1948 Knoxville Smokies retro from Ebbets Field Flannels. Ok, so maybe the logo isn't even ursine-adjacent at all but for me, whenever I think of Knoxville, the first thing that comes to mind is the Smoky Mountains and my next thought after that is of the black bears that live in the park.  Ebbets branding and the Made In U.S.A. pride comprise the magnificent duo of tags seen on almos

We're only a week into the 2022 MLB season and can you even believe I'm already pivoting to a cap of a non-baseball team for this week's Fresh Fitted Friday post? Well, at least it's for good reason as  the hat I'm sharing with you good folks is the perfect hat for today as  National Laundry Day is celebrated every year on April 15.  Fun fact: Chef Thomas Keller's Michelin 3-star restaurant in the Napa Valley got its name because the original site on which The French Laundry currently stands was a laundry. For this reason, the clothespin is a touchstone of the restaurant's branding to this day. This collaboration between Ebbets Field Flannels and The French Laundry was produced in 2019  in honor of the famed California restaurant's 25th anniversary . As the name of the restaurant suggests, The French Laundry's cuisine leans toward classical French techniques however the spirit of the dining experience showcases an elegant and personalized style of se

I wouldn’t fault you if you considered me choosing a Virginia team’s cap for last week’s National Maryland Day post to be a sort of preemptive April Fools’ Day gag however I assure you that was not my intention! I stand by last week’s hat actually being on-topic but can still understand if you thought it preposterous. Whether you appreciated the interstate tie-in or not, hopefully you’ll get a kick out of the 1958 Hiroshima Carp retro from Ebbets Field Flannels that I’ve selected for this week’s Fresh Fitted Friday post. I'm not usually too crazy about the felt logos from Ebbets but the serifs combined with the chunky lettering here is very unique so I'm all for it.  The Made in U.S.A. quality from Ebbets is unrivaled. I try to always mention that when . I'm not sure if it's the lighting or what but the satin undervisor here looks extra special here. As one might have come to expect, a bit of backstory will be needed to explain this week’s hat once again! I’m not sure

In the spirit of being transparent from the start, I am compelled to disclose I had to reach a bit for a hat to match today's holiday which is National Maryland Day . I must admit when it comes to Maryland, my cap coffers are rather bereft so I opted for one worn by the Richmond Virginians which was a team in the neighboring state of… you guessed right, Virginia! Researching the history of baseball in Maryland led me down a few potential caps for this post but I was most surprised with Richmond's past being very much intertwined with both of the minor league iterations of the Baltimore Orioles. The first concerted effort between the two cities occurred in 1915 when the International League Orioles temporarily moved from Baltimore to Richmond because despite fielding a club featuring a hometown talent by the name of Babe Ruth, were unable to compete with the popularity of the Baltimore Terrapins of a newly created  outlaw "third major league" called the  Federal League