Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

My posts ahead of Labor Day Weekend from the past two years have both been  Ebbets Field Flannels  retros of caps worn by the  Denver Bears  during different eras of their existence. My reason for highlighting Denver is as a tribute to Phish's annual run of shows which have taken place there over the holiday weekend yearly since 2011, with the exception of 2020 as their entire summer tour had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Onto happier times now and even though I am not there to witness it, I can thankfully follow along from home via webcast and can confirm that Phish is poised to bring the goods over this four-night run. Because I have now written about all my Denver Bears caps, I need to pivot to Denver-adjacent caps with an Albuquerque Isotopes in a Colorado Rockies colorway. When the partnership between the Rockies and Albuquerque began in 2015, I was finally able to stop mentally associating the Pacific Coast League city with the Los Angeles Dodge...

I am not sure if I have mentioned this enough before but a big reason why I have this blog is to perform a sort of weekly check-in with myself and baseball. Writing and baseball have been grounding forces in my life so it only makes sense for me to use these posts as a way to connect all of my random thoughts with the game and the hats I wear everyday. My first hat-related posts here were mostly part of a spurt in output during August 2011, followed by a short hiatus until my  1992 Seattle Mariners cap post from August 2013 . From that point until now I've strived to be consistent in my write-ups with the goal of attracting and retaining a good amount of eyeballs as well as for that trend to continue! It's no coincidence that 2013 has great significance for me as that was the year I met my now-wife, who is ever-supportive of my writing. She lets me know when my collecting gets out of hand but also entertains frequent quips such as "ain't it neat I brought up the...

I was recently asked again if I had a favorite minor league cap and once more I was unable to field that seemingly simple question! To think it was only a year ago that I last discussed my struggle coming up with a definitive answer in my post on my  Carolina Pescados (Carolina Mudcats - Copa de la Diversion) cap . The hats mentioned in that post still rank highly up there in my view however I should have given a nod to the Nashville Sounds, especially the musically inspired logos Brandiose designed for the team's rebrand in 2015. This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is the Diamond Era cap from that set which I consider to be a true unsung hero of the collection. This cap was a wedding gift from a good friend of mine I met in college who grew up in Nashville and still lives in Music City today. Thanks again, Nate! I love how the soft nylon material on the inside of these caps serves as a guard against summer heat. I can imagine it must have been especially handy on some h...

Unless something changes between now and next week, the last cap in this recent tour throughout the California league is going to be this San Jose Giants cap which features a patch commemorating San Jose hosting the 2013 California League All-Star Game. Side-patch mania is at another one of its peaks with cap collectors currently and while I'm not personally seeking out these newfangled releases, my thing will always be vintage caps of Giants affiliates that feature truly special patches such as this week's  Fresh Fitted Friday  selection. This patch ranks right after the 2007 MLB All-Star Game patch as far as I'm concerned. I love the Giants wordmark logo featured prominently on top of what looks like the In-N-Out logo and bonus points for the text specifying that the exhibition game was played between the Carolina League and California League. I'm only just now popping tags on this one so forgive me for the sticker shock here but wow... a Made In China cap retail...

The Pacific Coast League theme continues this week as another Tennessee team worth a look is the Nashville Sounds. Sadly, their road cap has just hit the road itself after the 2018 season as  the Sounds rebranded once again leading up to the beginning of their affiliation with the Texas Rangers the following season. I'm not sure  why the Sounds would abandon such an amazing logo, especially after such a brief time. It's also hard to believe that it's been a little over three years since  the home cap was featured on the site ! Unfortunately this is a "Made in China" cap and it definitely feels stiffer and boxier than other caps. It also feels like it's a size or two bigger than 7 3/8 but I suppose that's the risk you take buying New Era caps nowadays. Another thing that's hard to say goodbye to is the "Bred" (black and red) MILB batterman as the newest Sounds caps are dark navy, which I find to be interesting because they certainl...

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 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 ...

I was considering writing about a cap of a minor league affiliate of one of the teams currently in postseason contention but I decided to write about the Oakland Athletics' Triple-A affiliate instead.  The main reason I chose the Nashville Sounds for this week's post is a good friend of mine from Nashville is getting married in Music City this weekend and unfortunately I cannot be there.  Kind of impossible to deny the awesomeness of the f-hole style "N" over a guitar pick. Standard inside tags and panel taping but I figured I'd offer a glimpse in any case. I've written about a few Sounds hats over the years but this newest version of the cap logo might be my favorite yet. It was designed by Brandiose who you know by now is widely recognized as the clear leader in minor league brand architecture.  Made in U.S.A. guarantee. Here's hoping New Era continues to make efforts to produce some of their caps in the States. ...

June is here which means it's the perfect time to start getting excited about this year's All-Star Game! Wait a second, maybe it isn't. Unless you are a Royals or Cubs fan there's actually no point in getting excited since the fans of those two teams are diligently stuffing the ballots with the names of their own players so nobody on your team will be in the starting lineup. Womp Womp.  I understand that undying loyalty can lead one to extremes but I'd rather have a little diversity on the field than just choosing my guys because they're my guys. Besides that, the starting line-up should really reflect this season's premier players rather than homer selections. I guess I shouldn't be sour grapes just yet as voting is still underway, which means that other fans can zealously stuff ballots as well. As a San Francisco Giants fan, 2015's All-Star Game was special as for the third time in five years our skipper, Bruce Bochy, managed the NL team. Al...