Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Fans of the Grateful Dead do not need another reminder of this but today is the 29th anniversary of the passing of J erry Garcia who was  the band's principal songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. I can still remember sitting in that summer school geometry classroom when I heard the news on August 9, 1995. I was more into hip-hop and punk rock at the time but the older kids I looked up to thought the Dead was cool so I sort of did too, I suppose. Garcia would have turned 82 this year which is how old he looked due to  his stark white bushy beard and mane of frizzy hair due to hard living however he was actually only  53 years old when he died. At the time I was a teenager and now being three times as old as I was then, I realize I am nearly as old as Jerry was when he died which is a very perplexing realization. At any rate, much like baseball  has had a big impact on my life , so has Garcia's music which is why it makes me so happy to see these two interests of mine i...

After last week's double-dose of Denver Bears hats, I must ask if you are prepared for yet another bear-themed cap this week because today is National Teddy Bear Day as well as National Care Bears Share Your Care Day and I had no choice but to break out this 1998 Fresno Grizzlies snapback for the occasion. It's also California Admission Day and if you've ever glanced upon California's state flag, you are most likely envisioning the grizzly bear featured on it at this very moment. I am almost ashamed to admit this as a former resident of California yet I never once took interest in researching why the state is known as the  "Bear Flag Republic" until today. I'll spare you the history discourse on the Mexican-American war and Mexico's War of Independence for the time being but I should note the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846  only lasted a total of 25 days and the events that transpired were a key component in California being officially annexed by the United...

 Even though technically speaking it’s still October, I am resolute in last week’s decision to halt the “Orange October” with that post because we are a day away from Halloween and this week’s Fresno Grizzlies “Halfway to Halloween” cap is as All Hallows’ as it gets.   For their “Nightmare Before Grizzmas" promotion in 2018, the Grizzlies added a Jack Skellington-styled brim to a purple and black colorway version of their iconic “Slash” logo cap. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies of all time so this hat is perfect for me. Unfortunately, this cap is not of the “Made in U.S.A.” variety but for a specialty cap like this, I’m not going to complain too much nor would I with other limited releases Fresno has done such as “The Simpsons”, “Grateful Dead”, “Three Amigos”, “Coming to Fresno”, etc. Of course, I’m going to close this blog post "short and sweet" style because the last thing I want to do is tear up thinking about…the fact…that the Dodgers…w...