Missives of a Baseball Milquetoast

Without MLB game results and general happenings to inspire my weekly write-ups, I typically look to "National Day" holidays and current events to guide me during these slow times. Luckily, there is no shortage of transactions occurring this time of year. As it turns out today's date, January 14, was an eventful one for the two teams I follow the most which are the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees  in 2002 and 2001 , respectively. The big move San Francisco made on this date in 2002 was signing Barry Bonds to a 5 year $90 million contract extension. Getting his team to the World Series that year validated San Francisco's determination to do what ever it took to ensure Bonds was in a Giants uniform while shattering hitting records up throughout the remainder of his career. The Yankees have not make a splash on January 14 in the past 50 years however  their division rivals did in 2001 when the Toronto Blue Jays traded  David Wells–who was the Yankees 1998 ALCS M

I'll be back with a new post next week but since today is the 10th anniversary of Derek Jeter knocking his 3000th hit, check out this write-up from 2011 where I floss my brand new DJ3K cap.  See y'all next Friday!

For those with a keen sense of foreshadowing, last week's Oneonta Tigers cap might have been a pretty good clue that I would be featuring the infamous Oneonta Yankees for  this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection . A class-act logo like this deserves the retro treatment although I'd be hoping for true-to-original dimensions and flat embroidery. My sweet spot for sweatband tags (sweat spot?) has always been 1994 through 1996 and I'm so happy that a cap I've been on the hunt for all these years features that set of tags. I would have been ok if this cap didn't feature the MILB batterman but it's a nice touch on this one because at least no one would mistake it for a college team or one from any other sport for that matter. If you're a regular reader here you know that that the Oneonta Yankees hat is one that's been on my  Wish List  for a long time and I imagine that being the case for anyone who collected MILB cards in the 80

Welcome to the last post of the 2019  New York-Penn League  celebration! I began the series with the primary cap worn by the Staten Island Yankees when they suit up as the "Pizza Rats" so I'm bookending it with the "NYC" cap.  Both of the "Pizza Rats" logos are fantastic but the "NYC" is quintessentially New York as the design is a callback to the bygone subway tokens of the past. The "Y" as a slice of pizza with a bite taken out of the crust—presumably by a rat—is an incredible touch. I was hoping to catch a  "Pizza Rats" theme night this year but sadly, that did not happen. Rats!  The one game I saw this season was this past Wednesday night as the team  played under its usual moniker and this week's cap is the one I wore to the game. I consider myself to be very fortunate to have procured a "Made in U.S.A" cap last season. My  Baby Bombers experience  this week reinforced my prefere

The second half of the 2019 MLB season is under way and I've decided I need to start going to some more games before the season's end.  I started this year off strong but the only time I got to the ballpark last month was on June 4th when the Giants tallied up six runs in the top of the 10th inning  against the Mets at CitiField.  I left after the top of the 9th because I was certain the Mets would walk it off—which they did not—and I'm glad I was wrong!  My most recent attempt to get to a game was for the  Rays-Yankees matchup this past Wednesday, which I learned was postponed due to "severe inclement weather" as I was riding the  subway up to the Bronx.  Maybe this most recent misadventure is a sign that I need to switch it up a little. I'm thinking I should catch some Staten Island Yankees games where I can proudly sport this week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection, which I believe is the primary cap the team will be wearing on their  Pizza Rats-them

I've probably mentioned this more than a few times already but my life-long love for baseball truly is something that's shaped the person I am today. F lipping through baseball cards as a child helped developed my knack for matching names with faces while poring over stats on the backs of those cards led to my o bsession with analyzing data.  As far as the subject matter in this blog, my appreciation for visual aesthetics in design is rooted in hours spent staring at logos on caps and uniforms of ballplayers while organizing my cards and watching games on television. My penchant for nostalgia is so blatant, it should't surprise you that my first hats are ones that resonate the deepest with me. My first MLB caps were the caps worn by the Chicago White Sox and Florida Marlins in the early 1990's and my first MILB caps were the New Haven Ravens, Greensboro Hornets and Prince William Cannons. Because the current theme here is the Carolina League, I've got not one, b

As difficult as it was for me to be a Boston Red Sox fan for almost an entire week as they faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, it's all over now. I was happy to watch the Dodgers be eliminated at home for the second year in a row but... That's it. I was happy to watch the Dodger be eliminated at home for the second year in a row.  Ok but now it's time to reassess my priorities and the first thing I'll do is sulk about the fact that there are no baseball games to watch. At some point in mid-February I'd sell my soul to watch an impossibly tortuous game where the Dodgers play the Dodgers or something silly like that so someone please remind me not to make this deal! Thankfully, I know that soon enough the 2019 season will be here and I'll be going to lots of games at CitiField and Yankee Stadium so— Wait a second. How am I going to go to Yankee Stadium after I've actively rooted for the Red Sox in the World Series? I guess my saving

I’ve been spoiled with all of the baseball games I’ve been to lately and it continues this weekend as I’m seeing the Oakland Athletics — who are, of course the natural geographic rival to my San Francisco Giants — on their annual visit to Yankee Stadium. I’m the furthest thing from an A’s fan but it’s the perfect opportunity to wear this vintage Nashville Sounds cap to the game as Nashville has been Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League since 2015 and were also the Yankees Double-A affiliate from 1980 through 1984. I love the honky tonk guy swinging his gee-tar at a baseball in front of the fattened version of the note-shaped letter “N” which had been the team’s cap logo since its inaugural season in 1978. The sweatband tags here are what you’d typically find on caps from before 1994 so that's really the earliest year this cap could be from because this logo wasn't worn until that year. Red, white and blue batterman here is perfect fo

MLB’s 2018 season is just a month in however it didn’t truly begin for me until I got to attend my first game of the year this past Wednesday. I’m thankful that technology allows me to watch multiple games in split screen mode on my TV but it can’t compare to the sensation I felt when I made my maiden voyage through the turnstiles at Yankee Stadium. I was fortunate to enjoy the game among the company of three friends who are all hardcore baseball fans and each attending their first game of the season as well. Of course, it was lots of fun and the cherry on top was that I christened a retro Prince William Yankees cap! This custom retro cap of the cap worn by the former Yankees Carolina League affiliate was spearheaded by a friend of mine with whom I jaws about hats a lot on Twitter ( @TerryT804) and Instagram ( @djtdawg) Like the OG cap, this one has a green underbrim but features a black sweatband and but the cap is made of the more modern polyester material, which I pref