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Showing posts with the label Pacific Coast League

1940 Oakland Oaks (Ebbets Field Flannels retro)

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

1948 Oakland Oaks (Ebbets Field Flannels retro)

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

Phoenix Firebirds (2017 Ebbets Field Flannels Retro)

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

1978 Tacoma Yankees Retro - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!

This week's Fresh Fitted Friday selection is a 1978 Tacoma Yankees retro that continues the "Washington" theme of last week's Presidents Day post because, well Tacoma is in State of Washington state.  I picked this hat because today is February 24 and fans of the show Twin Peaks widely recognize this date to be the one where Agent Cooper came to the fictional town in Washington to investigate the death of Laura Palmer. The lettering here is a little more rigid than I would expect to see on a Yankees-affiliated hat but I still prefer the resemblance of Kanji characters on this hat over the disjointed look of the old Tampa Yankees cap logo . I love that there was no requirement for this cap to feature a batterman or New Era flag but most of all I'm glad to have purchased from Hat Club in June 2018, well before New Era closed its last US-based factory in Derby, NY.  I also like how extra on the Kelly this cap goes. It's perfect for St. Patrick's Day which I

Spokane Indians "Redband Trout" Alternate Cap

I have been a baseball fan for about 90% of my life and it wasn't until Cleveland's baseball team became the Guardians ahead of the 2022 season that I experienced a Major League team changing their name — with the lone exception being when the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals upon their move to U.S. capital in 2005. While the Nationals rebranding had more to do with their arrival in a new locale, their NFL counterparts became the Washington Commanders this season as they finally dropped the offensive slur that they used as their name from 1937–2020, at which point they were temporarily known as the Washington Football Team. At this current time the only professional sports organization that is actually respectful in its usage of a name referring to Native Americans is the Spokane Indians and that is due the ongoing relationship between the team and  Spokane Tribe of Indians that  has was  forged in 2006 when both parties collaborated on the team's rebranding e

1982-84 Denver Bears Double-Cap Post (New Era Cap Buffalo and My Favourite Colour Studio)

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

1951 Albuquerque Dukes (Ebbets Field Flannels Retro)

For those of you wondering if the baseball portion of the 2020 Olympics are still happening, I'm here to tell you that the Gold Medal Game between the United States and Japan takes place tomorrow, Saturday August 7, 2021 at 6:00AM EST. I debated about which cap to post this week and while I do have a very cool 1940 Tokyo Kyojin retro from Ebbets Field Flannels, I feel the best way to cheer on my home country is to write about an American team. Luckily I have an 1951 Albuquerque Dukes cap that's also from Ebbets which not only sports a red, white and blue colorway but it's got a beautiful red felt "A" logo stitched onto the crown to remind you that America is "in the house" as it were. The Made in U.S.A. and Ebbets brand sitting proudly alongside each other is a sight that never gets old.  The undervisor looks darker here than it is in fact but after a few wears it will actually get to be that color. No matter the outcome of tomorrow's Gold Medal Game

2018 “Halfway to Halloween” Fresno Grizzlies - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

 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

1977-78 Tucson Toros Retro - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

Editors note: Whoopsie, forgot to publish this last week! Enjoy. This week's Tucson Toros retro from Ebbets Field Flannels is the last vintage/retro style Pacific Coast League hat from my collection that I've got to share with y'all for the time being so I hope you enjoy the nostalgia before it's gone. Sorry, I shouldn't have gone there. Well maybe I should have because my love for baseball was born in the 1980s so of course I mostly remember the Toros as a Houston Astros affiliate who wore a garish red cap like  last week's Albuquerque Dukes cap . I've written about the lurid cap the Toros wore during that era however this week's hat features the design the team wore for the 1977 and 1978 seasons when they were the top farm club for the Texas Rangers. July 4th Weekend is as good a time as any to take a moment to remind everyone how important Ebbets Field Flannels is to baseball fans who appreciate quality caps that are Made in U.S.A.

1980s Albuquerque Dukes

I'm not sure if this is a record or not but I realized just as I sat down to write this post that it's been exactly two months since I've written about a snapback. Now while that Yakima Bears cap had some serious age on it, this week's Albuquerque Dukes hat is even older. As a San Francisco Giants fan, I'm typically opposed to showing any sort of enthusiasm toward the Los Angeles Dodgers and their affiliates but this Dukes cap is really great even though it's a red hat which I'm not into for obvious reasons. The team wore this cap from 1985 through their final season in Albuquerque which was in 2000. Baseball card photography from the late 80's and early 90's leaves a lot to be desired––as does the photography in the early years of this blog as I'm well aware––so I am not sure which exact year they switched over to grey underbrims. If you clicked on the link in the caption above you'll get to one of my first posts on this blog

Edmonton Trappers Retro - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

This week's episode of The Quarantine Road Trip still finds us in Alberta however this time we are taken even further north as we are examining this Edmonton Trappers retro that I picked up from Hat Club in August 2019. Like  last week's Calgary hat , I've got a strong connection to this Trappers logo which is ironic considering it was only a few years ago when I finally examined he design up close. That dude is pretty weird looking, isn't he? I've got to take a quick moment to say how much I appreciate Hat Club's commitment to producing high quality caps—and usually Made in U.S.A. taboot—as well as their usual reliability in reproducing logos for lots of these wacky teams from he 1980s and 90's that are now defunct. The combination of the kelly green underbrim with no MILB batterman is old school and I'm very into it. I really hope that Hat Club gets the itch to release more of these retro caps as it seems like it's been a while si

1993 Calgary Cannons - Fresh Fitted Friday!!!!

This next chapter of the Quarantine Road Trip will primarily focus on bygone logos from the Pacific Coast League starting with the Calgary Cannons, which was a team that I distinctly remember from my youth despite my hometown being 2,500 miles away. Note, when you don't have a driver's license, the difference between 2,500 and 250 miles isn't much. I've written about the 1998 Cannons cap previously but the logo that the team wore from 1993 through 1997 is the one I that I will always associate with Calgary as that period was essentially the crescendo of my MILB mania. The sweatband tags here are identical to other caps from 1992 and 1993 in my collection such as Hickory Crawdads , Carolina Mudcats  and  Bend Rockies . In the photo below you'll see that there is no MILB batterman logo, proving this cap cannot be from before 1993. Like I said, no batterman logo. If you don't believe me, I don't know what to tell you, Jack! As I stated before,